Melissa Hafting has been birding since she was a young child, and she is sharing her love and knowledge about birds with young birders in British Columbia. In fact, she founded the BC Young Birders Program in 2014 and continues to run the program to this day, taking diverse youth out into nature. She also runs two blogs: The "British Columbia Rare Bird Alert" where she enjoys helping others with bird identification and sharing rare bird sightings across the province. She also runs the "Dare to Bird" website where she posts the youth birding trip reports, her own birding adventure reports, identification tools, tips and community events. In 2024, Melissa's first book, 'Dare to Bird - Exploring the Joy and Healing Power of Birds', was published by Rocky Mountain Books In 2025, Melissa received the King Charles the III Coronation Medal for her outstanding work in the community. She has a science background with concentrations in Veterinary Medicine, Agriculture and Geography. Melissa is passionate about promoting women and diversity in birding. She has guided privately in BC and has also guided the "Saskatchewan in Fall - Southbound Cranes and Geese Tour", and the Newfoundland tour for Avocet Tours. When not out birding, Melissa works as a conservation biologist in stock assessment of threatened and endangered salmon species.