Judie began birding by the time she was five. Her family moved to rural Virginia and she began spending all her waking hours playing in the woods and learning the names and songs of birds. By 23, she had a shelf feeder by the kitchen window and a strange bird landed on it. It was not listed in her Golden guide of 100 favorite birds, so she went to the library and found Peterson Field Guides to Eastern Birds. The bird was an evening grosbeak, an uncommon erratic wanderer in northern Indiana. (The little bird pictured to the right is a song sparrow.)
That bird led Judie to the South Bend (Indiana) Audubon Society sanctuary close to her, which led to ten years of twice weekly potlucks at the sanctuary followed by walks with experienced birders teaching. Since 1965, she has participated in Christmas bird counts and led bird walks in Indiana and Oregon. She edited two different Audubon newsletters for 15 years. Now, with macular degeneration, she depends on her ears to identify birds. She has 546 birds on her life list. Both of her children caught the birding bug and in November 2018, her son, Dave Irons, published The American Birding Association Field Guide to Birds of Oregon. As a proud mother, she has copies for sale of course.
Audubon Christmas Bird Count at Rose Villa
