A Summer of Sparks: My Experience at the Kellogg Bird Sanctuary

Bella Oliva holding Trumpeter Swan Happy.

This summer I had the privilege of being the Environmental Educator at the Kellogg Bird Sanctuary. As the Environmental Educator, I got to lead tours, participate in various Bird Sanctuary programs, and create and run our Wild Wednesday programs.

I cannot stress how little I knew before coming to work at the Bird Sanctuary. I remember during my initial interview, when asked about my bird knowledge, I said something along the lines of, “I could probably pick a robin out of a lineup”. I’d once again like to thank Misty for taking a chance on me after giving that, frankly concerning, answer. Knowing so little about birds, however, gave me the opportunity to learn so much this summer.

One of the things I had known nothing about was the hobby of birding itself. I came to the sanctuary knowing that birding existed, but only through an episode of the British crime/comedy show Death in Paradise that I watched with my parents. I must admit that that episode made the world of birding seem a lot more cutthroat than it appears to be in real life.

A big part of my role as Environmental Educator has been engaging with guests that come and visit the sanctuary, and participants that attend events alongside the sanctuary. A safe point to begin conversation with a stranger in these moments has been birding. Asking someone about their birder status is always a good conversation starter, because in this crowd you will always find either a birder or someone who knows a birder. If I found a birder, my followup question would always be, “what got you into birding?”. It’s a question that made people light up and excitedly recount their first experiences of birding and what their “spark bird” was. Knowing nothing about birding, I had never even heard this term before. I assume most people reading this know what that term means, but for those of you like me who are new to the world of birding, a “spark bird” refers to the first bird that got someone into birding.

I consider myself to be someone with a lot of hobbies and interests, but I had never encountered something that puts a name to the initial spark you feel picking up a lifelong hobby. I remember the first time I “successfully” sewed a pair of pants, and the time I crocheted this massive dinosaur for my mom, and when I first watched an episode of the Twilight Zone with my dad. All of those events were sparks in my life, but I had never thought about them that way until I came here.

This summer I got to introduce a lot of kids to things they had never seen before. Whether it was dragonfly nymphs, bird bones, or “Pepper”, the western hognose snake, I had the pleasure of seeing kids discover something new every week. And while I may not have turned every kid into a nature expert, I hope that I sparked some love of learning and nature that grows with them as they get older. I know that I learned so much from this summer, and know that that knowledge has inspired lifelong curiosity about things I’ve never thought about before. As I go back to my “normal” life of late night study sessions and midnight Raising Cane’s runs, I am confident that this summer has sparked a newfound love of nature, and am excited to have that long after I leave KBS.   

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Bella Oliva is a current undergraduate student at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor pursuing a Biochemistry major with a minor in Spanish. She was the 2026 Environmental Educator at the W.K. Kellogg Bird Sanctuary.