Alex Rinkert

Alex Rinkert is a local bird enthusiast who grew up in Ben Lomond and completed his ecology degree at UC Santa Cruz in 2015. Alex is an avid birder that has worked with the US Fish and Wildlife Service and the Ornithological Society of America. He is currently a senior biologist at the San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory. Alex sees a naturalist as someone who is curious about the natural world. That curiosity could be of one specific thing, or everything. Although Alex enjoys his naturalist career path, it is hard to get a foothold for biology and conservation jobs. Alex thinks one way to get new people involved as naturalists is to offer free field trips and to have a welcoming environment. Alex found that Santa Cruz has a large naturalist community, but he thinks it would be beneficial if naturalists that focused on different taxonomic expertise intermingled more.