Nature. I’ve always loved it. I always will.
A walk with the dog in the canyons near my home.
A hike with friends on trails in the local mountains.
Relaxing on my patio watching the birds at my feeder.
As long as I'm outside., I feel complete.
I feel alive. I feel at home!
As a child growing up in the San Joaquin Valley in California, I loved spending time outside, doing things like playing ditch ‘em with my sister and friends or building forts made out of tumbleweeds. I also loved having pets…lots of ‘em. I had dogs, cats, fish, hamsters, and birds. I even had sea monkeys! Always wanted a horse, but was content to ride the horses and ponies that lived close by.
I spent a lot of time playing softball and volleyball growing up. Also loved to play cards and board games.
After getting my AA degree, I started my career as a legal secretary. A few years later, I felt the need to spread my wings outside our small town in the Central Valley. I moved to San Diego and got another legal secretary position.
Since I never lost my love for animals, I’ve participated in a number of different nature related activities and organizations over the years. For close to 15 years, I volunteered with Project Wildlife rehabbing orphandand injured wildlife. Most of the time, I was feeding baby birds and cleaning cages, but I was also lucky enough to help force feed an injured hawk or two a quarter of a mouse and bottle feed baby raccoons!
I was involved with organizing and planning the first bird festivals in San Diego County. Because of San Diego’s huge diversity of wildlife, especially birds, birders would come from around the country to participate in the bird festivals with the hopes of adding some life birds to their life list. Getting up in the wee hours of the morning to help with Christmas Bird Counts is also something I’ve enjoyed over the years.
At one point, I became interested in mammal tracking, and spent several years volunteering for the San Diego Tracking Team. As citizen scientists, we’d gather data that would provide needed information on wildlife populations to local agencies.
In 1993, I became a Volunteer Naturalist at Blue Sky Ecological Reserve, and it’s something I still enjoy to this day. I love educating families on the importance and beauty of our natural areas and all that live there.
I know this is a lot to read. But if you read this far, we probably have some things in common. So, click the button below and contact me!
© Anna Gateley-Stanton
