Whitney and Jonathan Yoerger are outdoor enthusiasts and birders who favor eco-friendly adventures and travel.

We’ve been a team since 2006, growing together and finding joy in nature — on foot or by bicycle, at outdoor archery ranges, in parks and wildlife sanctuaries, in canoes and kayaks, in tents and then a camper, and occasionally even in fishing waders. Our love of the outdoors has inspired an array of hobbies, leading us to the wild and wonderful pursuit of birding.

Between the two of us, we have a variety of art degrees (BFA + M.A.; BFA + MFA), and both work full-time in communications roles, in higher education and the bicycle industry. Not having science degrees doesn’t affect our appreciation and enjoyment of nature and wild animals and places. Our creative tendencies allow us to look at the natural world and process the environments and flora and fauna in diverse ways.

We didn’t know much about birds or birding when we met as college students in Savannah, Georgia. Our birding story began seven years later on a small creek near the Chesapeake Bay in Annapolis, Maryland.

The nesting Osprey we saw while floating in our canoe (and their fishing success while we failed to catch white perch) sparked our interest in birds. We booked a campsite on the Eastern Shore near a hawk watch station shortly after, in 2014. It was late September, and the migration of American Kestrels, Merlins, Sharp-shinned Hawks, and Broad-winged Hawks was in full swing. We spent the entire weekend in awe at the hawk watch platform observing the spectacle from more experienced birders.

Afterward, we got our first binoculars, relocated to Hong Kong for 18 months, and fell down the rabbit hole of birding.

Our favorite birds

If you ask us which birds we like best, we’ll each give you a different answer. Jonathan is a big fan of ducks, shrikes, raptors, and kingfishers. Whitney’s avian obsessions include swifts, warblers, wrens, and whatever she is looking at at the time.

Our birding style

For us, birding can be exciting and enjoyable while also being low-impact. We primarily focus our birding efforts on central Indiana except for occasional travel. We prefer birding within a five-mile radius of our house, birding by bicycle, and exploring in our Hiker Trailer, a 5-foot-by-nine-foot teardrop camper.

On occasion, we lead bird walks and field trips independently and as volunteers for local birding organizations. Check out the good work of Amos Butler Audubon Society and Indiana Audubon Society.