Auteur: Sarah Saunders

Mary is a former Professor and Chair of the Education Department at Michigan State University, who holds degrees in K-12 teaching and educational psychology. She has authored several books and is also an award-winning nature photographer having traveled the globe to study and photograph wildlife, particularly the nurturing behavior of animals with their young. Mary has dedicated her life to conservation through nature writing, photography, and teaching. Mary grew up in Chicago, but lived most of her life in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan, exploring the outdoors and kayaking whenever possible. The North American Nature Photography Association awarded Mary a prestigious Philip Hyde Conservation Grant for her work in protecting nesting shorebirds, work also recognized by The Florida Shorebird Alliance, the FWC: Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Conservation Foundation of the Gulf Coast and South County Healthy Living. Now Mary spends her summers in Michigan, involved as a Plover Ambassador and Monitor at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, focused on educating beachgoers about Great Lakes Piping Plovers.