Galen Goodrum

Galen has always loved nature even from a young age, spending most of his time outdoors and his parents instilled in him a knowledge of conservation and respect for living things. His earliest birding memories are, like a lot of us, from watching birds come to his backyard feeders.

In the fall of 2020, Galen began to truly pursue birding after a trip to AZ with his dad. On the last day before their flight out, Galen and his dad went to a national wildlife refuge in Albuquerque, New Mexico and ran into a local birder. While talking with him a bird sang and the birder paused, cocked his head and said, “Blue Grosbeak”. “You can tell what it is by the sound?!”, Galen exclaimed, amazed that this wizardry was even possible. “After a bit of practice and time you learn the songs”, said the birder. Galen and his dad followed the sound of the bird and photographed what they would later identify as a Blue Grosbeak, just like the man had said. From then on, it was all about the birds for Galen.

Galen grew up in beautiful Asheville, NC and now lives in Hendersonville, NC, which is an amazing place for birding. He frequents all of the local birding hotspots regularly, and knows them very well. He is well-known locally for his ability to bird by ear and his specialty is warblers. Galen leads local bird walks as a volunteer and loves sharing his passion and love for birds and birding with others.