Biography

My name is Ima Knafl Akagawa. I’m a 12 year old Japanese-American birder and photographer. I am interested in observing birds in urban green spaces and documenting climate change’s impacts on birds. I am examining relationships between people, organisms, and environments.

I was drawn to bird photography after I incubated and raised six quail chicks. During the lockdown, we would bring them with us to a local green space. On numerous occasions, I observed Merlins attempting to predate them. I was immediately fascinated by the Merlins, which lead to a fascination with all birds.

When I was 11, my father gave me his Canon Rebel, which he had bought when I was born. Early on in life, it became apparent that I had “high defect” vision impairment in one eye from amblyopia. I also am neurodivergent and have an hereditary hand tremor. This made traditional schooling ineffective whereas by using photography I could connect to the natural world with optical enhancement. The camera with a large telephoto lens steadied my hand and resolve.

My 9 year old sibling, Ari, and I are homeschooled and my education is based in ecological studies. My family and I go birding almost daily. Ari has a blog called Love of Bugs. Ari and I read and research while our father drives us to birding sites, where I take photographs of most of the birds we see. In the evenings, the whole family reviews the photos of the day. 

I have kept this blog of all my activities since March 2023. It is a collaborative project for the whole family. My dad downloads photos and reformats the images. I select for the blog post. My brother helps to identify birds and locations. I research and write the descriptions on the posts. My mom helps with editing.

Most of my education has been interest-driven and experiential with multigenerational birders in the field. I have met some amazing people of diverse backgrounds and experiences through birding, who have encouraged my work and shared their expertise.