...to encourage and promote bird banding as a useful tool in the study of the biology and migration of western birds.
Western Bird Banding Association
Members of the Board
Officers
President, Treasurer, & Membership Coordinator:
Danielle Kaschube - dkaschube@birdpop.org
The Institute for Bird Populations; Post Falls, ID
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Dani works as the MAPS Coordinator for The Institute for Bird Populations, and most of her banding these days is while teaching new students at training classes. But, she also loves days when she can just run nets & band on someone else's project. Dani has been involved with WBBA for many years as the membership coordinator. She loves putting faces to the names at the annual meetings and getting to hear about all the cool projects that everyone is involved in. Even if she hasn't ever met you in person, she loves to get your registrations & renewals, knowing that you too are a person that loves birds and is working to make the world better for them!
First Vice-President:
C.J. Ralph - cjralph@humboldt1.com
USDA Forest Service; Arcata, CA
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CJ Ralph is a Research Wildlife Ecologist Emeritus at the USDA Forest
Service’s Redwood Sciences Laboratory, & a Faculty Associate in Biological Sciences at Cal Poly Humboldt. CJ co-founded the Point Reyes Bird Observatory, the Costa Rica Bird Observatories, and, more recently, helped start the Klamath Bird Observatory. CJ began his career studying bird migration & orientation, as well as the behavioral ecology of endangered forest birds in Hawaii. His more recent research endeavors have been with the RSL's landbird monitoring program, along with study of the enigmatic Marbled Murrelet, an endangered seabird that nests in old growth forest. CJ has also been conducting research on an island off New Zealand involving the monitoring and reintroduction of native birds.
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Second Vice-President: vacant
Immediate Past President:
Holly Garrod - hmgarrod26@gmail.com
Birds Caribbean; Missoula, MT
Holly is the most recent former President of the WBBA. She has held avian research jobs and banded a multitude of birds across North, Central, & South America. She is a Master Bander as well as a Banding Instructor, and helps run multiple trainings every year. Holly's Masters research led her to the Hispaniolan todies of the Dominican Republic, after which she led banding & bird monitoring research programs in Ecuador and Costa Rica. She believes strongly in educational outreach - particularly involving local communities - in order to inspire stewardship. She just wrapped up the breeding season leading banding with the University of Montana Bird Ecology Lab as well as continuing ongoing research with Birds Caribbean - among other ornithological endeavors - much of which she shares on her personal Instagram @orn.ecology
NABB Editor:
Walter H. Sakai - danausakai@aol.com
Thousand Oaks, CA
Walt's work passing the art & science of bird banding to younger generations has centered on the philosophy that "the best way to learn something is to teach it." Through teaching countless students as well as his own research, Walt has become one of the preeminent American bird banders. He is a federally permitted Master Bird Bander who has been banding (and teaching) in southern California since 1995. Walt is a Professor Emeritus of Biology at Santa Monica College, as well as a Research Associate at the Western Foundation of Vertebrate Zoology and at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles. Walt spearheaded the development of the Tabular Pyle Guide. At WBBA, Walt's main role is as the Western Section Editor for the joint quarterly journal, North American Bird Bander.
Secretary:
Cyndi Smith - cyndi.smith9@gmail.com
Canadian Migration Monitoring Network; Canmore AB
Cyndi started and still operates two MAPS banding stations; in Banff National Park since 1999 and in Waterton Lakes National Park since 2002. She is committed to publishing and has authored or co-authored over 20 peer-reviewed publications, half of which are from her research on Harlequin Ducks, which she has studied since 1995. Cyndi has volunteered on various bird monitoring and banding projects in Alberta, as well as in Montana, France, Costa Rica, Mexico, Ecuador, and Belize. Cyndi has been on the board of the Calgary Bird Banding Society since 2014 and vice-president since 2016, and is currently co-chair of the steering committee of the CMMN (Canadian Migration Monitoring Network), and a member of the scientific sub-committee. Cyndi has been a member of the WBBA since 2004, and looks forward to helping the organization in whatever capacity is needed.
Members-at-Large
Chrissy Kondrat - ckondrat@azgfd.gov
Arizona Department of Game and Fish; Phoenix, Arizona
Chrissy is an active member in the Arizona ornithological community. She is a board member of the Western Bird Banding Association, Arizona Field Ornithologists and recording secretary with the AZ Wildlife Society Chapter. As a biologist with the Arizona Game and Fish Department, she is responsible for the issuance of research permits for the state's wildlife; assists with the facilitation of many Arizona Bird Conservation Initiative monitoring projects; and is involved with management of a new banding station on the Hassayampa River, the MOTUS AZ network and species specific projects (such as with Bendire's and Le Conte's Thrashers). She also enjoys being involved with a number of citizen science projects.
Tania Romero - t41romero@gmail.com
National Audubon Society; Los Angeles, CA
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Tania is an avian ecologist and a current graduate student in the Wood Lab at California State University Los Angeles studying migration ecology. She co-established the Bear Divide Banding Station in 2021, a migratory pass in Los Angeles, CA, that operates every spring migration. Tania is an active birder within the Los Angeles area and a certified bander. She has banded throughout Southern Oregon, Northern California, Costa Rica, and Southern California. For the last five years, she worked as a Program Coordinator with the Audubon Center at Debs Park and Los Angeles Audubon Society focusing on habitat enhancement efforts, environmental education, and urban conservation. Now she works in environmental consulting throughout Southern California conducting nesting bird surveys and focus-species surveys.
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Eva Gruber - evadgruber@gmail.com
Seattle, WA
Eva has had a lifelong passion for wildlife, ecology, & conservation.
She is driven to explore & study the endlessly wonder-full biodiversity
of our planet - having a special affinity for birds. She has spent many a
season as a field tech/biologist on a variety of projects - mostly avian (and of those, mostly marine) but also herps, as well as fisheries. Eva has been hoping to return to school for graduate studies for many years, and has been keeping an eye out for the right opportunity. But every season, the field keeps calling her back...and so she spent the 2022 season on St. George Island, Alaska, working for the US Fish & Wildlife Service monitoring multiple seabird species breeding at the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge. You can follow her on Instagram @biohemian
Steven Albert - salbert@birdpop.org
The Institute for Bird Populations; Ramah, NM
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Steven Albert is the Assistant Director for Demographic Monitoring Programs at the Institute for Bird Populations, where he is leading IBP’s efforts to expand the MAPS and MoSI banding and monitoring networks across North America, Latin America, and the Caribbean. One of his primary interests is exploring how research, management,
and policy can work together to protect migratory birds through their full annual cycle. Steve splits his time between IBP’s headquarters in Petaluma, CA and his home office in New Mexico.
Adam Hannuksela - ahannuk@gmail.com
Sonoran Joint Venture; Tucson, AZ
Adam Hannuksela has worked throughout Sonora, Sinaloa, and the American West on a multitude of conservation projects. He is the Science Coordinator for the Sonoran Joint Venture, where he devotes his time to conserving the unique birds & habitats of the southwestern United States & northwestern Mexico. Adam helped establish and operate the Navopatia Field Station in Mexico., as well as one of the longest-operating ecological monitoring programs in Sonora. He has banded passerines extensively throughout the western U.S. and western Mexico. Adam enjoys all Mexican food, arid lands, and cold beverages on warm days.
Allison Nelson - nelson.allison@gmail.com
Gold Country Avian Studies; Nevada City, CA
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Allison is the founder and director of Gold Country Avian Studies' a fledgling nonprofit focused on bird research, education, and conservation. Out of GCAS, Allison studies the dynamics of the bird populations around the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas.
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Claire Stuyck - cms@klamathbird.org
Klamath Bird Observatory; Ashland, OR
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Claire is the WBBA representative to the North American Banding Council. She has over a decade of experience working with birds and running monitoring programs across North America from Utqiagvik, Alaska to the Caribbean. She enjoys collecting great data, teaching and mentoring new banders, and teaching anyone who will listen why birds, their habitats, and banding as a monitoring tool are important!
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Colin Woolley - colin.woolley@birdconservancy.org
Bird Conservancy of the Rockies; Brighton, CO
Colin is the Banding Manager for Bird Conservancy of the Rockies, coordinating a network of migration-monitoring banding stations in Colorado and Nebraska. He also assists with various banding-related projects including research on Black Swifts, Baird's Sparrows and Brown-capped Rosy Finches. Colin first got hooked on bird research while studying sagebrush-nesting birds in the eastern Sierra Nevada. He was then lucky enough to work seasonally at a number of banding stations across North America before returning to grad school at University of Colorado, Denver. In 2016, he finished his Master's thesis studying the breeding ecology and habitat use of Mountain Plovers. Colin believes bird banding is an essential tool for avian research as well as an amazing and unique opportunity for inspiring students of all ages.
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Micheal Krzywicki - michael.t.a.krzywicki@gmail.com
Navopatia Field Station; Sonora, Mexico and Missoula, MT
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Mike is a biologist and educator that splits his year between Missoula, Montana and Sonora, Mexico. He is the Director of Navopatia Field Station, a non-profit dedicated to the study and conservation of the Costera Pitayal, a unique coastal thornscrub forest found only in Northwest Mexico. He primarily bands songbirds and is an NABC Certified Trainer. He became hooked on birds and banding during a 3-week field ornithology course as an undergraduate at Evergreen State College.
Julie Hovis - jahovis711@gmail.com
Winthrop, WA
Julie is a recent transplant to the West and joined our board in 2023. She is a retired wildlife biologist who worked in the Southeast her entire career: as a nongame biologist with the State
of Florida and as an endangered species biologist with the U.S. Air Force in South Carolina. Julie’s first banding experience was with Burrowing Owls in the Florida Keys and after that she
was hooked. She has been involved with several species-specific banding projects, for work and as a volunteer, including Red-cockaded Woodpeckers, Purple Martins, and Baltimore Orioles.
While working for the Air Force, she reactivated a MAPS station started by her predecessor and operated it for 10 years. Julie retired in 2016 and moved to the Northern Cascades in Washington, where she has operated a MAPS station since 2017.
Jason Kitting - jason1991.bnow@gmail.com
Rio Grande Bird Research Inc.; Albuquerque, NM
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Jason is a bander and educator with Rio Grande Bird Research Inc. which operates fall migration, winter, and MAPS banding stations in central New Mexico. He has over 12 years of banding experience and has worked on projects around the US and Canada. He is also a student at University of New Mexico where he studies biology and statistics. Education is a huge passion of Jason's and he runs several social media pages dedicated to educating the public on wildlife, conservation, and bird banding.