This is BirdNote.

George Garcia loves making things.

For several years, he worked at the Chicago Public Library Maker Lab, helping people learn to build

their own creations.

When I got curious about birds, it was around technology at first.

There was this tool that I used called the Finch Robot.

With the Finch Robot, I was teaching teachers how to teach

kids how to code. George could program the little bird-shaped bot to sing, light up, or drive

along a path. And that got him thinking about a new kind of challenge. I knew that a finch was a bird,

but I didn't know what kind of bird it was. And so I got curious to know if I could find a finch was a bird, but I didn't know what kind of bird it was.

And so I got curious to know if I could find a finch around my neighborhood.

George did indeed find finches, as well as a welcoming community of bird enthusiasts.

It was around this time that I was thinking about how I could use my skills in helping people make things and create a space where people can explore how they can promote healthier

environments and richer biodiversity.

Today, that space is the Windy City Bird Lab, a community science group he founded that's inventing

new tools to study urban birds.

At our core, our mission is to bring awareness to birds in Chicago using technology, but

also bringing together these folks with different skill sets to be able to create new ways of advocating for birds.

Learn more about George's new tech creations for bird conservation in the latest season of Bring Birds Back.

Available in your favorite podcast app.

For Bird Note, I'm Mark Bramhill.