PRBO Science, Outreach, and Policy Staff (listed alphabetically)

Christine Abraham (707) 781-2555 ext. 334
Christine was born and raised in Manitoba, Canada. She earned both her B. Sc. (zoology) and M. Sc. (zoology) at the University of Manitoba under the supervision of Dr. R.M. Evans, a noted behavioral ecologist. Her focal species for her Master’s thesis was the American White Pelican, and her research focused on the development of physiological thermoregulation of nestlings, the behavioral (vocal) responses of nestlings to thermal challenges, and how these vocalizations related to the evolutionary theories of parent-offspring conflict and honest signaling. Since starting at PRBO in the spring of 2000, her research interests include upper trophic level predators as indicators of marine ecosystem variability, the effects of ocean climate variability on the breeding biology, foraging ecology, energetics and nestling growth of marine birds, and predator-prey dynamics. Christine is also the coordinator of bio-informatics for the Marine Ecology Division, and is co-leader of PRBO's oil spill/oiled wildlife response team for California.

Sara Acosta (sacosta at prbo dot org) (707) 781-2555 ext. 322
Sara Acosta came to PRBO in 2004 as an intern for the Alcatraz and Año Nuevo seabird projects. She graduated with a B.S. in biology and earned a Graduate Certificate in Geospatial Analysis from Emporia State University in Emporia, Kansas. Before PRBO, she worked in the wet prairie and bottomland forest habitats of the Squaw Creek National Wildlife Refuge in Missouri, conducting point count surveys and working on a shorebird telemetry project. Sara is currently working as the Alcatraz Island seabird biologist and assisting in a new Predator-Based Sampling project examining marine food web dynamics.

Lishka Arata (707) 781-2555 ext. 354
Lishka joined PRBO in 2004 as a bird banding intern at the Palomarin Field Station in Bolinas, CA. Since then she has worked as a field biologist in PRBO's Tidal Marsh, Central Valley Winter Riparian, and Northern Sierra projects. She has also done Marbled Murrelet surveys, Yellow-billed Cuckoo monitoring, and tropical liverwort research outside of PRBO. Currently she works as a bird science educator with PRBO's Education and Outreach division. She graduated from Himboldt State University in 2003 with a B.S. in Biology. She's a native of San Francisco and grew up in Northern California.

John Baker, Foundation/Corporate Relations (707) 781-2555 ext. 312
John brings valuable perspectives from his 15 years of conservation experience in Southeast Asia. He set up innovative rural development projects in Thailand, managed a conservation program for the largest protected area in Laos, and won an award from the Vietnam Women's Union for helping them establish a successful family planning program. He also coordinated the publication of a guidebook to Thai national parks and a coffee table book on Thai flora and fauna. During one watershed moment in recent Thai political history, he wrote speeches for Thailand's Prime Minister. When not in the water or in the forest, he enjoys gardening and cooking at his home on the Sonoma Coast.

Grant Ballard (gballard at prbo dot org) (707) 781-2555 ext. 340
Grant is co-director of PRBO's Informatics Division and also leads the Adélie penguin program (see www.penguinscience.com). He has helped oversee the development of the California Partners In flight Bird Conservation Plans and interactive databases (see www.prbo.org/calpif). Originally from the Virgin Islands, Grant came to PRBO in 1991 as an intern at the Palomarin Field Station, having graduated from Cornell University in 1989. He has spent austral summers in Antarctica since 1996, seven seasons on the Sacramento River studying riparian songbirds (1991-1997), several autumns on the Farallon Islands, and helped design and start PRBO's Eastern Sierra Program in 1998. Current research interests include links between behavioral ecology and population structure and the effects of large scale physical forcing on ecosystems. He has published more than 20 scientific papers on these topics, and is writing his PhD dissertation on the foraging ecology and population biology of Adélie Penguins.

Russell Bradley (707) 781-2555 ext. 314
Russ Bradley is a seabird biologist with the Farallon Islands program of PRBO's Marine Ecology Division. He grew up in British Columbia, Canada and graduated with a BSc in Biology from Simon Fraser University in 1998. After conducting seabird ecology field work at the Farallon Islands, Nova Scotia, and the northwest Hawaiian islands, he returned to SFU's Centre of Wildlife Ecology for his MSc with Fred Cooke. His thesis work focused on the breeding ecology of radio marked Marbled Murrelets in coastal British Columbia. Russ joined PRBO in January 2002 and his research interests include the effects of life history strategies and environmental variability on seabird population ecology.

Adam Brown
Adam has been with PRBO since 1999, when he was a seabird intern on Southeast Farallon Island. Following this short stint on the Farallones, Adam worked as a seabird biologist on Vandenberg Air Force Base from 2000-2003, scaling the sea cliffs along this rugged stretch of the California coastline, studying Pigeon Guillemots, Brandt’s and Pelagic Cormorants, Black Oystercatchers, Western Gulls, and Ashy-Storm Petrels. From 2000-2004, Adam was the lead biologist during the fall season on SE Farallon Island, heading both the White Shark program and the terrestrial bird migration station. Additional programs Adam has led on the Farallones include a Hoary Bat migration study and a gelatinous zooplankton study in the near-shore waters around the island. Annually, Adam takes part in a month-long CalCOFI cruise studying offshore populations of pelagic seabirds. During the winter, spring, and summer months, Adam works with his wife Natalia Collier, for his own non-profit, Environmental Protection In the Caribbean.

Ryan Burnett
Ryan is the Northern Sierra and Sacramento Valley Program Leader in PRBO's Terrestrial Division. He came to PRBO in 1997 as an intern and has studied birds on the Farallon Islands, San Clemente Island, Midway Atoll, and throughout Northern California. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Wildlife Biology from the University of California, Davis. His current projects include studying the ecology and conservation of birds on actively managed National Forest lands in the Sierra Nevada. Specific projects are designed to help guide management of chaparral, aspen, hardwood, and meadow habitats in an adaptive management framework. Additional, projects include monitoring songbird response to riparian restoration and the conservation of Blue Oak Woodland birds in the Sierra Nevada Foothills.

Ellie M. Cohen, Executive Director (707) 781-2555 ext. 318
Ellie came to PRBO Conservation Science in 1999 with 20 years of non-profit and for-profit management, fundraising and policy expertise. Born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland, Ellie received her undergraduate degree with honors in Botany (focus on ecology) from Duke University. Field studies in butterfly ecology brought her to California in 1979.

She later received her Master in Public Policy degree from Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government, where she was honored with the Policy Analysis Exercise Award for highly distinguished performance and the first annual Robert F. Kennedy Public Service Award. In 2001, she was honored with a fellowship to Stanford University’s Executive Program for Non-profit Leaders at the Graduate School of Business.

Ellie serves on the National Association of Joint Venture Management Boards, the Governing Board of NOAA’s Pacific Coast Ocean Observing System (PaCOOS) and on the boards of the San Francisco Bay (Immediate Past Chair) and the Central Valley Joint Ventures (USFWS). She also was selected to participate on the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s Refuge Bird Team.

Ellie recently served on the Policy Advisor Committee of the Evolutionary Change in Human-altered Environments International Summit (February, 2007), was an invited participant in The Climate Project trainings (January, 2007, Nashville), and represented the US Shorebird Plan on the U.S. Committee of the North American Bird Conservation Initiative (NABCI).

Ellie and her family live in San Anselmo, California.

Renée Cormier (415) 868-0655 ext. 316
Renée joined PRBO in 2002 working on several terrestrial and education/outreach projects throughout California. Recently she has been working on riparian landbird projects in the Central Valley, and on the Northern Spotted Owl project in Marin County. Originally from eastern Canada, Renée received a B.Sc. from Acadia University in Nova Scotia.

Ryan DiGaudio, Snowy Plover Biologist
First came to PRBO in 1996 as an intern on the San Francisco Bay Tidal Marsh Project. Then in 1997 started working on our Consumnes Riparian Bird Project for four years. He received his MS from University of Michigan, Ann Arbor in Resource Ecosystem and Management in 2003. Ryan has worked on the Monterey Bay Snowy Plover Project since 2002 and has worked on Southeast Farallon Island conducting fall landbird migration monitoring. He also has expertise in the birds of Hawaii and Mexico.

Meredith Elliott (707) 781-2555 ext. 304
Meredith Elliott is a biologist in the Marine Ecology Division and came to PRBO in 1999 as a volunteer on the Farallon Islands. She earned a B.S. degree in zoology from the University of California, Davis in 1996 and an M.S. degree in biology (concentration in marine biology) from San Francisco State University in 2005. She has investigated the Double-crested Cormorant colonies inhabiting the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge and the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge. She has also monitored the California Least Tern colony at Alameda Point, Alameda (the former Naval Air Station, Alameda) and investigated Least Tern diet and prey availability in the San Francisco Bay.

Jenny Erbes
Jenny first started working for PRBO full time in 2003 on the Monterey Bay Snowy Plover Project. In 2002, in her joint position with California State Parks and the US Fish and Wildlife Service Salinas River Refuge, Jenny assisted with habitat management and plover monitoring in collaboration with PRBO. Prior to that, Jenny conducted internships at the Moss Landing Marine Laboratory and the Alaska SeaLife Center.

Carleton Eyster, Snowy Plover Biologist

Nancy Gamble, Director of Individual Giving (707) 781-2555 ext. 324

Thomas Gardali, Associate Director, Terrestrial Ecology Division, (415) 868-0655 ext. 381
Tom grew up in California's Great Central Valley. He earned an undergraduate degree in Environmental Studies from the University of California at Santa Cruz in 1992 and has been an ecologist for the Terrestrial Ecology Division of PRBO since 1993. His research interests are conservation oriented and range from natural history to restoration to the effects of habitat succession and climate patterns on birds.

Doug George, Snowy Plover Biologist

Geoffrey R. Geupel, Terrestrial Ecology Division Director (415) 868-0655 ext. 301
Geoff has over 23 years of experience in ornithological monitoring and conservation research. Geoff has a B.S. in Biology from Lewis and Clark College and has authored over 30 publications, many which have helped define bird-monitoring protocols throughout North America and Mexico. He has worked closely with private, state and federal agencies in California and other Western states to assess the impact of land management practices and restoration efforts on landbird populations. Geoff has taught numerous technical workshops on bird monitoring and conservation planning. He oversees 8 program areas including projects in The Great Valley, Eastern Sierra, Intermountain west shrub steppe, the Sierra Nevada, Latin America, and oak woodland and desert regions of California, that employ over 40 field biologists annually. He is currently co-Chair of California Partners in Flight, head of the Science Committee of the Riparian Habitat Joint Venture, member of the California State Steering Committee of the Intermountain West Joint Venture, technical committee member of the Central Valley Habitat Joint Venture, board member of the Sonora Joint Venture and member of the National Cowbird Advisory Council and International Important Bird Area Technical Committee. Geoff currently lives in Bolinas with his wife of 20 years Janet Kjelmyr and his two daughters and is a director on the Mesa Park Board.

Sacha Heath
Sacha arrived at PRBO in 1996 as an intern nest searcher at PRBO's Palomarin Field Staion. She currently directs PRBO's Eastern Sierra Nevada Program. Since 1998, Sacha has designed studies, overseen field crews, and collaborated with a wide range of governmental and non-governmental organizations for over ten monitoring projects throughout the Eastern Sierra region. She has authored or co-authored peer-reviewed publications pertaining to these projects, and has co-authored several habitat-based California Partners in Flight Bird Conservation Plans. Sacha's research interests include bird responses to restoration and habitat management, population viability, and influences on avian reproductive output. She has also conducted research in Alaska, Antarctica, and southern California for the National Biological Service, H.T. Harvey Associates, and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. Sacha holds a B.A. in Environmental Studies from the Universtiy of California at Santa Cruz.

Mark Herzog, PhD. Co-director, Informatics Division, PRBO Conservation
Science. Mark Herzog is the co-director of PRBO's Informatics Division and
is leading PRBO's Climate Change Initiative. Mark's expertise is in
quantitative ecology, avian ecology, and population dynamics. Previously,
he has performed extensive research in waterfowl ecology and population
modeling. Mark received his Master of Science in 1995 at New Mexico State
University, where he collaborated on a state-wide fishery model, and
received his doctorate in 2001 at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. His
dissertation examined density dependent effects on growth and development of
Black Brant goslings on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta in Alaska. Recently, Mark
has developed population models for western Mallards for the Pacific Flyway
and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Recently completed projects at PRBO
include developing spatial optimization models for waterbirds and land birds
within the south San Francisco Bay salt pond restoration areas. Mark is also
analyzing population data within the tidal marsh communities of San
Francisco Bay, and developing statistical tools for PRBO's biologists to use
to analyze and visualize their data. Mark lives in Cotati.

Catherine Hickey, S. Pacific Region Shorebird Conservation Coordinator (415) 868-0371 ext. 307
Catherine first came to PRBO from the University of California Santa Cruz as an intern with the Terrestrial Program in spring 1993. In winter 1993/94 she began working for the Wetlands Ecology Division as a biologist on the Pacific Flyway Project, surveying shorebirds throughout the west. She has led Snowy Plover monitoring projects at multiple inland and coastal sites. After completing her M.S. in Conservation Ecology at the University of California Davis and working at Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences on the U.S. Shorebird Conservation Plan, she returned to PRBO as the Southern Pacific Shorebird Conservation Coordinator. Catherine currently is an active leader at the national level with the Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network, serves as Chair of the U.S. Shorebird Conservation Council, and represents the shorebird initiative on the U.S. North American Bird Conservation Initiative (NABCI) Committee.

Aaron Holmes
Aaron came to PRBO in 1994 as an intern at our Palomarin Field Station. Since then he has worked on numerous projects within the Terrestrial Ecology Division and currently serves as lead investigator for PRBO's shrubsteppe bird program. Current projects include the development of an international, multi-organization monitoring network to coordinate research and monitoring of sagebrush birds throughout Western North America. His research interests focus on large-scale impacts of human land use on arid ecosystems. Current projects include investigations of impacts related to energy development in SW Wyoming, response of songbirds to fire in high and low elevation sagebrush systems at multiple spatial and temporal scales (OR, NV), impacts of Off-Highway Vehicle use to songbirds (CA), the role of fire suppression in shaping avian communities in sagebrush ecosystems (OR, CA), and effects of fuel treatments on wildlife in a sagebrush - juniper woodland (OR).

Julie Howar email: jhowar at prbo.org (8O5) 735-73OO
Julie Howar, Seabird Biologist and GIS Specialist, joined PRBO's seabird program at Vandenberg Air Force Base in 2004. She received her bachelor's degrees in Aquatic Biology and Environmental Studies from UC Santa Barbara, and her master's in Applied Geography with a minor in Wildlife Science from New Mexico State University. Prior to coming to PRBO, Julie worked on Marbled Murrelet habitat use and radio telemetry projects, created a GIS-based habitat suitability model for Aplomado Falcons, and volunteered for the California Raptor Center and the Golden Gate Raptor Observatory. She currently volunteers as a transporter, rehabilitator, and database manager for the Santa Barbara Wildlife Care Network.

Chrissy Howell, PhD. email: chowell at prbo.org (707) 781-2555 ext. 315
Chrissy has degrees from the University of California Berkeley (B.A. Biology 1991) and the University of Missouri Columbia (PhD Ecology 1999). Her doctoral research focused on avian demography and life history evolution in a coastal California population of Song Sparrows. In 2000 she received an National Science Foundation Post-doctoral Fellowship in Biological Informatics to pursue research in collaboration with Missouri Botanical Garden and the International Center for Tropical Ecology at the University of Missouri Saint Louis. Her NSF research focused on the development and use of spatially explicit models and statistics (applying Geographic Information System technology) as practical tools in coarse-grain conservation studies. She uses these approaches to test hypotheses about the distributions of rare species, conservation reserve design, and the implications of global climate change. In 2004 she joined the staff of PRBO as a Conservation Scientist.

Diana Humple (415) 868-0655 ext. 386
Diana started as an intern with PRBO in 1996 working with Loggerhead Shrikes in shrubsteppe habitat in Oregon. She has since been involved with a variety of projects, predominantly in the Terrestrial Ecology Division and at the Palomarin Field Station, where she supervised the banding program there for 5 years. Currently her main roles include: 1) banding coordinator, managing banding data and permits for the organization; 2) biologist with the Northern Sierra landbird monitoring program; and 3) co-leader of PRBO's oil spill response team, collecting data primarily during oil spills in California, that are used to help assess impacts on seabird populations and that can be used in legal proceedings. She is also currently working part-time on a Master's Degree in Biology at Sonoma State University studying population connectivity of Western and Clark's Grebes.

Jaime Jahncke, PhD, Marine Ecology Division Director (jjahncke at prbo dot org) (707) 781-2555 ext. 335
Jaime Jahncke is a Peruvian biologist who joined PRBO Conservation Science in 2004. He completed his Ph.D. at the University of California, Irvine under the supervision of Dr. George L. Hunt Jr. His doctoral dissertation research focused on how physical processes associated with coastal waters affect the abundance and distribution of seabirds in these regions. His previous experience included 5 years as Senior Seabird Biologist at the Instituto del Mar del Perú (IMARPE) where much of his research focused on the study of guano-producing seabirds: the use of diet to monitor fish prey abundance and distribution; the effects of changes in food availability on population dynamics and breeding biology; and the spatial and numerical relationships between seabirds and prey distribution. His current research focuses on the physical-biological interactions among the oceanography of the Gulf of the Farallones and the abundance and distribution of top predators in this region. This project will provide the scientific basis for the design an implementation of a potential Farallones Marine Protected Area.

Brandy Johnson 707-781-2555 x321
Brandy came to PRBO in July 2004 as the Farallon Patrol Coordinator:
coordinates boats and people to and from Southeast Farallon Island.

Dennis Jongsomjit
Dennis escaped from the jungles of Los Angeles to earn his Bachelor of Science degree in Wildlife Conservation Biology from the University of California, Davis. He came to PRBO in 2001 as an intern nest searcher at the Palomarin field station. At Palomarin he worked on the creation of a guide to aging altricial nestlings to help better our understanding of factors affecting nest success. He is now a GIS specialist and biologist for the Informatics Division, focusing his efforts on landscape and climate change factors affecting bird distributions.

Derek Lee (707) 781-2555 ext. 323
Derek Lee, Farallones Biologist, B.A. UC Santa Barbara, M.S. Humboldt State University. He came to PRBO in 2002 as a population modeller/demographer working on the California Current System Marine Bird Adaptive Conservation Plan. Previous work included studying migration of Black Brant on Humboldt Bay, and fire effects on woodrat survival in oak woodlands of San Luis Obispo. He is the winter Farallones biologist continuing the long-term study of elephant seal population biology.

Leonard Liu (707) 781-2555 ext. 303
Len currently monitors wetlands within the San Francisco Bay Estuary. He joined PRBO in 2003 as a seasonal biologist on the Terrestrial Ecology Division’s San Joaquin Watershed Songbird Inventory and Monitoring project. Some of the research projects he has been involved with in the past include studies on Common Loons in Wisconsin and raptor migration monitoring in Florida. He received a BA in Environmental Science from University of California, Berkeley.

Jennifer Martin (707) 781-2555 ext. 351
Jennifer Martin is the California Current Joint Venture Program Manager with PRBO Conservation Science. The California Current Joint Venture (CCJV) is a new program being developed by PRBO to establish a voluntary coalition of stakeholders interested in working together to improve conservation and management of natural resources in the California Current large marine ecosystem. Prior to joining PRBO, Jennifer worked for The Nature Conservancy in California on freshwater ecosystem conservation. Her work there focused on water supply and flood management policy and funding with the state and federal governments. Jennifer has also worked for the California Department of Fish and Game, The Marine Mammal Center, and a private consulting firm. Jennifer received a Bachelor of Arts degree in biology from U.C. Santa Cruz.

Chris McCreedy
Altered forever by the deserts of New Mexico and Arizona, he has since worked in the Chihuahuan, Great Basin, Mojave, Sonoran, and Antarctic deserts. Chris leads PRBO’s terrestrial projects in the Mojave and Sonoran Deserts, as well as the Mono Basin Willow Flycatcher project at Mono Lake. Of late, Chris has spent the non-breeding seasons drafting the California Partners In Flight Desert Bird Conservation Plan.

Doug Moody, Informatics Division

Kriss Neuman
Kriss Neuman is a Biologist with the Wetlands Ecology Division of PRBO Conservation Science, where she has been since 1996. Kriss received her B.A. in Environmental Studies at the University of California at Santa Cruz in 1993. Prior to joining PRBO, Kriss studied seabird reproductive biology in Alaska and Maine and shorebird migration in the Midwest. Since 1996, Kriss has been responsible for monitoring nesting success of snowy plovers in central and southern Monterey Bay. In 2003 she completed an M.S. in Environmental Studies at San Jose State University where her thesis work focused on the effect of predator management on reproductive success of snowy plovers. Kriss’s primary interests are snowy plover conservation and management, ecology of sandy beach shorebirds and the impacts of human disturbance on shorebirds.

Nadav Nur, PhD, Quantitative Ecology Director (707) 781-2555 ext. 301
Nadav works with our long term data on landbirds and seabirds. Research interests include developing and applying new statistical methods to the study of bird demography and development of population models to study the impact of toxic spills on bird populations. He shares an avid interest in folk dancing with his children Alana and Rafi, and his wife, Linda.

Gary W. Page, Wetlands Ecology Division Co-Director (415) 868-0371 ext. 309
Gary came to PRBO in 1971 from his native Canada, where he had studied shorebirds as part of his job as warden of Long Point Bird Observatory. During his tenure at PRBO his work has included an ecological study, focused on shorebirds, of Bolinas Lagoon; a long-term study of the geographic distribution, status, life history, and population ecology of the Snowy Plover in central California; waterbird surveys of Point Reyes wetlands; the assessment of the effects of several major oil spills on marine bird populations; a large study of the distribution and abundance of shorebirds in wetlands west of the Rocky Mountains; and currently with other researchers at PRBO, an intensive study of bird use of San Francisco Bay wetlands.

Claire Peaslee, Editor PRBO Newsletter
Claire produces PRBO's quarterly journal, The Observer, as well as other member publications. She has been on PRBO's communications staff since 1985, having served as a volunteer field biologist since 1977. Claire is also a graphic designer, naturalist, and public radio speaker; she appears occasionally on Sedge Thomson's NPR program "West Coast Live" and has her own natural history show on KWMR, West Marin's community FM station.

Melissa Pitkin, Education and Outreach Director (707) 781-2555 ext. 307
Melissa holds an M.S. in Environmental Education from Southern Oregon University. Melissa has worked for PRBO Conservation Science since 1997 as both a field biologist and as the director of PRBO’s Education and Outreach Program. As director, Melissa develops and implements projects that focus on translating the science of bird and ecosystem conservation to a wide variety of audiences including adults and youth, partners, and special interest groups.

Chris Rintoul (crintoul at prbo dot org) (707) 781-2555 ext. 329
Chris began working with PRBO in 2000 as an intern for the Terrestrial Division after fleeing a life in the corporate world. Since then, he has had the pleasure of working in riparian, wetland, and marine environments. Chris currently works as an Informatics Specialist incorporating both GIS and IT roles.

Dan Robinette
Dan Robinette manages PRBO's seabird program at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. He was born in Manhattan Beach, California, but grew up in the San Bernardino Mountains. He received his B.S. in marine biology and his M.S. in biology from California State University, Long Beach. His research interests include studying the population, breeding, dietary, and foraging ecology of seabirds in relation to local oceanographic conditions. Dan is currently living in Lompoc, California with his wife, Michelle, and his 3 children, Heather, Stephen, and Sophia.

Jennifer Roth (707) 781-2555 ext. 305
Jennifer’s work at PRBO began with an internship on the Farallon Islands in 1995. She went on to spend several years studying seabirds on the Channel Islands. She left to pursue a Master’s at Humboldt State University in 2000. Her thesis work focused on Common Raven space use in western Marin County. She returned to participate in a study of Least Tern foraging ecology in San Francisco Bay in 2004. She is currently focusing on the relationships between seabirds and their prey and the use of seabirds as indicators of commercially important fish populations in the California Current System.

Ben Saenz
Ben joined the Marine Ecology Division staff in 2000, following a seabird internship on Año Nuevo and Alcatraz Islands. He monitored populations and studied foraging ecology of seabirds as the Alcatraz Island seabird biologist during 2000-2002. Ben currently works with Dr. Jaime Jahncke on studies of physical-biological interactions in the Gulf of the Farallones, focusing on zooplankton ecology and acoustics. His research involves developing biomass estimates and studying population fluctuations of krill in a study area including Cordell Bank and the Gulf of the Farallones. Ben is also currently enrolled as a PhD student at Stanford University with Dr. Kevin Arrigo, where he is developing coupled physical-biological ocean models which include more accurate representations of krill.

Rich Stallcup, PRBO Naturalist
Rich has been involved with California Field Ornithology for many years. In the early 1960's he (with CJ Ralph) discovered the amazing Spring and fall "vagrant" phenomenon on outer Point Reyes and other "migrant traps" along the coast. Rich was also a founder of PRBO and has served on it's Board of Directors, was president of Western Field Ornithologists, was regional editor for American Birds, was a member of the California Bird Records Committee and is a new grandpa. He has published many scientific papers, 4 books about birds and 60 "Focus" articles in PRBO's newsletter, the Observer. From 1976-1988, Rich was an owner and tour leader for WINGS birding tours and led many PRBO tours prior to that. In 2002 the American Birding Association presented Rich the Ludlow Griscom Award for outstanding contributions to American ornithology. Rich now serves as PRBO's Naturalist and works with the Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary Beachwatch Program (In 1998 he was designated "star of the sanctuary" for Cordell Bank). Each year he brings nature to hundreds of humans through his tours, trips, and trainings.

Lynne E . Stenzel (415) 868-0371 ext. 303
Lynne Stenzel started as a intern at PRBO in 1971 and her mission was to identify the invertebrate prey of shorebirds, as well as their digested parts in shorebird pellets and droppings from Bolinas Lagoon. Since those early days, her work has included ongoing participation in the Wetlands research program; serving as the Observatory's volunteer librarian in the 70s; managing and analyzing the Beached Bird Project data from 1977 to 1988; and analyzing the data from studies of Clapper Rails, Black Rails, and Double-crested Cormorants on San Francisco Bay. From the beginning, her primary interest has been estuarine and shorebird research, particularly the population ecology and life history of Snowy Plovers in the west, monitoring shorebird populations, and restoration of wetland habitat for birds and other wildlife.

Diana Stralberg (707) 781-2555 ext. 325
Diana has been with PRBO Conservation Science as Landscape Ecologist and GIS Manager since September 2000. She holds an M.S. in Resource Ecology and Management from the University of Michigan, and a B.S. in Mathematics/Applied Science from UCLA. Her research pursuits have focused on the effects of landscape pattern and composition on bird distribution and abundance in a variety of habitats, including San Francisco Bay tidal marsh, foothill oak woodland and southern California chaparral. In addition to pursuing research interests in landscape ecology and spatial analysis, Diana manages PRBO's GIS program, coordinating spatial data management and implementation of GIS and GPS technologies. Her PRBO projects have included landscape analyses of San Francisco Bay wetland bird distributions, modeling the effects of habitat conversion in southern San Francisco Bay, landscape and regional analyses of oak woodland bird distribution, and Spotted Owl habitat occupancy modeling. When separated from her computer, Diana enjoys hiking, cross-country skiing, sea kayaking and Cuban salsa-dancing, depending on the setting.

Jill Talmage, Development and Contracts Coordinator (707) 781-2555 ext. 330

Jim Tietz
Jim is the fall biologist on the Farallon Islands where his primary interests are studying landbird migration. Other ongoing Farallon projects that he is involved with include research on white sharks, butterflies and dragonflies, and fur seals. Jim received a master’s degree in 2006 from Humboldt State University in wildlife biology studying the stopover ecology of Swainson’s Thrush along the Northern California coast. In addition, he has 14 years of experience banding birds and conducting surveys for landbirds throughout North America, Central America, and the Caribbean. Jim has supervised and trained bird survey and banding crews at several locations in California and is a certified trainer for the North American Banding Council.

Julie Thayer (707) 781-2555 ext. 317
Julie Thayer, Biologist in the Marine Program, came to PRBO in 1996 after graduating with a degree in marine biology from UC Santa Cruz. She has worked in central California marine systems since 1992 with upper-trophic level predators including pinnipeds, seabirds and fishes. She currently manages nearshore seabird colony studies at Año Nuevo Island and estuarine seabird colony studies at Alcatraz Island. She also manages the Predator-Based Sampling Project, using predatory fish and seabird diet to help understand marine food web dynamics and inform ocean conservation and fisheries management. Julie is finishing her Ph.D. in marine ecology at UC Davis, with a focus on bio-physical and trophic links in the food web that supports Rhinoceros Auklets here at the southern portion of their range.

Viola Toniolo
Viola grew up in Italy and moved to the United States at the age of 16. After receiving a BS in Biology from Cornell University, she joined PRBO as Riparian Habitat Conservationist in 2000. In 2002 she worked as a field biologist on the Farallon Islands, spent one field season nest searching on Redwood Creek, and started an internship in GIS. Since 2002 Viola has also been working on the Adelie Penguin project in Antarctica.

Nils Warnock, Ph.D, Wetlands Ecology Division Co-Director (415) 868-0371 ext. 308
Nils Warnock, Ph.D. co-directs the Wetlands Ecology Division of PRBO. His research focuses on the ecology and conservation of Pacific Flyway birds with an emphasis on endangered species, migration, wetland habitat restoration, and shorebird conservation. Part of his current research focuses on the question of how habitat restoration affects bird populations, particularly in San Francisco Bay, but also in other areas such as at the Salton Sea. Using radio telemetry technology, Nils collaborates with a number of organizations to better understand how birds move about and use habitat, from local to global scales. One ongoing project involves tracking radiomarked shorebirds from wintering sites in Mexico and the western United States to breeding grounds in western Alaska in order to better understand the migration and stopover ecology of these birds. Nils, Sarah, Noah, and Anna live in Bolinas.

Peter Warzybok
Pete Warzybok joined PRBO a volunteer seabird research assistant on the Farallon Islands in the spring of 2000, and was hired as a seabird biologist the following year. Prior to coming to PRBO, he worked on a waterfowl management project in surburban NY, and on seabird monitoring projects with USGS in Alaska and USFWS in Maine. Pete received his B.S. in biology from the State University of New York at Purchase in 1996, where his undergraduate research focused on geographic variation in the song of Brown-headed Cowbirds. His current research interests include diet, prey availability, and ecosystem variability and their effects on the breeding success and population dynamics of Farallon seabirds.

Missy Wipf, School Programs Coordinator (707) 781-2555 ext. 302
Missy came to PRBO as an intern in 1999 after graduating with a BS in biology from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. She has worked as a field biologist in PRBO’s Terrestrial Ecology Division, managed the Palomarin Field Station, worked in Education and Outreach, and in Membership and Events. As the current School Programs Coordinator in PRBO’s Education and Outreach Division, she is helping to bring bird science to diverse communities in the Bay Area and also leads monthly bird walks.

John A. Wiens, Chief Conservation Science Officer (707) 781-2555 ext. 319
John Wiens grew up in Oklahoma as an avid birdwatcher. This led to degrees from the University of Oklahoma and the University of Wisconsin-Madison (M.S., Ph.D.). With this training under his belt, he joined the faculty of Oregon State University and, subsequently, the University of New Mexico and Colorado State University, where he was a Professor of Ecology and University Distinguished Professor. His work, which has emphasized landscape ecology and the ecology of birds, has led to over 200 scientific papers and 7 books.

John left academia in 2002 to join The Nature Conservancy as a Lead Scientist, with the challenge of putting years of classroom teaching and academic research into conservation practice in the real world. In 2008, he “downsized” by joining PRBO Conservation Science as Chief Conservation Science Officer. His aim is to help the science staff and leadership build on the long-standing work of PRBO on bird populations to address the broad issue of conservation in a rapidly changing world – “conservation futures.” Climate change is affecting the distributions of many species, economic globalization is altering local and regional land uses, and the increasing demand for the goods and services provided by natural systems is changing the ways in which people relate to nature. John is working with PRBO staff and partners to develop guidance for assessing how landscapes are likely to change and how management practices can help to mitigate or adjust to the changes.

Julian Wood (707) 781-2555 ext. 313
Julian joined PRBO as an intern bander in 1996 and now works on riparian songbird monitoring projects in the Central Valley at the Cosumnes River Preserve, the Mokelumne River and two projects on the San Joaquin River. Julian has worked on PRBO projects in Montana, Chiapas, San Clemente Island, and Clear Creek in Redding, California.