Learn about our mission. Meet our team, board of directors & partners.
Our Mission
Since 2014, MYBirdClub - a 501(c)(3) - has established a proven record of creating a fun, club environment while teaching kids and adults about birds, their habitats, natural history and conservation.
MYBirdClub benefits kids by getting them outside and connecting them to nature with other kids. Experiencing the outdoors is proven to reduce stress, positively affect mood, and in some studies improve academic outcomes.
MYBirdClub also ultimately benefits birds by inspiring the next generation of birders, conservationists and environmentalists.
MYBirdClub helps instill a desire to care for birds and shows kids and adults how they can weave personal conservation actions and efforts into their everyday lives. We share easy conservation practices that kids and adults can adopt – whether community science or personal efforts like bird friendly coffee and native plantings.
Our Team
Amy Simso Dean
Favorite Bird: Turkey Vulture
Founder, Executive Director, Guide - Amy has been birding for over 30 years. She founded MYBirdClub in 2014 in a Minneapolis Public Elementary School. She also co-founded The Kestrels (an inclusive birding club for MN women) where she organizes bird-related events and field trips. Amy also volunteers with MN Ornithologists Union talking about birds at the MN State Fair.
In 2010 she started volunteering for The Raptor Center’s education department - giving tours and presenting live bird programs. Now she works there part time in a variety of roles.
In 2024 she became a MN Master Naturalist.
As much as she loves birding, she really loves getting people, especially kids, excited about birds and conservation.
Lisa Keitel
Favorite Bird: Female Wood Duck
Program Leader, Guide - Lisa has been a Minnesota Master Naturalist since 2017. She is an experienced naturalist teaching school-aged students in outdoor education settings.
She volunteers with the education and birding programming for the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area. Lisa created bird clubs for Gilda’s Club Twin Cities (a group serving cancer patients and survivors) and for neurodiverse young adults at Minnesota Independence College and Community in Richfield.
She received the Minnesota Ornithologist's Union Volunteer of the Year award in 2019. Birding with new birders of any age is her true passion.
Julie Brophy
Favorite Bird: The bird YOU see on our walk which makes you say “WOW!”
Program Leader, Guide - Julie and Amy teamed up to launch MYBirdClub in 2014. She has engaged thousands of students and teachers in learning about the seasonal migration of birds and other species in her work at with Journey North, an online education program.
A passionate local birder and Naturalist herself, Julie has also been a co-leader of bird and nature walks at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum for 10+ years.
Maximillian Borge
Favorite Bird: Kookabura
Guide, Board Member - Max most recently worked as a Naturalist and Outreach Coordinator at the University of Minnesota's Raptor Center.
Since traveling to Costa Rica in high school to assist with Sea Turtle conservation, Max has been fascinated with the outdoors and the flora/ fauna that we share it with. Since graduating with a degree in Environmental Studies Max has spent most of his professional life working as a classroom educator, an environmental educator, and a Zookeeper.
MYBird Club has provided Max with the opportunity to further encourage empathy for the outdoors with the local community.
Scarlet Fitzsimmons
Favorite Bird: American Woodcock
Guide - Scarlet is an accomplished naturalist who has dedicated her career to helping people discover the wonders of nature and outdoor recreation. While earning her degree from the University of Minnesota, Scarlet worked at the Raptor Center and became interested in trying to see some wild owls. This led her to take a transformative trip to Sax-Zim Bog, where she discovered her love for birdwatching.
Through numerous outdoor adventures and roles at the Bell Museum, Como Park Zoo, and Kroening Nature Center, Scarlet has honed her bird identification skills and acquired ample experience leading diverse groups in bird walks and environmental programs.
Scarlet co-founded The Kestrels (an inclusive birding club in MN) where she leads and organizes bird walks, annual trips to Sax-Zim Bog, and other bird-themed events.
Our Board
John Harris
Favorite Bird: Blue Jay
Chair - What sparked your interest in birding and/or nature awareness? I've always been interested in the nature around us. After moving to the Twin Cities, I developed a fascination with how nature continues to thrive amongst all our human disruptions, and my interest in birds and birding developed hand in hand with this. It started with a backyard feeder, identifying the birds my children and I saw and heard, and has progressed into exploring what birds are in our neighborhood using Merlin with my kids.
How do you connect to the mission of MYBC? My youngest child is very interested in learning about nature, with a specific interest in birds. While searching for activities to foster this interest, we went on our first MYBirdClub outing. I loved the child-focused educational adventure that this provided. I felt it was an excellent organization that could help spark the next generation's interest in the natural world around us.
What do you do when you are not outside or birding? I love board games, card games, and role playing games. I try to spend as much time as I can around a table enjoying the company of friends and family.
Wendy Giannattasio
Favorite Bird: Ruby-Throated Hummingbird
Treasurer - My love for birding began in college when I enrolled in an Ornithology course. In the weekly lab we explored different types of habitats and identified birds through sight and sound. I remember the thrill of seeing my first incredibly blue Indigo Bunting and the first time I saw a little Saw-Whet Owl.
After college I taught seventh grade Life Science and Outdoor Education for five years in Stoughton, WI. Through birding I learned many things, but the most valuable life lesson is the more you look, the more you see. I am really excited about the work MYBirdClub is doing sharing a love and knowledge of birds and helping inspire a love of nature in the next generation.
Nora Bezanson
Favorite Bird: Willow Ptarmigan
Board Member - Nora has been birding ever since her mom took her to Eloise Butler in 2017. As a nature lover, she was hooked. Now 16 and a sophomore, Nora looks to show other kids the fun of bird watching and being in the outdoors. When not outside squinting through binoculars, she also enjoys indulging in nerdy TV shows and relaxing with her cat, Lucy.
Nate Adams
Favorite Bird: Black-Crowned Night Heron
Board Member - I have always enjoyed being outside: I would be out there every chance I got! I worked on yard projects with my Grandpa when I was young. My friends and I created our own Herpetology Club in elementary school. My Mom enjoyed watching the birds in our backyard and I started watching them too. Birding really “clicked” with me and became my number one hobby.
I am a strong believer that the outdoors is good for your outlook on life and also good for your physical health. I was fortunate to have a childhood where people exposed me to the outdoors. I am passionate about passing that onto others. I believe that my generation will play a pivotal role in conservation and I think it is vital to educate people on the benefits of caring for our environment and the consequences of neglecting it. Often in life, you do not appreciate what you see in front of you until it is gone.
Caring about birds goes beyond their beauty and fascinating nature. I think birds can tell us many things about what is going on with the environment and the state of our planet. I’m excited to be involved with teaching kids about the wonders of nature and contributing to an organization that I believe in!
Melissa Sorenson
Favorite Bird: TBD
Treasurer - I have been an avid birder for the last 10 years or so and love nature and being outdoors! I have been interested in birding and nature since I was a little girl growing up in the upper peninsula of Michigan. My “grandmother”, a lovely elderly lady who lived in our upstairs duplex apartment had a neat feeder outside her kitchen window. I would often sit with her in the morning in awe of what birds would land there.
When the Evening Grosebeaks appeared she would lament that cold weather was coming. My Dad bought me my first pair of binoculars and we would go to our lake cottage in search of Bald Eagles which were much more of a rarity back in the 70s.
I love MYBirdClub's mission to get kids outside birding and enjoying nature. I wish this club would have been available to me when I was younger!
Joining the board as a treasurer is a wonderful opportunity to get more connected with what I find to be a passion of mine: Birding!
Thank you to our partner organizations.
We could not get kids out birding for free without our partners’ valuable support.
You can learn more about each by clicking on their logos.
