Darel Heitkamp has been volunteering for the Indiana Audubon Society since 1998. He developed the Indiana Audubon Society's Online Birding Guide, which featured timely pieces such as monthly articles and bird photos submitted by Indiana birders. Of all the features offered on the Online Birding Guide, it was the sharing and posting of bird photos that he found to be of particular interest to birders. He found the online photo sharing site Flickr empowered photographers with the ability to upload their photos and make their own editing decisions, and so the "IAS Bird Gallery and Archive" photo group was begun in March 2003. Indeed, Darel and the IAS have made a good team over the years in terms of internet technology and sharing information with the birding community.
Darel is a physician practicing thoracic radiology at the Indiana University Medical Center in Indianapolis. He is married with four children.