Days spent hunting, berry-picking and exploring the wilderness of his rural backyard in Newfoundland sparked a fire that has lit his path ever since – even if he didn’t always realize it.
Jared took a particular interest in birds while working for a local conservation group, and soon became one of the most avid birders in the province. This new passion led him to explore city parks and isolated coves with equal excitement – enjoying nature, learning new things, chasing reports of rare birds across the province and even discovering a few of his own.
Traveling abroad for work or study provided opportunities to explore the natural history of far-flung places … following the light of that fire off many beaten paths.
Despite his “official” training as a health researcher (Ph.D. Medicine), Jared’s love of nature and sharing it with others increasingly led him “astray”. He began leading occasional bird & nature tours during his “spare time” as a graduate student, showing off his beautiful province to visitors from all over the world and creating his own new adventure along the way.
Jared currently runs a small tour business called Bird•The•Rock, and routinely leads trips at home and abroad for some of the best bird & nature travel companies in the world. These days, his travels are just as likely to find him in the Canadian Arctic or the jungles of Central America as in Newfoundland – but his heart is firmly planted on the island he calls home. Jared lives in St. John’s with his amazing wife Susan and their two fun-loving daughters Emma & Leslie.