Meet the Editorial Team and Contributors
The Joy of Birding is made possible by a dedicated group of volunteers and contributors. From writers and photographers to editors and field observers, this community-driven project thrives on shared passion for birds.
Managing Editor
Grace McCulloch
Grace McCulloch is the Community Science Project Leader at NH Audubon. She is the managing editor of New Hampshire Bird Records and coordinates eBird review in NH. Her graduate work at the University of New Hampshire focused on habitat for the vulnerable Saltmarsh Sparrow. In her free time, Grace loves photography, the coast, and hiking.
Text Editor
Dan Hubbard
Publication Assistant and Field Notes Editor
Kathryn Frieden
Kathryn started birding around 15 years ago when her children were all in college and she was faced with an empty nest. Since retirement ten years ago, she has volunteered for New Hampshire Bird Records starting with eBird data entry and evolving into a publication assistant, writing occasional articles and currently editing the Field Notes.
Season Editors
Katherine Towler, Jim Sparrell, & Ethan Ring Winter
Eric Masterson, Spring
Jason Pietrzak, Summer
Ben Griffith, Fall
Katherine Towler
Katherine Towler is the author of three novels and a memoir, and a former member of the faculty at Southern New Hampshire University in the MFA program in creative writing. She began birding seriously in New Hampshire fifteen years ago and has traveled to see birds in Vietnam, Colombia, Costa Rica, and other countries. She is a winter season editor for The Joy of Birding with her husband and birding partner, Jim Sparrell.
Assistants
Susan Burkhardt
Susan MacLeod
Marie Nickerson
Photo Editor
Wendy Chatel
Editorial Team
Ellen Estabrook
James Freitas
Pam Hunt
Iain MacLeod
Meera Mahadevan
Rebecca Suomala
Robert A. Quinn
Greg Tillman
Jon Woolf
Susan Wrisley
Editorial Team
James Freitas
James Freitas is a writer, editor, and birder whose work is in Hakai Magazine, The Atlantic, Atlas Obscura, and elsewhere. He writes a Substack newsletter, Rock & Hawk, where he shares his bird photography.
Editorial Team
Meera Mahadevan
Meera is a freelance journalist who has more than a decade of experience as a reporter. Her work has appeared in The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Philadelphia Inquirer and other publications. She is an avid birder and enjoys writing about nature.
Editorial Team
Iain MacLeod
Iain MacLeod is Executive Director of Squam Lakes Natural Science Center in Holderness, NH and President of the Board of NorthEast Hawk Watch. He worked for NH Audubon from 1988 to 2006. Iain does most of his birding in the NH Lakes Region and has been monitoring the Osprey and Bald Eagle nesting population in that area for over 25 years.
Editorial Team
Rebecca Suomala
Rebecca Suomala is a Biologist Emerita with NH Audubon. She worked for NH Audubon from 1988 to 2024 in a variety of positions. In 2005 she completed her master degree in Wildlife Ecology from the University of New Hampshire, conducting research into songbird migration stopover for her thesis. She is an avid birder, bird bander, and moth enthusiast.
eBird Reviewers
Zeke Cornell
Kathryn Frieden
Hector Galbraith
Pam Geiger
Nora Hanke
Lindsay Herlihy
Pam Hunt
Dylan Jackson
Ethan Ring
Rebecca Suomala
Susan Wrisley
Season Editors