Great Egrets photo by: KK Robin-Fox
We’ve recently added three new members to our board, and we are extremely excited to have them join us on our mission to connect people with birds and conservation in the Chicago area! Adriana Garcia, Daniela Herrera, and Sunshine Cahill have already gotten involved with multi-lingual birdwalks and we’re looking forward to their additional future involvement in sharing their passion for birds and birding.
I became acquainted with the Chicago Audubon Society through their umbrella organization the Chicago Bird Collision Monitors in the Fall of 2019. An injured pigeon appeared at my front door and through this unfortunate event, I learned of the wonderful network of dedicated volunteers and conservation organizations in the Chicagoland area. I strive to increase my knowledge of birds and bird habitat restoration through hands-on participation and time spent in the field. I volunteer with various orgs including the North Park Village Nature Center where I was tapped to co-lead bilingual bird walks in 2020. I’ve since helped form a bilingual English/Spanish bird walk club, the Avelingües.
I am a Chicago native and first generation Mexican American with roots in the border towns of Eagle Pass, Texas and Piedras Negras, Coahuila. As a computer scientist specializing in the data field, I am no stranger to underrepresentation and intersectionality. I am a natural born birder; I support citizen science. My intentional birding practice is recent, but my love of birds and nature is deeply embedded. I believe through expanding engagement beyond the domains of biology, ecology and the environmental sciences, we can scale the stewardship necessary to protect birds and bird habitat. Birds are our kin, along with the rivers that weave their magic throughout this country.
Sunshine is an ecology enthusiast and educator, ever in wonder with evolution. Sunshine makes art from interactions with kindred, human and otherwise. Birding and salameandering have been two of Sunshine’s life-long pursuits, coming from a family of ecologists, conservationists and trail seekers, and many years living within a variety of biomes and cultures. Most recently, Sunshine has become passionate about re-drawing maps and thinking about how our structures affect how we view the world.
The past couple years, Sunshine has volunteered with CAS bilingüal bird walks and organized a bird tour to Guatemala for Chicago area birders in 2019. Sunshine brings years of life-stories and acres of contemplation to Chicago Audubon. Sunshine hopes to collaborate with the many bright minds in this group to encourage growth and learning, through bird walks, artistic ventures, and other outreach. Sunshine seeks to inspire a welcoming space for everyone… to put down our binoculars, just for a minute, and appreciate the landscape.
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