Musa Murawih
You could say that Musa Murawih was born and raised in nature. To be exact, it was in a tent to a Bedouin family in central Sudan. It was there that he learned from a young age to identify all living things found in the vast area that his family roamed. Parents and older siblings passed on this common knowledge to young children, in a community which saw itself as part of nature, not separate from it. The survivalist lifestyle of his early years implanted in him a keen respect for the environment and a clear view of the need to conserve and protect natural resources.
Musa moved to the United States in 1999 to pursue a Master’s degree in international relations at the University of Denver. Ever since, he has travelled to 41 US states in pursuit of birds and other natural wonders. His birding trips have taken him to Alaska, Nova Scotia, Florida, the Lower Rio Grande Valley in Texas, SE Arizona, and many places in between. Internationally, he has birded in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. He’s a member of the Northern Virginia Bird Club and the Friends of Huntley Meadows.
Since he moved to Virginia in 2010, Musa has taken part in the Christmas Bird Count and the Virginia Breeding Bird Atlas. This year (2021) he will be co-leading a birding and nature program at Upton Hill Park in Arlington. The program is intended for underrepresented communities. He will also be responsible for a Breeding Bird Survey route in the Virginia mountains this summer.
A visit in 2004 to Crested Butte, CO during the peak of wildflower season enchanted him so much that he turned his Bowie, MD backyard into a native wildflower garden. The garden was later certified by the National Wildlife Federation as a wildlife habitat. He currently keeps another native garden at his Northern Virginia home.
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