Panelists 2023

Saturday, May 20th, 7:30 pm – Panel Discussion

Please join us for a discussion about MOS’s next 75 years. We have brought together various MOS and non-MOS members to talk about where MOS should be going and how to get there. The panel will be moderated by MOS President Bonnie Borsa.

Bonnie Borsa, MOS President and Moderator

As a biology major at Miami University in Ohio, Bonnie Borsa took an ornithology course and discovered birds – the highlight being warblers at Magee Marsh (it was then called Crane Creek and had no boardwalk!). She was hooked! Bonnie was very active in the Audubon Society in Richmond, Virginia while in graduate school; and more recently, served the Frederick County chapter of MOS as VP for two years and president for three. Bonnie has been president of MOS since September. She believes that our 75th convention is a perfect time to hold a panel discussion on who we are now, and on how we envision the future of MOS.

Kojo Baidoo

Kojo is a birder and wildlife photographer from Baltimore, Maryland. He currently attends Princeton University, where he is pursuing a degree in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. Although he has always been interested in nature, he became fully immersed in birding in the first grade after reading a book about raptors. He added photography in seventh grade, finding in it an excellent way to communicate the beauty of nature to the public. Kojo truly loves birding and considers it an escape from the stressors of everyday life. Most importantly, he believes that nature deserves to be enjoyed by everyone and emphasizes the importance of carving out a space for yourself if it may not have existed historically. When in Maryland, he enjoys contributing to the ongoing Maryland-DC Breeding Bird Atlas and leading trips for the Baltimore Bird Club. 

Charisma Burrows

Charisma Burrows joined the Baltimore Bird Club in 2021 and is a current MOS Director. She is originally from Washington and Idaho and moved to Maryland in 2016 to attend Johns Hopkins University. Her passion for birdwatching stems from a childhood of camping, hiking, and farming with her parents. She now spends her weekends birdwatching across the state of Maryland. When Charisma is not birdwatching, she can probably be found in the lab at her job as a Biological Scientist for the National Institute on Aging.

John Harris

John Harris is an avid birder and believes that birding can be a form of outdoor meditation which benefits both the body and the soul. He joined the Howard County Chapter of MOS in 2013 and served as the chapter’s vice president and president and led many chapter field trips over the years. John is interested in bird and pollinator habitat restoration and has been active in several projects in Howard County for grassland and wetland birds. He is currently working on a birding course emphasizing the skills and techniques that he believes make birding more enjoyable for everyone. John is committed to fostering an inclusive, welcoming and nurturing birding culture which values diversity and sharing. 

John McKitterick

John McKitterick has been birding since the mid-1960’s. He joined the Howard County Bird Club in the late 1980’s, and has participated in Howard’s seasonal bird counts ever since. In 2013, he joined the MOS Board of Directors as a state director representing the Howard Bird Club, and because he kept speaking up at the Board meetings, was asked to run for Vice-President of MOS in 2018. While serving as VP, he led the effort to change the by-laws that allowed an electronic vote for the executive officers of MOS in place of an annual meeting, and by setting up a Google Workspace account for non-profits that provides MOS with cloud storage, mdbirds.org email addresses, and the ability to hold virtual meetings. He has been retired for four years, and if you ask, he will show you endless pictures of his grandson.

Kari McPartland

Kari McPartland has experience leading backpacking, paddling, caving, biking and now birding trips. She is a member of the Frederick County Chapter of MOS and has been birding officially since 2018. She has backpacked over 4000 miles with her spouse and also birding partner, Tyler Meneely. You can find them birding all around Maryland.