Scarlett’s Superstars: Karsyn Sterns
By Holly MasonKids like you can make a difference for wildlife and the environment. Meet some inspiring young heroes who have turned their love of animals into action!
Karsyn Sterns, Wildlife Photographer
When Karsyn Sterns was six years old, her father gave her his old camera. By the age of 11, she had photographed more than 270 different types of birds. Last summer, Karsyn and her dad took a road trip, photographing birds across the western United States. One of her goals was to capture her favorite, the Harris’s hawk. She did it! Karsyn loves these hawks because they sometimes run on the ground to capture their prey. (Karsyn also runs track!)
Karsyn likes “collecting birds” through her photography. She also enjoys sharing her love of nature and wildlife with others. When she is out observing animals, she likes to show others who walk by what she has found. For example, she’s carefully moved leaves out of the way to show someone a hidden snake.
People have taken notice of Karsyn’s work, which includes pictures of other wildlife, too. Not long ago, an article about her photography appeared in The Washington Post newspaper. She has won two photo contests hosted by a park near her home in Northern Virginia. At a local exhibit of hummingbird photos, she was the only child who had a photograph displayed. And one of her photographs of a frog was published on the website iNaturalist.org.
Karsyn, now 12, is about to set out on a new journey of taking close-up photos of insects and frogs. In the future, she’d really like to travel to Australia to photograph a Tasmanian devil, to Madagascar for lemurs, and to Costa Rica for poison frogs.
Meet more kid superstars!
Do you have a story to share about helping wildlife and the environment? Email us at buzz@nwf.org. We love hearing everyone’s stories, but we are able to feature only a few of them. All submissions become the property of the National Wildlife Federation.