That beautiful face is Rachel Butek, the American Birding Association's Young Birder of the Year. Ms. Butek is not too far from me, she hails from western Wisconsin (chances are good we've birded the same areas) is a home schooler who is hoping to start college soon. She competed in the seven-month contest in which 10- to 18-year-old birders submit up to 52 pieces of work to be judged in four different modules: writing, photography, illustration, and field notebook. Even though contestants only needed to do 3...she did all 4! Go, Rachel! And bonus points for wearing a cute hat (as opposed to the dreadful Tilley Hat birders seem so attached to).

You can read more about Rachel over at the ABA blog.