Youngest person to birdwatch on all continents (female)
Who
Mya-Rose Craig
What
13:234 year(s):day(s)
Where
Antarctica (Brown Bluff)
When

Ornithologist Mya-Rose Craig (UK, b. 7 May 2002) – aka "Birdgirl" – is the youngest person to have birdwatched on all seven continents, arriving at her seventh and final continent – Brown Bluff on the Antarctic Peninsula – on 27 December 2015 aged 13 years 234 days. During her Antarctic trip, Mya-Rose documented emperor penguins (Aptenodytes forsteri) – the largest species of penguin, snow petrels (Pagodroma nivea) and Antarctic shags (Leucocarbo bransfieldensis) to name just a few species.


Mya-Rose first birdwatched on the other six continents on the following dates:

  • Europe: Compton Martin, Somerset, UK (7 May 2005 – her third birthday) Example species recorded: European robin (Erithacus rubecula), great tit (Parus major)
  • Africa: Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens, Cape Town, South Africa (19 May 2006) Example species recorded: southern double-collared sunbird (Cinnyris chalybeus), Cape bulbul (Pycnonotus capensis), forest canary (Crithagra scotops), rufous-breasted sparrowhawk (Accipiter rufiventris)
  • Asia: Bangladesh (20 December 2006) Example species recorded: bronze-winged jacana (Metopidius indicus), grey-headed fish eagle (Haliaeetus ichthyaetus), Asian openbill stork (Anastomus oscitans)
  • South America: Ecuador (9 August 2010) Example species recorded: Andean condor (Vultur gryphus), foothill screech owl (Megascops roraimae), Napo sabrewing (Campylopterus villaviscensio), giant antpitta (Grallaria gigantea)
  • North America: Atlanta, Georgia, USA (28 August 2012) Example species recorded: ruby-throated hummingbird (Archilochus colubris), pileated woodpecker (Dryocopus pileatus), Carolina chickadee (Poecile carolinensis), white-breasted nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis)
  • Oceania: Queensland, Australia (22 July 2013) Example species recorded: wedge-tailed shearwater (Ardenna pacifica), providence petrel (Pterodroma solandri), fairy prion (Pachyptila turtur)

Mya-Rose is on a mission to see all bird species in the wild – by the age of 17, she had already logged 5,000 species, which is around half of the total known.

She is also a vocal campaigner for greater equality in naturalism and environmentalism. At the age of 14, she set up the charity Black2Nature to raise awareness about the lack of VME (visual minority ethnic) representation in the sector and also to proactively do something to rectify that by running nature camps for city kids who get little opportunity to visit the countryside and engage with the natural world. In recognition of her advocacy work, the University of Bristol awarded her an honorary Doctorate of Science in early 2020; aged 17 at the time, Dr Mya-Rose Craig is believed to be the youngest person in the UK to have received this honour.

On 20 September 2020, working with GreenPeace, Mya-Rose staged a solo climate strike on a fragment of sea-ice in the Arctic at a latitude of 82.4°N, which is the most northerly climate-change protest.