Mya-Rose Craig (born 2002), also known as Birdgirl, is an English ornithologist, environmental activist, and author. She became known from a young age for her birdwatching achievements, including becoming the youngest person to see half of the world's bird species and holding a Guinness World Record for birding on all seven continents.
Early life and education She was born in Bristol, England. Her father, Christopher Craig, is an engineer, and her mother, Helena Craig, is a lawyer of Bangladeshi heritage. From an early age, Craig developed a strong interest in ornithology. She began birdwatching as a small child and launched a conservation blog at age eleven, writing about birding, conservation, environmental issues and environmental inclusion. In October 2014, she wrote for the American Birding Association blog and independently raised approximately $35,000 to support clean-up efforts following an oil spill in Bangladesh's Sundarbans region, with funds directed to an environmental protection initiative linked to Mark Ruffalo's Water Defense project.
Ornithology Craig's birdwatching was cultivated in childhood after her parents took family trips throughout her youth. She went on her first birdwatching trip at just nine days old. In 2009, at the age of seven, she undertook a "big year", aiming to observe the maximum number of bird species within a specific geographical area over a calendar year. She successfully identified 325 bird species in the UK, making her the youngest individual worldwide to accomplish this challenge. In 2012, when Craig was 10, her parents decided to take her out of school for six months and homeschool her themselves, to take her on an extensive trip. The family travelled for six weeks in Colombia, followed by six weeks in Bolivia, and concluded with nine weeks in Peru, returning home for two weeks between each trip to allow her to reconnect with friends. Craig has followed her father's hobby, birdwatching, since childhood. Craig appeared on the 2010 BBC Four documentary "Twitchers: A Very British Obsession." Afterwards she appeared on Springwatch, Countryfile, and The One Show. Her first newspaper column "Birding Tales" was published in the Chew Valley Gazette when she was 12. At age 11, she started her blog Birdgirl to share her passion for birds. The following year, she campaigned to raise $35,000 for a Bangladeshi charity to deal with the 2014 Sundarbans oil spill. In 2015, after reaching Brown Bluff on the Antarctic Peninsula, Craig achieved a Guinness World Record for being the youngest female to birdwatch on all continents. By the age of seventeen, Craig had recorded sightings of more than 5,000 bird species worldwide. She achieved her 5,000th recorded sighting a rock bunting at the Castle of Loarre in northern Spain. On 31 August 2019, while birding near Manaus in Brazil, she observed a harpy eagle, a species she had described as the bird she most wished to see. The sighting also marked her observation of half the bird species listed on the IOC World Bird List, making her the youngest known individual to reach that milestone. By 2019, Craig's birding expeditions had taken her to thirty-eight countries across all seven continents, including Australia, Egypt, the Arctic aboard Greenpeace's research vessel MV Arctic Sunrise, and multiple visits to the Amazon rainforest. Craig's ornithological work has been closely connected to public engagement and conservation education. In 2015, after discovering the American Birding Association's teen birding camps, she organised a similar youth birding camp in the United Kingdom, an initiative which later evolved into the charity Black2Nature. She holds a British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) bird ringing permit holder and carries out research through bird ringing and bird nest box surveys which means checking, surveying, carrying scientific procedures' and recording.
Activism Craig is an advocate for increased equality in naturalism and environmentalism and has campaigned to improve diversity in conservation work. Reflecting on her childhood experiences with birdwatching, Craig recalls the predominantly white and male demographic of the community. Initially feeling comfortable due to her long-standing involvement, around the age of 13 or 14, she began to perceive the lack of diversity within the birdwatching community as unusual. People questioned her interest in the hobby, prompting her to ponder why certain demographics were more prevalent in such pursuits. This realisation sparked her curiosity about inclusivity and diversity in nature-related activities prompting her to advocate for inclusivity in outdoor activities. Craig created her first nature conference, attended by naturalists including Bill Oddie, at the age of 13. Her older sister's reduced birding time after having a baby spurred Craig to seek out other young naturalists. Discovering the American Birding Association's teen summer camps online, her parents proposed organising similar camps herself. Identifying a lack of diversity in birding communities, particularly among British Bangladeshi backgrounds, she founded Black2Nature in 2015 at 14 to run nature camps for minority ethnic children. The initiative addresses the underrepresentation of these communities in environmental fields by offering urban youth opportunities to explore and engage with nature, aiming to prompt change and promote equity within the environmental sector. Craig was a "Bristol 2015 Ambassador" during the city's year as European Green Capital. In 2018, she contributed to Chris Packham's A People's Manifesto for Wildlife and was enlisted as the manifesto's "minister of diversity". Craig campaigned with Greta Thunberg at the Youth Strike 4 Climate event in Bristol in February 2020. She has organised conferences featuring celebrity nature enthusiasts such as Bill Oddie, Chris Packham, and RSPB chief executive Beccy Speight. In September 2020, Craig staged the most northerly climate strike, by protesting on an Arctic ice floe north of Svalbard, at 82.2° N, highlighting the urgency of climate action ahead of the United Nations Summit on Biodiversity. In August 2022, she was announced as an Oxfam Ambassador and spoke on their stage at Glastonbury Festival. Craig is also an ambassador for Greenpeace, the National Trust The Wildlife Trusts, The Beaver Trust and the RSPCA.
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