Pat Bumstead

I was born in northern Canada too many years ago to count. Growing up in the boreal forest region with a father interested in all beasts, birds and growing things in the forest, I naturally gravitated towards nature. I've been a volunteer for nature my whole life, which includes stints at the local zoo, bird sanctuary and swift fox breeding facility. I currently share my life with my husband, a dog, two cats, three computers, an ipod and a blackberry. Hard to say which of these is more important...

I'm also an ardent birdwatcher, and have been known to book holidays around bird watching opportunities. Even a trip to Las Vegas requires binoculars, and a very productive trip to the sewage treatment ponds - great birding! I'm fortunate to have a tree filled yard, which is also filled with bird feeders, and therefore I have birds front and back every day of the year. As I often get rare species in my yard, I occasionally have a yard full of bird watchers as well!

I've been a journal writer and dabbler in the written word for many years. In 1999 I jumped off the deep end and wrote my first book - Canadian Feathers: A Loon-atics Guide to Anting, Mimicry and Dump-Nesting. This ridiculously large book was followed by Canadian Skin & Scales (yes Canada does have reptiles and amphibians); The Art of Birdwatching; and in conjunction with biologists in Argentina, Carnivores of the Pampas. All are available on my website, and from Amazon.com. There is another book on the way - all I need is about 48 hours in each day to get it done.

As it says on my website, it had always annoyed me that people selling wildlife t shirts did nothing to educate the people about the animals featured on them. It annoyed me so much that I ended up starting my own business doing just that, and The Wild Carnivore was born in 1999. The website features a large variety of beautiful wild animals on t shirts, and plush toys. And yes, it also has a great deal of conservation information on it, and selected products have a percentage of proceeds going to conservation.

My second website deals with wild Canada. Wild species, habitat regions, hiking information, provincial information, parks, reserves, rivers etc etc. it's a wealth of facts on Canada, soon to be increased by a wickedly difficult Canada Trivia Quiz!

Perusing the control panel of my web hosting company one day, I noticed a link that said Sub-domains. I wonder what happens if I click this, I unwisely thought to myself. Ta-dahh! I now have a third website.

With one tiny click of a button, I established a birdwatching Canada website. Then I had to really sit down and have a think about what to put on it. If you're interested in birdwatching, you really should have a look at the results!

In 1998 I attended a zoo conference in Ohio, where I attended a presentation on small wild cats of the world. Having been a cat lover all my life, I was astonished to learn about the existence of some of the small cats, such as oncillas, rusty spotted and black-footed cats. When I asked the presenter how people could help these cats, I was told the best thing would be to set up organizations in other countries. I returned to Canada, and with three friends, initiated the International Society for Endangered Cats. I'm happy to say this non-profit NGO is still going strong, and still helping the small wild cats through funding for scientific field research, captive breeding and public awareness. This adorable little sand cat is just one of the species we've helped over the years.

OK - he's not really MY Russell Crowe. If he was, do you think I'd be sitting here filling in little boxes on Squidoo? What I actually meant was that this immensely talented actor - who should have at least five oscars by now - is definitely one of my passions. In addition to proudly owning all of his movies, I've travelled to far distant cities twice to see his band play in person. Whenever the reality of the world and the disappearing wild species manage to get me down, Russell leads me into a world of escape, and no matter how many times I've seen a particular movie, his talent gets to me every time. Did I mention he should have at least five oscars by now? Any bio about me could not be complete without mentioning this lovely, sexy, talented man in my life!