Evelyn Miller stands with her 4-H project that earned her a spot at the Ohio State Fair. (Photo by Sheri Trusty)

BY SHERI TRUSTY

OAK HARBOR – There is a reason that 11-year-old Evelyn Miller was awarded the Grand Champion for Natural Resources award at the Ottawa County Fair for her Ohio Birds Habitat 4-H project. She turned her passion for birding into a way to better understand her world, and she helped the world better understand the importance of birds.

Evelyn, an upcoming sixth grader at Oak Harbor Intermediate School, has been birding with her parents, John and Jennifer Miller, her whole childhood. Eventually, their passion became her own.

“I’ve been birding since I was really little because my parents were into it,” she said. “As I got older, I found I liked it a lot.”

Last year, Evelyn completed the first year of a two-year Ohio Birds Habitat 4-H project. This year, she took the project to an entirely new level, traveling around Northwest Ohio searching for birds, identifying birds, and collecting data that she meticulously recorded in online spreadsheets.

She visited many birding hotspots including Magee Marsh Wildlife Area, Maumee Bay State Park, Metzger Marsh and Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge.

“Howard Marsh is my favorite because I really like the ducks,” she said.

Jennifer said they began actively birding this year during Evelyn’s spring break in early April.

“We were all over the place. I put a lot of miles on my Jeep,” Jennifer said. “It’s a family thing. My husband’s a birder, and my parents are birders.”

Evelyn Miller won the Grand Champion for Natural Resources award for her Ohio Birds Habitat 4-H project at the Ottawa County Fair. (Photo by Sheri Trusty)

By the time Evelyn faced the 4-H judges, she had identified 65 different species of birds, including her favorites, the Ruby-throated Hummingbird, American Woodcock and Black-necked Stilt. When she visited F.A. Seiberling Nature Realm in Akron, a Black-capped Chickadee landed on her hand.

“It was my Snow White experience,” she said. “It was really fun.”

Evelyn’s project did not stop with birding. She engaged in many educational adventures, including a trip to the Cleveland Museum of Natural History and a visit to Charles Tummonds State Nature Preserve, where she took a guided nature walk and made a replica of a Mourning Dove nest.

To meet the project’s leadership and citizenship requirements, Evelyn helped design a bird book display at Harris/Elmore Public Library, helped with a beach cleanup at Magee Marsh, led a bird walk at Maumee State Park, and gave a presentation on birds at the June 4 Friends of Magee Marsh meeting, where she shared her large binder filled with data and photos.

“My presentation followed a talk by a man from Stone Lab. He was looking at my data afterwards,” she said.

Evelyn’s hard work and dedication to birding earned a blue ribbon, a Grand Champion plaque, and a trip to the Ohio State Fair, where she will compete this week.

“I was really surprised I got the plaque,” she said.

When the State Fair ends, Evelyn won’t put her binoculars away. She’s not done birding, and she’s not done learning.

“I want to learn my bird calls better,” she said. “I’ve only learned one, and it’s the very annoying Red-winged Blackbird.”