A quiet breeze ruffles a grassy terrain filled with bushes and rocks surrounding a trail. Surrounded by the trail is a still lake, completely undisturbed. Quiet footsteps sneak up towards a tree, before a small click scares away an unsuspecting hummingbird. Senior Mirabelle Feng examines the photos in her miniature camera, filled with egrets, hawks and many other birds.

Mirabelle first started bird watching over quarantine when her dad took her on biking trips to Shoreline Park. Finding mostly birds at the park, she started to discover enjoyment in taking pictures of them, adding the photographs to her collection of discovered birds. This newfound hobby allowed Mirabelle to look for smaller details in her day to day life.

“I actually started spotting birds everywhere around me,” Mirabelle said. “Once you start paying attention, you don’t stop paying attention to the details around you. There’s this really nice feeling that comes with being able to find a detail in life that you could potentially miss and know that detail well enough to be able to name and categorize it.”

Mirabelle’s friends notice how her observant nature spreads into her daily life. Close friend senior Tiffany Gu, who met Mirabelle through family friends, appreciates her transparency and consciousness in social settings.

“Mirabelle made me become more aware of not only my surroundings, but also to how I talk and interact with different people,” Tiffany said. “Because without her I wouldn’t be able to really know certain things that might tick people off or seem inappropriate at the moment.”

Even though she found many birds near where she lives, Mirabelle still enjoys looking for unique birds at Shoreline Park, finding her bird watching hobby fulfilling in the ways that she can collect more birds. One experience Mirabelle had with sighting a hawk allowed her to realize the enjoyment birdwatching brings her.  

“We hadn’t even parked yet, and I already saw a hawk off to the side on one of the telephone poles,” Mirabelle said. “And I was like, ‘Oh, this is insane, my life is fulfilled.’ After that, it’s been bird after bird. At some point, you start to know all of the birds, which is a bit sad sometimes, but at the same time, there’s fulfillment.”

Close friend senior Cindy Yu appreciates Mirabelle’s honesty and kindness. As part of the same friend group since frosh year, they grew close together and shared many amusing inside jokes, such as a buff unicorn Mirabelle started to draw on teachers’ whiteboards after the name was generated in a Kahoot.

“She’s the kind of person who normally is very funny and energetic,” Cindy said. “Also, if you’re struggling or tired, she’s really good at being patient and calm and being a supportive person in your life. If you need help with a math problem, she’s really patient.”

Along with birdwatching, Mirabelle finds art to be another detail-oriented interest. Her art evolved from fishes drawn on every object perceivable as a child to works that hide a lot of emotion and detail. Her AP Art 2-D portfolio focuses on exploring dark humor and portraying its criticisms. Aside from doing art for enjoyment, Mirabelle enjoys its ability to get ideas across to the viewer.

“In middle school, I did a lot of skribbl.io,” Mirabelle said. “One thing you realize is that you can communicate a lot with a good picture. You have the saying that a picture is worth a thousand words. Doing art and trying to get those thousand words across in one picture is something I’ve gotten more interested in.”

Mirabelle’s love for art can be seen by everyone she works with, including close friend senior Eva Li. Having met Mirabelle in middle school, Eva enjoys sharing ideas and critiques with her over their common interest in art in Honors Directed Portfolio, and notices the effort Mirabelle puts into all she does.

“She’s very versatile,” Eva said. “She’s really good at a lot of different things. She’s very creative, but then she’s also very hard working. She’s a pretty well rounded person. She has a lot of different passions and she’s able to explore them all really well. She’s definitely a really great artist, one of the best artists I know and work with, but she also has a lot of other interests.”

Between taking pictures of birds and leaving silly doodles on boards, Mirabelle puts her heart into all her work, striving to achieve her goals in getting her words across in art and finding rare birds. Despite facing challenges, she appreciates the value and fulfillment that comes with exploring niche subjects and leaving a mark on others through her art.

“I want to be remembered for the art that I make like with the buff unicorn, my Aquila and Winged Post illustrations, my art that gets displayed in exhibits, or the posters,” Mirabelle said. “I want people to look at my art and be like, ‘Oh, I remember who did that,’ because it’s really rewarding to know that people remember your art.”