On October 30th, we will welcome Holly Merker to campus for a public lecture at 7:00 pm in Winston (lower level of Student Center)

Holly Merker is a professional birding guide, award-winning author, podcaster, and lecturer who provides nature-based wellness programs for people of all ages. Combining backgrounds in art therapy, nature and forest therapy, wellness counseling, mindfulness mentoring, and bird identification, she is a global advocate for the practice of Mindful Birding.

Holly has co-authored two books which guide readers into optimizing the wellness benefits birds provides us, including the award-winning Ornitherapy: For Your Mind, Body, and Soul (Crossley Books, 2021), and The Power of Birdwatching (Die Kraft Der Vogel Beobachtung, Freya verlag, 2023 - available in Europe only). She is also co-host and co-producer of the Mindful Birding Podcast and is the founder of the Mindful Birding Network.

In 2022, Holly was honored to be the recipient of the ABA Conservation and Education Award given by the American Birding Association for her work in both those areas involving birds.

In her free time, Holly spends every possible moment practicing Ornitherapy, which she credits in helping defeat breast cancer, restoring her health mentally and physically. https://ornitherapy.com/hollymerker
This event is sponsored by the Center for the Environment with generous support from the Environmental Lectureship Fund established by Ann O’Keefe (P’24). The theme of the lecture ties in nicely with the SLU Thrives initiative.