Birder - anime reviewer - volunteer coordinator at ATX-based nonprofit. 3x Jeopardy champ. The Chase contestant. Non-binary.

Some of my earliest memories are of sunbirds in our yard in the Philippines in the early 80s, so I was primed to become a birder from a young age; my grandpa got me my first binoculars and bird book (the old Golden Guide) and my spark bird was a Steller's Jay at Yosemite National Park in 1986.

While life has led me down many different paths professionally, including seven different academic majors (with a brief stint as a herbarium technician at Arizona State), finally settling on a degree in Japanese, several years at Walt Disney World, and even a brief run as a game show contestant, I keep coming back to nature.

Previously resident in Manila, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Hiroshima, Kailua-Kona, and Orlando, now in Greater Austin but traveling as money and time allow.

Almae Matraes: Chandler HS (1997), Arizona State University (2008)

Fluent to Conversant: English - español - 日本語
Early Learning: Tagalog - português - français - Deutsch - italiano
Machine-Reading Only: 汉语/中文, 한국어, українська etc

Favorite Taxa

View All