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Editor's Note:��After learning about serious allegations against Jason Ward, the ̽����ѡ��has severed��its ties with him.

A fortuitous glimpse of a Peregrine Falcon eating a pigeon sparked Jason Ward’s fascination of birds at the age of fourteen. These days, you can (more often than not) find him leading a bird walk with a pair of binoculars��and a shirt that reps his home of the South Bronx.

Students in , a free photography and journalism program for middle and high school students at the , are at that age where their current interests might turn into lifelong passions and careers. This past fall, students in the program joined Ward, then a Fund II Foundation apprentice at ̽����ѡ, and staff from for a day of birding and snapping photos of birdlife on Governors Island.

Going to Governors Island was a first for both the group of students and Ward—it was the students’ first time on a bird walk, too. Together, the group spotted a Double-crested Cormorant, Great Black-backed Gulls, a flock of European Starlings, and even a Red-tailed Hawk having lunch.

Chloe Rodriguez, one of the Governors Island visitors,��has been developing her photography, writing, and research skills in the Bronx Junior Photo League for seven years. Now a junior at the High School of Art and Design, Rodriguez is already a Scholastic Art & Writing Award-winning photographer with plans to pursue a career in photojournalism. Though her main interest lies in��covering social justice issues, she is also eager to learn the techniques needed to create bird��photography and says she plans travel to back to Governors Island to snap photos of wildlife.

“I have learned that photographing birds��is very intricate and requires a lot of patience,” Rodriguez says. “Nature is underappreciated in New York sometimes, but it is everywhere. Everything has a connection to nature and photography is a medium that connects the public to their natural environment.”

Ward’s goal as a naturalist��is to increase his community’s awareness of the natural world. Leading a bird walk for kids that grew up where he did is a major accomplishment.

“I started off this bird walk by saying, ‘If you can hear me say, ‘yerrrr,’’ a greeting specific to Bronxites,” Ward says. “I am proud to be from the Bronx, and connecting students with a similar story, to wildlife, was a bucket-list item.”