EWBC Kingfisher Report

Monday, October 08, 2007

Meet the new Naturalist

Hello everyone! I am Javier de Leon, the new naturalist at the Edinburg Scenic Wetlands and World Birding Center. Although I have just been hired to work at EWBC, I have been volunteering at this center's special events for the past two or three years. I always had fun working with the staff, and seeing and hearing all the wildlife in the park made every trip out here a real treat. Now that I work here at EWBC I am able to teach visitors wonderful things about the birds, butterflies and dragonflies as we observe them in the park's wetlands or in our beautiful gardens.

My interest in plants and animals began while growing up in Harlingen, Texas. Family trips to Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge sparked my curiosity about how plants and animals could survive without going to the store to buy food (I was VERY young when I started asking myself these questions). During a subsequent trip to the same park a year or so later I had a short conversation with a real "park ranger". This conversation, which consisted mostly of me asking too many questions, resulted in the beginning of my interest in wildlife. Much of my childhood was spent outside collecting bugs and looking at all the different birds that would visit my parents birdbath.

Twenty years later, my favorite thing to do is still going outside to look at the wonderful creatures that are all around us . It's a little odd being the person that answers all the questions that kids ask, but I hope to spark their interest and awareness of the outdoors in them as well.

- Javier