(December 17, 2025) Little did Don Burlett know that a sports injury would introduce him to birding, an interest that would take him to all seven continents, connect him with people around the world and lead him to serving as president of the Oakland Bird Alliance in southeastern Michigan for 18 years.
As a young boy Burlett was fascinated by rocks, constellations, planets and even insects. It was after sustaining an injury playing volleyball that he was forced to slow down and his passion for birding took flight. One day during his recovery, he watched ducks gather on a body of water that was dethawing from the warmth of a nearby powerplant near Cleveland. He used his Peterson’s Field Guide to note the species he was seeing and how they behaved.
This interest in how birds behave is connected to his training as a scientist. Burlett has a PhD in organic chemistry and, for him, seeing a new bird is a small act of discovery.
He honed his bird identification skills with a member of the Greater Akron Audubon Society. As he tracked his sightings he began to travel across the US to spot rarer birds. Today, he’s birded on all seven continents, in forty-eight countries, in all fifty of the United States, and in most provinces of Canada.
For Burlett, birding through travel is an opportunity to keep learning. He prepares for trips by studying intensely, often working through guidebooks multiple times. Some of his recent trip locations include China, Indonesia, and Morocco! He now keeps four lists of species counts, a yard list (126), a Michigan list (357) an American Birding Association (ABA) list (775), and a world list (6262).
Burlett served as president of the Oakland Bird Alliance for nearly two decades. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Burlett kept chapter members connected by launching “Lockdown Birding,” which encouraged chapter members and volunteers to track local bird sightings from their backyards and share them with one another. Some volunteers shared hundreds of sightings.
Burlett stepped back from his role as president and currently serves as Program Officer and supports the Oakland Bird Alliance Young Birders Club, a program that engages youth in learning opportunities and outings. Outside of his chapter work, he teaches a Birding 101 continuing education course at Schoolcraft College in Livonia, Michigan where he teaches how to bird effectively, among many other topics, and poses the simple question to students “why go birding?”
For Burlett, the answer to this question is more than just birds. Birding is also about sharing food, knowledge, and experiences with the people around him. Today, Burlett continues to connect with others, build community and seek understanding of nature through birding.
