Alan Baczkiewicz has been an avid birder for forty years. His love for birdwatching began in his teens when he was a Junior Staff member at Beaver Meadows Audubon Center and led birding and nature walks at local birding hotspots. He created his blog, Basics of Birding, to help spread a love for birding and to teach those new to birdwatching the skills and advice they need to be successful at this exciting hobby. Alan searches for birds across the United States, and the continually growing list of birds he has spotted contains more than 400 species. He is a member of the Buffalo Ornithological Society, the Rochester Birding Association, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, and the American Birding Association. Alan earned his degree in environmental and forest biology and now teaches middle school science and social studies. He lives with his wife and son in western New York. They enjoy camping and traveling in New England.