Margie Griggs, March eBirder of the Month
Please join us in congratulating Margie Griggs, of Chicago, Illinois—winner of the March 2025 eBirder of the Month Challenge, sponsored by ZEISS. Margie’s name was drawn randomly from the 11759 eBirders who submitted 20 or more eligible checklists with eBird Mobile ‘tracks’ less than 5 km (3 mi) in March. Margie will receive a new ZEISS binocular for her eBirding efforts. Lastly, thank you to everyone who participated in the March eBirder Challenge, we are grateful for your support and continued dedication to data collection and conservation. Here is Margie’s birding story.
I first began birding during my time in college when my printmaking professor introduced me to it. I have always been fond of wildlife and drawing the species I have observed, particularly the patterns found on the species. During college, my printmaking professor Dellas Henke, also a birder, told me to look up and watch for birds the next time I was out on a walk and from there, I never stopped. I started using eBird as a tool to help me identify and learn the birds I was seeing at first and as a way to track how many different bird species I had seen at any point in time. After college, I moved back to Chicago where I started going on walks with Chicago Ornithological Society as well as on my own to gain more knowledge on all of the different species I might see here. As I acquired more knowledge, I took on the project of drawing all of the birds of the Midwest, which is something I had started in college as a way to take a closer look at the birds around me. In 2023, I also bought a telephoto lens to help document the birds I was observing in order to draw them later on too. Birding has really helped me to appreciate the small things around me and has helped me to find a community of friends not only in Chicago, but all around the world.
This year, I am working on a Cook County “big year” with my sister to explore the county I grew up in and go to places I might never have gone otherwise. eBird has helped me to track all of our sightings this year especially and has been helpful for finding information on places I should visit that I may have never heard of, specifically “hotspots,” or when birds might arrive during migration based on the bar charts in eBird. I use eBird almost everyday to learn about new species and plan where I might go birding when I have time, and I also take the eBird photo and sound quizzes very often to test my knowledge for when I go out birding on my own. eBird has not only allowed me to keep a life list that is easily accessible, but it has also connected me with such a large community of other people who love birds and also enjoy contributing to scientific research that will help to conserve them. It’s been great to explore new places while also allowing me to take a more meaningful look at the world around me.