The East Cascades Bird Alliance is pleased to announce the winner of its first annual Youth Scholarship – Mason Jeffries, a student at Trinity Lutheran in Bend, Oregon. The scholarship will cover the cost of the registration for the 2025 Southeast Arizona Birding Festival and a stipend to help cover the costs of traveling to and from the festival, staying in Tucson, and incidentals (up to $2,500), and a year’s membership to ECBA.
Mason has been birding for much of his life and has been contributing to the birding community in Central Oregon by submitting eBird checklists, leading local birding walks in his neighborhood and for Think Wild, and helping to install Kestrel nesting boxes.
Mason finds inspiration in Frank Lloyd Wright’s quote, “Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature. It will never fail you”. Mason likes this quote because he always feels connected to nature wherever he goes.
As for many of us, birding gets him outside more and helps him to understand how incredible birds are.
