BOISE, Idaho — Ornithologists Jay and Heidi Carlisle met in 2008 through the Intermountain Bird Observatory (IBO).
At the time, Heidi was a volunteer while Jay had already been working with IBO for a decade.
Jay said he knew immediately Heidi’s dedication and love for birds matched his own.
“We ended up working together a lot, including some positions that required some skill in bird identification that we recruited Heidi for,” Jay said. “Then just over that time, we got to be great friends.”
The pair spent countless hours together doing fieldwork in Idaho, and even did some international travel, seeing amazing places together like Cape Town, South Africa.
“Maybe early on after a few years we had an inkling that there was something there, but I think we were both fighting it because of an age difference and it was not what we were expecting,” Jay said. “But then eventually… we came to our senses.”
The bird lovers started dating in 2016, eight years after they met, and in 2018, they got married.
In 2020, Jay and Heidi added one to their nest. Their baby boy, Felix, is just over six months old.
“He’s probably seen a lot more birds than other kids his age,” Heidi said.
“We certainly hope and expect he will at least be a bird appreciator – if not a lover,” Jay added.
Jay and Heidi love the work they do with birds, and they love doing it together.
“Biologists that study anything in nature – that time outside is something that we all cherish,” Jay said. “Finding somebody to enjoy that with… that makes it more fun to be able to share it with somebody who has the same passion for birds and nature.”
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