Scot Duncan, Executive Director of ALABAMA AUDUBON

Scot Duncan likes to quip that he was birding in utero. His parents took up birding in the late 1960s and went on to become celebrated birders and conservationists. Scot began his life list at age eight, has birded in 13 countries across six continents, and has observed nearly one-fifth of Earth’s bird species. In graduate school, he studied how birds and other animals contribute to tropical forest regrowth through seed dispersal in the deforested landscapes of East Africa. After earning his doctorate from the University of Florida, he moved to Birmingham, Alabama, where he taught college biology for 20 years and conducted research on the conservation of the region’s endangered species.

Scot is the author of two award-winning books on the ecology of Alabama and the rivers of the Southeast. In 2022, he became the Executive Director of Alabama Audubon, and the organization has grown quickly under his leadership. Having led countless bird outings and field labs, Scot is also an expert bird guide and outdoor educator.

Brian Cammarano

Brian Cammarano is a lifelong South Florida resident and serves as the Shorebird Stewardship Coordinator for Audubon Florida in the Panhandle. In this role, he collaborates with staff, volunteers, and partners from the Florida Shorebird Alliance to protect the region’s threatened beach-nesting birds, such as the Snowy Plover and Black Skimmer. His early career includes monitoring Florida Scrub-Jay productivity, conducting Black Rail detection surveys, banding migratory songbirds at Cape Florida Banding Station, and studying the nesting productivity of Common, Roseate, and Arctic Terns on an island off Maine’s coast. Cammarano spends much of his time birding along coastal dunes and tidal flats, searching for rare and migratory species. He is captivated by bird migration, always attuned to conditions favoring spring and fall migrations. He has guided the North Shore Birding Festival in Central Florida and leads bird outings year-round for Audubon Florida.

Todd Devore

Todd Devore grew up in Montana and has spent the past 33 years in Alabama, where birding has become his favorite pastime over the last 15 years. Since mostly retiring, he spends hours each week out in the field and has recorded about 930 bird species worldwide on eBird—including 507 in the U.S. and 325 in Alabama, placing him in the state’s eBird top 30. Some of his most memorable sightings are Mountain Plovers and endangered California Condors spotted in California in the winter of 2025. Todd conducts a yearly Breeding Bird Survey in Talladega County, takes part in the Wheeler NWR and Alabama Audubon seasonal counts, helps on the Alabama Audubon field trip committee, and leads trips, and is looking forward to birding with his son in Spain in 2026

Mason Currier

Patrick Maurice was born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia and graduated from the University of Georgia with a Wildlife Science degree in 2021. Patrick is a lifelong birder, thanks to his mother, and has birded extensively across the United States and around the world. He currently works as a guide for Natural Habitat Adventures and regularly guides for other birding festivals such as The Biggest Week in American Birding, Georgia Birdfest, and the Southeast Arizona Birding Festival. He is intimately familiar with Georgia’s diverse ecoregions and birdlife and has spent countless hours birding across the state with his eBird map showing records from most Georgia’s 159 counties. In 2021, Patrick and his friends set a new Georgia big day record during his final semester at UGA.

Patrick’s eBird profile is nothing less than spectacular: he’s amassed over 700 species birding in 43 out of the U.S.’s 50 states and has over 2,000 species observed worldwide. When he isn’t traveling or guiding, Patrick can be found back home in Athens, Georgia, reviewing records for eBird, playing soccer, or enjoying a sour beer.

Patrick Maurice

Jess Searcy

Jess' claim to fame around Alabama is being the founder and organizer of the Alabama Bird Search - Youth Challenge. Coming up on its third year, this youth birding competition is already recognizing some amazing youth birders in the state and inspiring the next generation of conservationists. Jess got her degree in zoology from the University of Wisconsin - Madison and went on to a career in outdoor education and marine science. After leaving the Georgia Aquarium to be a stay-at-home mom, Jess started suffering from animal withdrawal. Since backyard fish and octopus are hard to come by, Jess turned her eyes to the skies, discovering you can watch toddlers and birds at the same time! Her two kids, Evan and Cole, are both now teenagers and Jess is still hooked on birds. When she isn't watching birds (and sometimes when she is!) you'll see her improving the iNaturalist database with her mushroom, flower, and spider photos.

Wesley (Wes) Jarnigan

Born and raised in Alabama, Wes enjoys studying and learning about his home state's rich biodiversity, in particular its birds. His start into birding was launched after participating in Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Project FeederWatch program while in high school. His interests in nature and natural history led him to pursue and earn a B.S. in Professional Biology and Geographic Information Science with a minor in Chemistry from the University of North Alabama and a M.S. in Conservation Biology from the University of West Alabama. He has been active in various birding projects and birding organizations around the state such as Christmas Bird Counts, the North American Breeding Bird Survey, Alabama Audubon's SwiftWatch program, and the Alabama Ornithological Society. He has been a birding guide for the University of Alabama's BioBlitz, Alabama Audubon’s Black Belt Birding Festival, and the Georgia Bird Fest. He enjoys sharing his passion for birds and birding with others. Wes stays active in his local community by coordinating and leading local birding walks.

Barry Fleming

Barry Fleming has been a serious birder for forty-five years. Growing up in the countryside around Nashville, his naturalist tendencies began with learning snakes and fishes and turned to birds one morning as he crawled into a limestone-bottomed creek as a teenager to fish for red-eye bass. A breeding plumage black-crowned night heron perched on a branch directly above his head sparked his deep dive into birding. As a graduate student, he became the first conservation commissioner for the Knoxville chapter of the Tennessee Ornithological Society, where he, with the help of a graduate art seminar class, spearheaded a movement that saved House Mountain, which is now a state recreational area with birder access. He and a few friends worked with the City of Opelika, Alabama to found Wood Duck Nature Preserve of Opelika, which is a premiere site on the Piedmont Birding Trail. Barry is professor emeritus of art at Auburn University and has served as president of the Alabama Ornithological Society and vice-president of Conservation and Science for Alabama Audubon.

Brenda Callaway & Jerry Callway

Jerry and Brenda Callaway, life-long Pensacolians, have spent years exploring the wild places around Pensacola, including Blackwater River State Forest. Backyard birdwatchers for as long as they can remember, their birding journey truly took flight in 2010 when they spotted a Sulfur-bellied Flycatcher at Ft. Pickens on Pensacola Beach. The ensuing flood of birders from across the US opened their eyes to a world they never knew existed and prompted them to jump with both feet into this wonderful obsession. Since their introduction to birding, they’ve traveled internationally to Ecuador and Panama, and they’ve also traveled throughout the U.S., including to Alaska, all for the joy of seeing birds.

They regularly survey numerous local patches, including a private wetland, which never fails to challenge their ID skills. They’ve even acted as social secretaries for a rarely seen bird in the U.S., a Little Bunting that visited Pensacola in 2023 and was even covered by the American Birding Association’s magazine! They lead birding events often and participate annually in the National Audubon Society’s Christmas Bird Count. They are also instrumental in their local Audubon chapter: Brenda manages publicity for the chapter while Jerry lends a hand with ideas and facts for posts on their social media accounts. He also helps her spot good photo opportunities for her own online social media account, GreenJPhotography. It’s safe to say that birding truly opened their world and gave them a better life, and sharing their passion for birding brings them nearly as much joy as seeing a new bird!

Daniel Redwine

After a lifelong interest in nature, Daniel became an avid birder in 2017. His passion for birds and underappreciated habitats inspired him to pursue a career in wildlife biology. Daniel now studies avian behavior and ecology at Austin Peay State University, where his research focuses on the winter behavior of White-throated Sparrows. In addition to his research, he serves as a part-time instructor in the Department of Biology.

Daniel has a keen interest in grassland and wetland birds, but he also enjoys tackling some of birding’s most difficult identification challenges, especially shorebirds and gulls. He has guided field trips for Alabama Audubon and for the Nashville Chapter of the Tennessee Ornithological Society, sharing his knowledge of bird behavior, habitat use, and identification skills with birders of all experience levels. He has also presented a workshop on sparrow identification for Alabama Audubon and has shared his White-throated Sparrow research at the Wilson Ornithological Society conference

Ava Lyerly

Ava Lyerly is a 17-year-old birder and naturalist since March 2020. She is a lifelong homeschooler and is currently completing her senior year of high school. She has been a regular volunteer with Alabama Audubon’s Spring and Fall Coastal Bird Banding events since 2023, including bird extraction, data collection, and interpreting for the crowds at the banding station. She has also volunteered regularly with Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship (MAPS) at Ruffner Mountain Nature Preserve.

Ava has been published in numerous scientific journals and her bird photography and interviews have appeared on multiple platforms, including newspapers and Alabama Public Radio. She founded the Decatur-based North Alabama Young Birders Club (NAYBC) for ages 7–17 in January 2023 and was one of four teen birders on the Bama Kingbirds team, which won first place in the Alabama Youth Birding Challenge in 2024 (172 species) and 2025 (175 species).

Tim Lenz

Tim Lenz is a lifelong birder, software developer, and Co-Founder of BirdingApp, a social platform designed to serve the unique needs of birders in the field. Tim earned his B.S. and Master of Engineering in Computer Science in upstate New York and served as a key developer on the eBird project for seventeen years. During that time, he was also a member of the famed Team Sapsucker, including a record-breaking ABA big day in Texas in 2013 with 294 species. He has birded extensively throughout North America, with a US list of 720 species and bird sightings in all US states except Missouri and Kansas. Farther south, he has birded in Mexico and Costa Rica, and participated in Global Big Day in Panama (315 species), Guatemala (204), and Colombia (289). Tim currently serves as an eBird reviewer for Nevada, where he grew up, and in southeast Tennessee, where he currently lives. He also regularly leads field trips for the Chattanooga chapter of the Tennessee Ornithological Society.

Andrew Lydeard

Andrew Lydeard was born in South Carolina and spent his formative years exploring the diverse woodlands and stream systems in Alabama, which led to a lifelong fascination with the diversity of the state. He graduated in 2011 from Virginia Tech with a B.S. in Biological Sciences, and his ‘spark bird’ was the Red Crossbill during an ornithology lecture on bill adaptations. In 2025, Andrew received his master's degree in biology from Murray State University, where he started the Murray State Bird Club and did graduate research on aquatic ecosystems in Land Between the Lakes Recreation Area. In 2018, he became a seasonal Least Tern and Snowy Plover steward in Baldwin County, AL for Alabama Audubon (formerly Birmingham Audubon) and has focused on bird advocacy and conservation ever since. Andrew has guided domestically throughout the U.S. and in Puerto Rico as well as internationally in Cuba and Colombia, and he will be leading Alabama Audubon’s international trip to Belize in March 2026.