Erin Koski

Erin began working with birds when she was eight years old. That summer, a Crow stole an entire Scrub Jay nest and flew away with it, intending to eat the babies. One of the babies fell out of the nest, into the street, and Erin and her mother rescued it. They called the local wildlife rescue and were given baby food and instructions on how to care for it. The Scrub Jay was released later that summer, but for Erin, that was just the beginning. By the age of twelve, she was helping staff the booth at the County Fair and teaching people about the natural history of Screech Owls. Over the past two decades, she has volunteered with several wildlife rescue centers, and over a decade ago started her own education program, Luzonica, focused on teaching people about all kinds of birds from around the world. Many other presentations limit themselves to birds of prey, and only include native US species, but her vision is to show people that all birds are interesting and beautiful, even songbirds, water-birds, and game-birds.

"Thank you for coming into our class and teaching us about birds. It was very fun and I learned a lot. Your story about how you started raising birds was interesting. That's very good you saved the babies. I really liked your visit. I hope you can come back again and show us more birds." -Giselle F., student

"Thank you for coming and showing us those amazing birds. I thought it was sad when you said that farmers put pesticide in all the plants and how the bird's eggs were too thin. I hope you keep doing what you are doing and going to more schools and teaching kids about the amazing birds." -Janette I., student

"You're very knowledgeable about birds by the way. You must have fun working and learning more about birds since you've done it since you were eight." -Cecilia L., student