Field Trip Leaders

This page contains information from the 2025 convention. This will be updated soon.

Thank you to our friends at the Frederick Office of Sustainability, Audubon Society of Central Maryland, the DC Bird Alliance and Safe Skies Maryland for helping us plan field trips and recruit field trip leaders!

Field trip leaders for the 2025 MOS Convention in Frederick include:

If you are interested in being a field trip leader, please contact Jim Rapp at jmrpp2@gmail.com.

2025 Field Trip Leader Bios (new bios will be added as they are submitted)

Anir Bhat is a passionate hobbyist photographer and amateur astronomer whose journey into birding began in 2013 with a single photograph of a Northern Cardinal and he hasn’t looked back since. He also enjoys birding in India, where he grew up. His conservation work spans multiple species: he has previously supported Monarch butterfly conservation and installed and monitored bluebird boxes. More recently, he has been involved in monitoring American Kestrel boxes within the county, assisting with the banding of nestlings, and working with the local community to promote conservation. When not in the field, Anir works full-time as an IT executive for a privately owned consumer packaged goods company.

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Barb Kemerer is a retired nurse and 40 year resident of Frederick County. She became interested in birding after Covid when she joined the Frederick Bird Club. She is a certified Maryland Master Naturalist and spends her free time volunteering, hiking, camping, and spending time with her grandkids.

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Brenda Miller was raised observing backyard birds in Washington State, but found her tipping point during her college ornithology class and never looked back! Brenda is an environmental educator with a BS in Biology and an MS in Environmental Education. She has worked with the Tahoma Bird Alliance, Rogue Valley Audubon Society, Audubon Mid-Atlantic, the Ward Museum of Wildfowl Art, Baltimore Birding Weekends, and several other environmental nonprofit organizations. While she has only lived in Maryland for about four years, Brenda has fully immersed herself in the nature scene and is excited to both share and build on her knowledge and enthusiasm for birds.

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Cheryl Hogue has been birding since getting hooked in a college ornithology course. She leads field trips at MOS conferences and for the Montgomery Bird Club. With Mark England, Cheryl has developed and taught a training class in best practices for leading bird field trips.

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Cheryl and Mike Saylor began their birding journey about 12 years ago while on an African safari with some of their Washington County birding friends. They couldn’t understand why their friends were so interested in looking for ‘little brown jobs” when there were lions and elephants to find but over time they realized the excitement that comes from finding a new bird. Mike is always saying to people that “you have no idea what’s out there until you start to look.” Although they’ve gone on many birding trips their primary birding goal has been to become the best local birders that they can be and they spend an awful lot of time working toward that goal. Mike is a retired ENT physician and Cheryl has spent her adult life raising Mike and their 2 kids.

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David Curson has worked as Director of Bird Conservation for Audubon in Maryland since 2004, covering many aspects of bird conservation in the state. These include leading efforts to protect, manage and monitor bird habitats across Maryland’s network of Important Bird Areas. Dave leads Audubon’s coastal program in Maryland, partnering with a wide variety of organizations to implement projects to prevent the loss of saltmarshes to climate-driven sea level rise and to safeguard endangered beach-nesting seabirds. To this end, Dave co-chairs the Delmarva Restoration and Conservation Network (DRCN)’s Restoration & Resiliency Operating Committee and is the project leader of the Marshes for Tomorrow initiative. Dave also teaches a graduate course in Ecology at Johns Hopkins University’s Environmental Science and Policy program. Dave completed his graduate studies in Wildlife Ecology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where his research focused on the ecology and behavior of the parasitic Brown-headed Cowbird. He currently represents Audubon on the Management Board of the Atlantic Coast Joint Venture and the Management Committee of Maryland’s Dredged Material Management Program.

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David Smith fell in love with birds at the age of 12 wading the swamps of SW Florida, and has never looked back. He even got to do bird studies in his career as an environmental consultant in Maryland. Now recently retired, David spends more time following his avian friends. He leads numerous nature and bird walks for Audubon and MOS and coordinates several seasonal bird counts in Frederick County. Over the years, he has visited six continents in pursuit of birds. Watch out Antarctica, your next!

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Deb Portney began birding when her young son became interested but did not yet drive. Passionate about creating and restoring habitat for birds and wildlife, she volunteers for several organizations in Frederick County.

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Evan Hull is the current vice president of the Frederick Bird Club. He fell in love with birding while taking an ornithology class in 2020 during his undergrad at Hood College. Evan is a middle school science teacher in Frederick County and tries his best to make his students understand the natural world around them. Evan’s passion for birds has led him back to Hood College where he is pursuing a master’s degree in environmental biology.

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Francesca Grifo began learning about birds from her father in elementary school. She represents the Montgomery County Bird Club on the MOS board and was the Coordinator for the Maryland Breeding Bird Atlas for Wicomico County. She has a PhD in Botany, loves to garden with native plants to attract birds, and recently retired from a long career protecting biodiversity and the integrity of science.

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Gary Ladner purchased his first large camera lens 20 years ago to photograph Brown Bears in Alaska. He had no idea he would eventually use it to capture over a million photos of birds. Since moving to Maryland six years ago, joining the Frederick Bird Club and retiring at the end of 2024, he has been birding in every corner of Maryland and beyond. 

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Gemma Radko is a member of both the Montgomery and Frederick chapters of the Maryland Ornithological Society and often leads field trips for members. A licensed bird bander, she ran a MAPS (Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship) banding station for nine years, and now teaches introductory ornithology and other birding classes at Nature Forward.

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Board Certified Master Arborist Jenny Willoughby earned a BS in Forestry & Wildlife from Virginia Tech and an MS in Geography & Cartography. She has been Sustainability Manager for the City of Frederick, Md., since spring 2014. It’s a good day at the office if she’s caked in mud and didn’t get a rattlesnake bite. Prior to the City, she worked at the Alaska Department of Natural Resources where the backcountry can eat you alive, and the Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin where she planted a lot of trees, educated the public about water quality, and kayaked for science. She’s new to birding, but is an expert in protecting their habitat and food.

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Jim Rapp has been organizing birding events since 1995 through Delmarva Birding Weekends. Since 2017, he has helped organize birding events in Baltimore through Baltimore Birding Weekends. He is the Director of the Hazel Outdoor Discovery Center in Eden, MD. Jim is the current MOS Convention chair and field trip organizer. Jim loves to connect people to the wild birds and wild areas of Maryland and the Mid-Atlantic.

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Jo Cox grew up in the UK, and although she was not a twitcher back then, both parents encouraged her love of the outdoors. A chance to become a visiting scientist at NIH brought her to Maryland in 1988 where the brightly colored local birds were soon noticed. She has been a member of MOS for ~25 years and is a Chapter Director for Montgomery County. In retirement, she been able to devote time to atlasing, bird counts as well as leading field trips. She enjoys many outdoor activities with her husband, often hearing and spotting birds from a kayak, bike, or cross-country skis.

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For Joe Corcoran, a Baltimore Oriole seen in binoculars for the first time got this young Baltimore City Fells Point resident into birding. And thanks in large part to a career as a Field Services Mechanical Engineer, he has been all over the world birding since – about 40 years. Joe is currently President of the Baltimore Bird Club.

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John McKitterick resides in Columbia, and served as President of MOS from 2019-2021. He currently serves as the Executive Secretary. He has been a birder since the 1960’s, but doesn’t chase rarities, preferring to explore on his own.

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Kari McPartland is the current president of the Frederick Bird Club. She has been birding since 2018, and gotten her entire household into birding too; her spouse Tyler, 1 year old son Franklin, and indoor cats Pumpkin and Sweetgum (avid feeder-watchers). She pays the bills with a technology operations gig for the Department of Commerce. 

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Karlyn McPartland, D.V.M.: In December 2019 Karlyn’s daughter introduced her to this amazing new app – Merlin! This opened the world of birding for her and kick started her new passion.  Since then she has spent a great deal of her spare time prowling all over Maryland joining as many birding field trips as she could fit in, learning so much from so many Maryland birders willing to share their expertise! 

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A long-time birder for 37+ years, Kevin Graff began birding at nine when his family took him to the zoo. He leads many trips for the MOS. Kevin maintains field trip records that he submits to MDOsprey and eBird. Because of his hearing impairment, Kevin cannot bird aurally, but he makes up for that by his keen eyesight. Kevin likes leading walks because he can help people in their birding efforts, and he enjoys pointing out other creatures like butterflies, dragonflies, and amphibians. In his free time, he’s a veteran volunteer firefighter for over 28 years.

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Kevin McPartland is not nearly as well known as his daughter, Kari, or his wife, Karlyn, but birding has unavoidably been a part of his life for many years now. In the even-a-broken-clock-is-right-twice-a-day category, his claim to fame so far is spotting that American Bittern at Meadowbrook Park a couple of years back. He would rather be reading history or playing an historic simulation, but hey, he needs the exercise.

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Kurt Schwarz has been a serious birder since 1994. He is a past President of the Howard County Bird Club, and was Conservation Chair for MOS 2008-2021. He is now Conservation Chair Emeritus. He leads 3-4 field trips per year for the Howard Chapter. He has birded on five continents and logged 1624 species. HIs Maryland list stands at 404 species.  

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Lois Kauffman was interested in birds from seven years of age. Both parents knew the proper names of Northern  Cardinal, Blue Jay, American Goldfinch, Eastern Bluebird, etc. Her father had binoculars, and she used them early. For the past 20 years, Lois has worked hard to learn many songs and other vocalizations.

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Lynn Kieffer has been living and birding in Frederick county for 30+ years. She is treasurer of the Frederick Bird Club and Board member of the Audubon Society of Central Maryland. 

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María-Elena Montero was raised in Takoma Park, Maryland, where she first fell in love with the outdoors. An avid birder, María-Elena is an advocate for equity and accessibility in public spaces. She serves as the President of DC Bird Alliance where her infectious energy is infused in the creative events she plans to advocate for birds. María-Elena also serves on the board of Rodney’s Raptors, an organization working to build wellness through nature. María-Elena is a graduate of The University of Maryland at College Park and Howard University. You’ll find her teaching a yoga class, hiking, writing, or of course, birding … always looking up. Follow her on IG @thatbirdisme.

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Mark Southerland has a Ph.D. in ecology and has spent the last 30 years working as a consultant to monitor, assess, and restore ecosystems in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Mark has chaired the Maryland Water Monitoring Council, Patapsco Heritage Greenway, and Howard County Environmental Sustainability Boards. He is also a member of the Science Council of the Maryland Academy of Sciences, Howard County Conservancy Board, Vernal Pool Partners, and Safe Skies Maryland. He is the author of successful legislation to ban balloon releases, allow environmental landscaping, and require bird safe buildings at state and local levels.

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Mary Lou Clark is a retired math teacher who came back to birding after a lapse of 20 years while raising her son. A past president of the Howard County Bird Club she now is the program chair of the club. She spends time listing but gets distracted by working on the Breeding Bird Atlas during the summer.

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Mary Zastrow has a degree in Entomology from the University of Maryland. She grew up in Maryland and has been a Maryland birder since 1997. Mary is a certified arborist with the International Society of Arboriculture and she owns a cut flower farm where she grows and sells local cut flowers. Flowers, birds, trees, and insects are her passions.

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Meg Harris grew up in Baltimore, Maryland and is an avid Baltimore Orioles fan (though this year it’s been tough). She is a member of the Howard County chapter of MOS.  Meg has been birding in earnest since 2016 and co-leads an annual Howard County Bird Walk which occurs in late August at Middle Patuxent Environmental Area (MPEA). She served as the convention chairperson from 2019 – 2024 and is currently on the convention committee.

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Neville Fernandes spent his early years growing up halfway across the World in Mumbai, India, where birding was what could be seen with his father from his fourth story balcony in a verdant neighborhood.  Laying roots in Baltimore meant focusing on the basics, but soon this ‘new’ surrounding and his ‘birding home’ – Patterson Park, started to speak loudly enough to get him engaged once more in his childhood delights, eventually leading him to engage with the Baltimore Bird Club and its many activities.

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Meet Octaivia Nettles — bird guide, experiential organizer, and environmental justice advocate. Based in the DMV area, she is the Minister of Birding at Audubon’s DC Bird Alliance Chapter and curates experiences that explore the richness of bird life in urban environments, connecting people to the natural world around them. 

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Russ Kovach is a resident of Howard County, Maryland and is an Earth Science and Biology teacher at Hammond High School in Columbia. He’s been birding since he was a high school student in 1988. Russ is a former president of the Harford County Bird Club and guides many birding trips in the mid-Atlantic region for the Maryland Ornithological Society and Delmarva Birding Weekends. When not birding Russ enjoys photography, canoeing, and coaching softball, in addition to giving presentations to local organizations about birds and climate change.

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Sarah Heald is a retired NPS historian who has lived in Frederick since 1992. She “birded” off and on for decades with borrowed binoculars and in 2013 got a decent pair of bins and joined Frederick Bird Club. Between guidance from expert and patient birders in FBC and the gift of Covid time, she became a more serious birder. She volunteered for four years with the BBA3 and regularly participates in annual counts. 

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Sarah Kulis is a member of the Baltimore Bird Club and the MOS EDI committee. She has her degree in Wildlife Biology with focuses on Ornithology. Sarah has worked all over the country studying birds but her knowledge is not limited. She frequently gets side tracked by plants, insects, mammals, and herps. Sarah is very excited to bring her knowledge and experience to help some MOS field trips be accessible for all. 

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Scott Young has been birding for a little over 10 years. He is currently the immediate past president of the Montgomery Bird Club. He is a Scientist Emeritus and former Principal Investigator of the National Institute of Mental Heath from which he retired in 2022. He enjoys social birding, traveling with his wife Alice, and, most of all, visiting his children’s families.  

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Sue Muller was raised in upstate New York. She had a passion for birds from a very young age, receiving her first pair of binoculars and the “Golden Guide to Birds” at the age of seven. She was troubled as a youngster not being able to see a Bald Eagle or Eastern Bluebird (NY state bird), she wanted to save the planet. This yearning steered her career path into Wildlife Management, receiving a BS in Wildlife Management from West Virginia University. Her career was spent working in Natural Resources in the Maryland piedmont, retiring on Earth Day of 2021 after a 40-year career. Her favorite accomplishments include serving as a County Coordinator for MARA (Maryland Amphibian Reptile Atlas), PARS (Pennsylvania Amphibian Reptile Survey) and the Maryland/DC Breeding Bird Atlas(3). She currently is a contributing editor for the Maryland Biodiversity Project.

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Trey Sherard, Anacostia Riverkeeper, grew up in and on the ocean in coastal North Carolina, and has spent 13 years with Anacostia Riverkeeper. Recognized by River Network as a 2022 River Hero, he previously served as the Chair of the Anacostia Watershed Community Advisory Committee, and he continues to serve on the Mayor’s Leadership Council for a Cleaner Anacostia River. He started with marine biology but between playing Wingspan, giving birding by land and by sea tours with DC Bird Alliance, and dating a birder, he’s a birder now too. 

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