As far back as she can remember, Holly has found wonder, comfort, and grounding in birds and nature. As a kid, she explored streams, wetlands, beaches and forests learning about the other living organisms we share our planet with.

One of her first volunteer jobs was as a Junior Keeper at the Baltimore Zoo (now the Maryland Zoo), where she learned to take care of wading birds, making food for flamingos and helping care for the smaller animals for the Zoomobile. Here she got her start in learning how important education is by helping others understand why we should care about other animals, especially birds.

While she loved birds and other animals, Holly also was deeply involved with the art world, growing up in a family of creatives and a professional artist for a dad. Wanting to help people in accessing wellbeing and healing through art and creative expression, Holly has a professional background in art therapy. Today she employs nature and birds to achieve the same result for of mental, physical, and emotional wellness in her work in Ornitherapy & Nature-based Wellness Programming.

Holly is currently pairing her professional backgrounds in art therapy and over twenty years of professional bird guiding and environmental education, with a certificate in Wellness Counseling (Cornell Univ), coursework in Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction (MBSR), and a Certification in Nature and Forest Therapy (ANFT) to create rich sensory experiences through nature-based wellness programs customized for her clients.

[image by Kari Oeltjen]

Holly has been a professional birding guide and environmental educator for over twenty years, and continues to love guiding people into rewarding experiences with birds and the habitats we share with them.

Holly started doing volunteer work in bird conservation soon after she took a nose-dive into birding, with an understanding that we can all make a difference, even in small ways.

She has since served on the Board of many nonprofit ornithological organizations, including the renowned Hawk Mountain Sanctuary, where she also spends time as a volunteer hawk counter for their fall migration.

Holly has been Pennsylvania’s state coordinator and data reviewer for the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s eBird project since 2005.

Serving two-terms as the first voting female of the Pennsylvania Ornithological Records Committee, she ultimately held the role of Chair of the committee for three years before terming off.

Holly has worked extensively with young birders, from helping create a bird club at the local elementary school, to acting as Director for the American Birding Association’s Camp Delaware Bay (formerly Camp Avocet) since the camp began in 2013. She also was one of the founders of the Frontiers in Ornithology Symposium, which is dedicated to guiding students how to turn their interests in birds into professions in avian conservation.

Having guided birding trips across the US for many organizations, today you can find Holly working as an Instructor and Session Director for National Audubon’s Hog Island Camp in Maine (camp for adults!), and guiding trips for Hillstar Nature.

In 2022, Holly was awarded the Conservation and Education Award by the American Birding Association, recognizing her work in both areas of birding. https://www.aba.org/2022-awards/

[image by Barbara Norris]

After using nature, especially birdwatching, for its therapeutic benefits while undergoing treatment and recovery from breast cancer, Holly is dedicated to sharing the message that birds and nature can be powerful companions in all of our wellness journeys, bolstering the body's defenses against disease and boosting mental wellbeing. This is her definition of Ornitherapy.

Holly's gently guided experiences incorporate accessibility for all mobility levels and are designed to be welcoming and inclusive to all people. She has professional experience working with children K-12, people with dementia and age-related cognitive impairment and is comfortable working in all settings and habitats in the outdoors.

Holly promotes these concepts as an author of two books that focuses on pairing birds and personal wellness: the award-winning book Ornitherapy: For Your Body, Mind, and Soul (Crossley Books, 2021) which guides readers into deeper and more mindful experiences in nature through birds, and The Power of Birdwatching/Die Kraft der Vogel Beobachtung (Freya verlag, 2023, with Angelika Nelson).

Birding, Holly founded the Mindful Birding Network, which today is an action-driven collaborative group bringing people from across the globe together to share, support, and inspire each other in endeavors of Mindful Birding.

Holly is also podcast cohost for the Mindful Birding Podcast, which can be found wherever you get your podcasts.

[image of a Mindful Birding session with Holly by Blake Goll]