In 2019, Luke Thompson was visiting the Canadian Rockies, his heart set on spotting a spruce grouse.
The best way to do so, a local birder had told him, was to wake up at 4:30 a.m. and slowly drive the dusky gravel roads.
“My parents did a little groaning when I asked, but they woke up and took me,” Thompson says.
At 15 years old, the Signal Mountain resident is an accomplished birder – and not just for his age. His life list boasts more than 500 species spanning 17 states and three countries. Last fall, he recorded the second-ever cinnamon teal, a species of duck, in Hamilton County history.
Thompson’s love for birds began at age 6 when he came across a field guide to world birds at the public library. He brought it home and began to draw their images. Soon, he was identifying the ones he saw at his feeder: titmice, chickadees, finches.