Michael Whitt was a general practitioner in Point Reyes Station, California, for nearly 45 years. He is a lifetime member of the Point Blue Conservation Science Organization, originally founded as the Point Reyes Bird Observatory. He and his late wife Barbara bought 48 acres along the San Pedro River in 1995, where they spent nearly every spring observing the bird migration until Barbara's death in 2017. Michael has continued their work to the present.