I'm eager about birding, as well as putting myself in nature, finding any wildlife, and learning about them. This love has been directly and indirectly shaping how I live, how I view the world, and how I design my future.

Starting birding reveals a new dimension in the familiar world. It's a ignored dimension surrounding almost all parts of our life: the campus we study at, the trail we walk on, the farm we drive by, the balcony we display the purchased plants, and the desk we work at... My spark birds are those exisitng in the pre-birding photos I took. One day I identified them using an APP I found called Merlin, from which I learned that the "blue birds" I saw at Stanford are multiple different species (Western Bluebird, California Scrub-Jay, and Steller's Jay), and not all "black birds" are crows (there are different blackbirds).

"This is amazing", I thought. Soon after that, I went out with my camera, binoculars, hat, and trail runners, which later became my favorate outfit. I bird on campus, at parks and preserves, on my balcony, in new cities I visited, and in any other appropriate situations. I tracked my records on eBird. I joined the Stanford Birdwatching Club and learned from the entire birding community.

It's not just about checking off species or taking beautiful photos. More importantly, birding brings to me the beautiful, dynamic, and fragile ecosystems coexisiting with our society, and a large community who deeply care about protecting and restoring functioning ecosystems. Besides birds, we care about the plants, the insects, the mammals, the waters, the soils...

Instead of killing the flies and spiders in my apartment, I ID and learn about them behavior and whether they are invasive.

Instead of buying beautiful plants, I learn about my local climate and go with water efficient native plants.

Instead of only focusing on birds, I appreciate the entire dynamic nature in every trip and try to become a well rounded naturalist.

Why do I care about sustainability? The reason is far more than it being "promising" and me wanting future human generations to live a good life. I want the nature, which includes us, formed in billions of years to continue thriving.

This is why I was so happy and touched when birding the Moonglow Dairy which is located in the crucial Moss Landing Habitat, the Merced National Wildlife Refuge which is surrounded by the agricultural lands of Central Valley, and the Montrose Point Bird Sanctuary which is a bird heaven in the city of Chicago. I think they are the best demonstrations of the core of sustainability: the respect for nature that shares Earth with us.

A Bushtit photoed at my balcony
A banded Snowy Plover at Carmel River State Beach. These cuties are endangered due to loss of habitat: sand beaches, which we heavily use for recreational purposes.
A breathtaking Black-footed Albatross on Pacific Ocean.
A gorgeous White-tailed Kite on Stanford Campus, perching for hunting.
A California Condor with wing tags. These birds are important to indigenous people, and are unfortunately critically endangered (only hundreds left). Huge efforts and progress have been taken for recovering their population.
A Ridgway's Rail foraging in Marsh at Palo Alto Baylands. The San Francisco Bay subspecies, who share the lands with us at the Silicon Valley, are unfortunately endangered. Protecting the wetlands is crucial for protecting the wildlife relying on them.
A flock of Wilson's Phalaropes at Sunnyvale Water Pollution Control Plant.
A Ferruginous Hawk. Some of them stays at large ranches for hunting rodents. Using rodenticide can be very harmful for these raptors.

Here are my eBird and iNaturalist profiles