My love for birds started in 1994, when two university friends took me to the Strait of Messina to watch spring raptor migration and to join the anti-poaching camp organized by the one and only Anna Giordano to stop the slaughtering of those animals. I immediately fell in love with the people, their cause, and of course with birds. Upon my return to Rome, I got lucky enough to meet Roberto Gildi, one of the best local birdwatchers (and, since then, one of my best friends) who took me under his metaphorical wing and taught me how to identify birds while we roamed around the country. When I moved to the US for my Master’s, I focused mainly on shark biology but also kept my love for birds alive by joining several research projects with the lab. Over the last few years, my passion for avifauna has turned from scientific to aesthetic, as my interest in photography has grown bigger and bigger. The geographic location of the Canary Islands is pretty unique because the archipelago sits at the crossroads between Europe, Africa and the Americas, bringing birds from all three continents in addition to the highly endemic breeding species list. We might not get numbers in the thousands such as in other places, but we more than make up for it with diversity and often easy access to rare species for photo opportunities. Contact me if you want to go birdwatching to discover the local species as well as what is on tap as far as migrating birds!