The Life of a Professional Bird Tour Leader with Erik Bruhnke
Today, Evan & Nate go birding with Erik Bruhnke
Like most birders, Evan and Nate often times discuss what it would be like to not have professional jobs and be able to spend all of our time birding. We wanted to sit down with someone that has taken his passion for birding and made it his career.
We first crossed path with Erik at the Sax Zim Bog trip when he was explaining ID tips for the Hoary Redpoll. His knowledge of birds and bird songs was impressive, to say the least.
Erik sits down with us today to tell us about the life of a bird tour leader. What does it take to become a bird tour leader? Where are the amazing places you get to travel to do your job? What are some of the challenges?
If you have ever thought about taking your birding from a hobby to a career, or are just interested in hearing about the life of a bird tour leader, give this episode a listen.
BIO
Erik Bruhnke has loved birds since he was a child looking at chickadees. He graduated from Northland College in Ashland, WI with a Natural Resources degree in 2008 and taught field ornithology at Northland College for three semesters. For several years after graduating, his springs and summers were spent conducting bird surveys through northern forests, vast prairies, and western mountains. He worked as an interpreter for six fall seasons at Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory in Duluth, Minnesota; counted migrating raptors at the Corpus Christi HawkWatch in Texas in 2015; and was the 2016, 2017, and 2018 hawk counter at the Cape May Hawkwatch in New Jersey. Last fall he worked at the Cape May Hawkwatch as an interpreter, connecting people with the spectacle of migration and raptor identification. Erik’s wildlife photography has won national awards, and his writings have been featured among birding magazines. Erik is a birding tour guide for Victor Emanuel Nature Tours as well as his own business, Naturally Avian. In addition to birding Erik spends his time cooking, baking, and hiking.
Useful Links
www.ventbird.com
