Dr Mya-Rose Craig (the British-Bangladeshi ‘Birdgirl!)

Dr Mya-Rose Craig is otherwise known as ‘Birdgirl’, a hopeful bright voice for the future of our feathered friends! She is now one of the world’s most prominent ornithologist and environmentalists.

But also as a British Bangladeshi, a campaigner for diversity (she founded Black2Nature that organises free days out and summer camps for ethnic minorities, when she was just 12!)

Raised by a family who travelled widely, she has become the youngest person on earth to see half the birds in the world (including a Harpy Eagle in the Brazilian Amazon when she was just 17).  At just nine days old, she was on the Scilly Isles observing a European visiting Lesser Kestrel!

An active campaigner against palm oil, GMO, oil and plastic pollution, she also campaigns against climate change and for animal welfare. She’s a particular fan of Bolivian Ruth Alipaz who ran away from her indigeneous tribe to take a tree, then returned to persuade her community to refuse a logging contract, and instead build a lodge for eco-tourism!

She is also not afraid to call out some racists in the early USA conservation movement, who protected trees, but evicted indigeneous people from their lands, leaving them with no income.

Read Birdlife (Mya’s first book!)

Birdgirl is an award-winning book by Mya, who today has seen over 5000 types of birds (over half the world’s species). Each single bird a treasure, each sighting a moment of joy and stillness.

This is Maya’s journey, defined by her love for these extraordinary creatures. Because large or small, brown, patterned or jewelled, there is something about birds that makes us, even for just moments at a time, lift our eyes away from our lives and up to the skies. The perfect read for any young or aspiring environmentalists.