Alex Harper

Alex discovered his love for wildlife in the subtropical green spaces of urban Miami and the Everglades of South Florida at a very young age. By high school he was leading bird-watching walks for the local Audubon Society and assisting biologists in removing invasive Burmese pythons from the Everglades.

With his interests in wildlife and earth sciences fostered by his communities in South Florida, Alex remained in state to receive a bachelor’s in environmental science. He quickly set his sights west and spent several years involved in seasonal biological field work in the Southwest and Rockies, working on various migratory and breeding bird censusing projects. Alex is also interested in exploring the Caribbean, Southeast Asia, and Latin America and has spent a season guiding as a naturalist in northwestern Brazil.

He began spending time in Alaska in 2016 where he got his feet wet as a kayak guide and naturalist in Kenai Fjords National Park before leading small groups around the Kenai and up to Denali National Park the following summers. From there, he headed to Saint Paul Island in the Bering Sea, serving as a bird-watching guide for visitors to the island. He is especially passionate about exploring Alaska; he makes frequent trips around the far corners of the state with his camera to photograph wildlife, identify wildflowers, and absorb the cultural tones of remote Alaskan villages.

Alex now spends his winters in Las Vegas, Nevada, where he explores the Mojave Desert and serves as a biologist conducting environmental impact assessments on migratory birds for solar and wind facilities. He serves as a voting member of the Nevada Bird Records Committee and is an active member with the city's Audubon chapter. He believes that it is important to connect people with nature whenever possible, well-aware that it is through this exposure and understanding that the natural world can be preserved and the human spirit enriched.