EBBA Officers & Council Members |
Officers
President Ariane Giudicelli, New York - Ariane got her start banding and tracking birds during her Master’s thesis research in Swansea, Wales (UK) in 2003, where she studied the foraging ecology of the House Martin. Following graduate school, she returned to the US and worked as a water quality scientist at the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. Starting in 2008, she volunteered at a long-running MAPS and fall migration station in Hopewell, NJ. She received her NABC certification in 2013 at the bander level. Over the years, she has also volunteered banding shorebirds in Cape May, NJ, and owls at stations in NJ and NY. In 2020, she obtained her Master permit, establishing a MAPS and fall migration station outside of Kingston, NY. She is passionate about instilling a love of birds and nature in younger generations, and hearing her 2-year-old ask if the birds he sees are banded is music to her ears! 
First Vice President, Altantic Flyway Report Chair Aaron Given, South Carolina - Aaron has been a Wildlife Biologist for the Town of Kiawah Island since 2008. He grew up in Oswego, IL (a far suburb of Chicago) and graduated with a B.S. in Zoology from Southern Illinois University in 2000. Aaron went on to attend Southeast Missouri State University where he received a M.S. in Wildlife Biology in 2005. In graduate school, he studied the wintering ecology of Yellow Rails in coastal Texas. This is where he got his first exposure to bird banding and was fascinated with being able to study and observe the birds in such fine detail. His primary research interests are avian ecology and management, passerine migration ecology, and secretive marshbird ecology. In 2009, he started a fall migration banding station on Kiawah Island that operates daily from August 15-November 30. During the winter months, he can be found in the saltmarshes around Kiawah Island capturing marsh sparrows for a long-term banding project focusing on the winter ecology of the Seaside, Saltmarsh, and Nelson’s Sparrows. Aaron is a member of the South Carolina Bird Records Committee and is also a statewide eBird reviewer but focuses on Charleston and Berkeley Counties of South Carolina. Aaron is also serving as 1st Vice President of the Eastern Bird Banding Association. When not working, he enjoys birding, creating wildlife habitat in his yard, and managing a small flock of chickens in his backyard.
Second Vice President Annie Lindsay, Pennsylvania - Annie Lindsay, PhD, is the Bird Banding Program Manager at Powdermill Avian Research Center in southwestern Pennsylvania. She has traveled around the country and internationally to band birds and study avian ecology and behavior. She is an NABC-certified Bander and Trainer and serves as a Director-at-Large and Secretary of NABC. She is a member of the 3rd Pennsylvania Bird Atlas steering committee, a Breeding Bird Survey Counter, and a Christmas Bird Count compiler. She’s an avid birder and molt limit enthusiast, and love sharing birding, banding, and nature with her son, Tommy.
Third Vice President Clifford Berek, New Jersey - Clifford came to bird banding late in life, discovering his love for birds while helping a PhD candidate from Fordham U. collect data for her dissertation at Duke Farms Foundation. He worked at the foundation for 16 years, serving as Manager of Volunteers and the Sustainability Coordinator. He was the foundation’s first Avian Coordinator and built a robust program to monitor and encourage passerines and kestrels. He established a MAPS station in 2016 and managed it through the 2023 season. It was his third career. The first was a theatrical lighting designer and the second was raising his daughter while toiling in the family business. He studied banding at workshops at Powdermill Avian Research, and twice at Toucan Ridge Ecology in Belize. Currently he freelances at banding stations in New Jersey including Featherbed Lane and the Meadowlands. He has been married for 29 years to his first boss at the Juilliard School (where she still works) and is father to a PhD candidate in Astro-Physics, finally the Dr. Berek that his mother aspired he would be. He loves to travel, hike, bake, cook and build things.
Past President Lisa Kiziuk, Pennsylvania - As the Director of the Bird Conservation Program at Willistown Conservation Trust and founding partner of the Northeast Motus Collaboration (NMC), Lisa's primary goal is to connect people to the natural world through education and scientific research to develop a strong conservation ethic to protect birds and other wildlife. Lisa is a federally licensed bird bander, and she manages the Rushton Woods Bird Banding Station, which includes a migratory passerine program, a MAPS (Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship) program, and a Northern Saw-whet Owl research program. Her work as a principal in the Northeast Motus Collaboration promotes the effort to expand the Motus wildlife tracking network in the United States, which is dramatically accelerating avian research. In addition to her research and education initiatives at the Trust, Lisa is an adjunct professor at the University of Pennsylvania in the graduate program of environmental science, and frequently serves as a guest lecturer for local universities, garden clubs, and nonprofit organizations. Lisa has a master’s in environmental studies from the University of Pennsylvania and was presented with the Rosalie Edge Conservation Award in 2011 and the Julian K. Potter Award in 2020 by the Delaware Valley Ornithological Club for her work in bird conservation.
Secretary Maren Gimpel, Maryland - Maren is Associate Director of Washington College's Foreman's Branch Bird Observatory, where she bands birds for both migratory and breeding studies. A bander since 2002 and a birder for over 30 years, she is a certified Bird Bander and Bird Banding Trainer by the North American Banding Council, and has served on the EBBA Council since 2011. Maren has mentored nearly 125 of undergraduate interns and seasonal field technicians. Before coming to Washington College, she worked as a seasonal avian technician on projects including fall migration in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, spring migration in Mississippi, breeding projects on Black-throated Blue Warblers at Hubbard Brook, NH, Dickcissels and Eastern Meadowlarks in Missouri, and non-breeding season studies on White-tailed Sabrewing hummingbirds in Tobago, and American Woodcock in South Carolina. Editor Robert Pantel, New York |
Treasurer
Andy Thiede, Connecticut
Andy began her interest in bird banding in 2002 when she visited the Appledore Island Migration Banding Station in Maine on an Audubon trip. The bander in charge gave her a rose-breasted grosbeak to release and she was hooked. She has returned every year since, with the exception of 2020 when banding was shut down due to COVID.
Andy is now a sub-permittee under the master bander, Sara Morris. She continues to hone her skills and has made it a priority to visit, volunteer or take workshops at other stations, including Powdermill Nature Reserve, Braddock Bay Bird Observatory, Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory, and Kiawah Island Banding Station. She has served on Council in a variety of roles since 2011.
When not watching or handling birds, Andy assists the executive team of four HR membership associations, providing expertise to the board on topics including financial management, membership growth, event management, marketing, revenue and web site presence. Prior to that, she spent 18 years in human resource management for a global manufacturer.
Councilors - Class of 2025
NABC Representative
Dave Brinker, Maryland - Dave Brinker is a past president of EBBA and serves as EBBA’s representative on the North American Banding Council. He has worked for the Maryland Department of Natural Resources since 1990 and is now the Avian Conservation Ecologist in their Natural Heritage Program where he works on biodiversity conservation. His work focuses on colonial nesting waterbirds, obligate marsh nesting birds, raptors, freshwater mussels, tiger beetles and odonates. Dave’s long history of interest in bird banding started with raptors in 1975 at the Little Suamico Ornithological Station, a migration observation and banding station just north of Green Bay, Wisconsin. Dave directs the American Goshawk Demographics Project that monitors goshawk territory tenacity, adult survival, and reproductive success, in West Virginia, Maryland, and the Alleghany National Forest. Dave founded Project Owlnet in 1994 to coordinate and increase the banding of Northern Saw-whet Owls. Dave is a founding co-director of Project Snowstorm, a collaborative effort to better understand the wintering ecology of Snowy Owls and a founding principal in the Northeast Motus Collaboration. He frequently appears on Maryland Public Television’s Outdoors Maryland, and he has been heard on National Geographic Today, on National Public Radio’s Morning Edition, and on Living on Earth.
Margaret Rohde, Pennsylvania - Margaret grew up in Northwest NJ, where she spent her time exploring the woods and lakes around her home. She started birding around age six and her passion for nature led to an Environmental Studies degree from Washington College in MD. While there, she discovered the world of banding and was fortunate enough to complete an internship at the Chester River Field Research Station. After college, she moved around doing seasonal field jobs and has worked on the marshes of NJ for the Saltmarsh Habitat and Avian Research Project and the USFWS, in the longleaf pine forests at Tall Timbers Research Station in FL, at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in the Lower Hudson Valley of NY, and Powdermill Avian Research Center in Southwestern PA. She is an NABC certified bander, and established a MAPS banding station in 2015, when she began working full time for Wissahickon Trails, a non-profit land trust north of Philadelphia. As their Conservation Manager, she oversees the management and maintenance of the organization’s trails and preserves, including all habitat restoration and bird conservation activities, and conservation volunteer program. She serves as Vice President for Liberty Bird Alliance, Philadelphia's Audubon chapter. If not birding, her free time is usually spent hiking, drawing/painting, foraging, cooking, reading, playing disc golf, and or hanging with her fiance and their dog, Rodney.
Laura-Marie Koitch, Pennsylvania
Alison Van Keuren, New York.
Councilors - Class of 2026
Rebecca Esch, Maine - Rebecca discovered bird banding during an Earthwatch Expedition in Acadia National Park, Maine. This led to two 2-week stints with Project Puffin in Maine banding terns, and then workshops and training at Powdermill Avian Research Center and Braddock Bay Bird Observatory working with passerines. Rebecca spends springs working at Appledore Island Migration Station and fall banding at Wing Island Migration Station. In her pre-bird life, Rebecca had a variety of adventures including teaching at the University of Vermont, creating a summer program for girls called Rosie’s Girls that is now celebrating its 20th year, owning a restaurant, and homeschooling her daughter from 4th-12th grade. Rebecca currently lives in Roanoke, VA, but spends as much time as possible finding ways to be with birds - and bird people - back in her beloved Northeast.
Todd Alleger, Maine - Todd has been working in bird research and conservation for over a decade. He spent many years at Willistown Conservation Trust leading songbird and owl migration banding efforts and coordinating the installation, maintenance, and operation of more than 125 Motus stations. He currently works for the American Bird Conservancy as the Atlantic Flyway Motus Technical Coordinator. In his free time he likes gardening, learning to repair an old house and travelling.
Alison Fetterman, Pennsylvania - Alison has over 20 years of passerine banding and monitoring experience that began with Point Blue Conservation Science in 2001. In 2013, she joined the Rushton Woods Banding Station (RWBS) team with Willistown Conservation Trust (WCT) and is currently a Avian Conservation Biologist and Northeast Motus Project Manager. She is a lead bander of RWBS, which operates during spring and fall migration, MAPS, and Northern Saw-whet Owls as part of Project Owlnet in the fall. Alison manages the station data and analysis and runs banding training and workshops. Alison earned a Master of Environmental Studies degree from the University of Pennsylvania where she is now an adjunct professor.
Nick Liadis, Pennsylvania - Nick is an avian conservation biologist and the founder of Bird Lab, a bird-focused conservation organization based in Pittsburgh. His banding work takes him across the human landscape gradient into urban, suburban, and rural areas to better understand how birds live alongside people. He has been affiliated with the Powdermill Avian Research Center and the Point Reyes Bird Observatory (Point Blue) and is an NABC certified Trainer.
Councilors - Class of 2027
Grants Committee Chair
Cailin O'Connor, New Jersey - Cailin is a lecturer of wildlife ecology at Kean University and a PhD candidate in environmental science at Montclair State University. A New Jersey native, she was bander-in-charge of the defunct Raccoon Ridge Bird Observatory in northwestern NJ from 2007-2013 and has functioned in that position at the Meadowlands Bird Banding Station across the Hudson from NYC since 2019. She also runs three MAPS banding stations and has been a wild bird rehabilitator for the past 20 years. Cailin's dissertation focuses on determining the effects of traumatic brain injury from window strikes on migration in passerines using the Motus wildlife tracking system. She also studies the effects of captive raising on migration of passerines also using Motus. Follow her @nj_par on Instagram.
Maggie MacNeil, New York - Maggie grew up in Geneva, NY and went to Allegheny College in PA majoring in Neuroscience with a minor in Environmental Writing. I was first introduced to birds by my senior advisor, Ron Mumme, and his friend Walt Koenig, who presented at our animal behavior seminar about Acorn Woodpeckers. That summer I was a field assistant in Carmel Valley, CA working with Walt and have been involved with birds ever since! I received my MS from Ball State University focusing on Cerulean Warblers in Indiana. I have completed fieldwork in NY, PA, MD, FL, IN, and CA including the infamous Farallon islands. My banding experience started at Bruce Peninsula Bird Observatory under Stéphane Menu and continued with Andrea Patterson at Braddock Bay Bird Observatory. I now reside in Rochester, NY working remotely in biopharma and clinical trials, volunteering at BBBO, promoting native plants in my community, and supporting new birders.
Gigi Gerben, Pennsylvania - After leaving a career in counseling, Gigi discovered bird banding thanks to her son who was interested in birds. He became a volunteer at Powdermill Avian Research Center, she soon followed. Within a year, she obtained her sub-permit and established a Project Owlnet station nearby, followed by a MAPS station. The MAPS station has collaborated on research projects, including Bird Genoscape, a tick study and a smoke study. Gigi assists at other stations and established nestbox trails in several parks. She frequently provides banding demos and classroom instruction for the PA Master Naturalist program, along with educational programs for the public. Gigi enjoys providing volunteer and intern opportunities at her MAPS and Owlnet stations. Other projects include building and installing nestboxes at a local park, to determine if there may be an undiscovered breeding population of Northern saw-whet owls; and a new collaboration which involves sampling for Long-eared owls and Barn owls, as well as Northern saw-whet owls. There are always new projects to be contemplated. Gigi holds two graduate degrees in unrelated fields, but the birds do not care. When not banding or crunching data, Gigi can be found cycling, hiking, kayaking and climbing.
Robin Schweikart, New Hampshire - Robin is retired and enjoying all that the Seacoast area of Portsmouth, New Hampshire has to offer. Her career was in the area of non-profit development where as a database administrator she managed operational processes in various organizations in fields ranging from environment and medical to opera. Since retiring, Robin has volunteered with a variety of nonprofits and last year became a UNH Marine Docent. Robin began as a volunteer at the banding station at Parker River Wildlife Refuge on Plum Island, Massachusetts in the spring of 2021 serving as a recorder. Fall of 2021 saw her out on Appledore Island for an introductory class with David Holmes. From there she was hooked, and has have been volunteering at Plum Island during spring and fall migrations one day a week since 2022. In addition, she has been spending increasingly longer stints out on Appledore as an AIMS volunteer.
Emeritus & Non-Council Member Committee Chairs
Membership & Publications Chair - Elaine Mease, Pennsylvania
Bucket Raffle Chair - Dan Zmoda, Pennsylvania
Hannah Bonsey Suthers, New Jersey - Biologist, Bird Bander, Trainer North American Banding Council.