Lynn Miller | Paradise, MI
2024 Board Candidate

I was a Science Teacher for 21 years before retiring, having taught everything from Biology to Ecology, Chemistry, Physical Science, Earth Science, and Project Lead The Way-Biomedical Science. I started our district’s Science Olympiad program as well, leading the middle and high school teams to 13 consecutive state tournament appearances. Many of my former students have moved on to science-based professions due to their interactions with the program. I have also been a member of numerous school/district improvement committees. I also worked at Vermilion CG Station in 2000, for WPBO banding and counting passerines for both spring and fall; while also helping the Biologist in charge of the local Piping Plover nesting. I worked in the same capacity for Birds Without Borders in Wisconsin (based out of the Milwaukee Zoological Society) at three sites, counting, monitoring nests, and banding during the spring, summer, and fall of 1999. As part of a graduate student songbird research project in the Big Horn Mountains of Wyoming (summer, 1996), we doubled the amount of research done at that time on passerines regarding point-count surveys and the associated vegetative work. We have also participated in numerous Christmas Bird Counts, and now live one mile west of the Whitefish Point Lighthouse full-time; on Lake Superior. This proximity to the Point gives us a wonderful full-time perspective of migration in spring and fall.

Why do you want to serve as a board member for Michigan Audubon, and what would you like to contribute?

Whitefish Point is an extremely important migration corridor for all birds. There is a unique aspect about the place considering its proximity away from the coasts. As such, it is equally important that we not forget this significance, maintaining the quality offerings present for all birders, from casual to professional. There is also an educational standpoint, which needs to be part of the Whitefish Point history’s continued story. Due to our proximity, that is an easy tie for us to help continue. Awareness of the prominence of birds to this area is paramount to the continued success as a migration stopover in both spring and fall. By being in such proximity, we will be involved with that aspect, hoping to continue the educational and habitat importance for the birds we all come to watch. Working at an educational camp in Wisconsin, the center helped provide visiting school groups with important environmental lessons as well as outdoor experiences such as snow-shoeing and tracking. Many students and teachers commented that the interaction was the highlight of their school year, regardless of season. The education leadership we provided from various lessons taught helped guide me into teaching full-time and the lessons that were taught there are still pertinent today.

What is your favorite bird and why?

Northern Goshawk. As part of the summer Wyoming project, I was lucky enough to be deep in the Big Horns and walked through a female Goshawk’s territory. She came at me, with her claws born, and since then I have appreciated the birds’ ferocity. I still have the marks to prove it.