Melissa Mayntz, Certified Master Naturalist

Melissa studied History Education at Western Michigan University and University of North Florida. 

Melissa has attended a wide variety of lectures, presentations, and seminars at birding festivals, nature centers, and conservation events. She has worked with licensed bird rehabilitators, bird feeder manufacturers, and naturalist publishers, and maintains an extensive library of birding reference books, ornithology texts, and field guides from around the world.

Melissa is currently pursuing certification as a Florida Master Naturalist and Land Steward through the University of Florida. 

Awards and Publications

Melissa received several writing awards throughout school, including independent poetry awards and publication in her high school's creative writing magazine. She was also awarded The Margaret Macmillan Writing Award for Undergraduate Students from Western Michigan University's Department of History and the College of Arts and Sciences in 1997.

Professionally, Melissa was first published as a freelance writer in 2003. Her work has appeared several times with National Wildlife Magazine, including Make Winter Your Best Birding Season (December/January 2014), Helping Backyard Birds Beat the Heat (August/September 2014), Help Birds Weather Winter (December/January 2016), and Bird Feeding: No Feeders Required (December/January 2017). Her articles are also included in the book Wildlife Gardening: Tips for Four Seasons from National Wildlife, published in 2018.

Melissa's first book, Migration: Exploring the Remarkable Journeys of Birds (Quadrille Publishing, 2020), offers a thorough overview of bird migration around the globe, from the myths that persist about this great journey to how birds navigate, when they travel, the purpose of migration, how migrating birds are adapting to changes in the twenty-first century, and more. The book includes detailed profiles of some of the world's most amazing migrants, and offers readers tips for how to keep birds flying for years to come.

Melissa's work about birding and wild birds has also appeared with American Senior Magazine (Winter Birding Is the Best; January/February 2016), the Visitors' Guide for the Biggest Week in American Birding (Birding 101: Do You Want to Be a Birder? and Binoculars for Beginning Birders; May 2015), Watching Backyard Birds Newsletter (Swiftly Spotted; Fall 2013), and WildBird Magazine (Specks in the City; September/October 2010). Her work can also be found on numerous blogs and other bird-friendly websites.