The staff and volunteers at Hawks Aloft come from a wide variety of backgrounds. Each member of the Hawks Aloft team brings valuable knowledge, insight, and vision to the organization.   Gail Garber, Executive Director  My background for this position is non-traditional. I am an artist and a writer, have written two books in another field and published numerous articles, including peer-reviewed manuscripts. Back in 1988, I met and fell in love with an educational Red-tailed Hawk. I began working as a volunteer for a local conservation organization, and it wasn’t long before I became a staff member writing training manuals, grants, editing their newsletter, etc. However, it was education that was my first love, followed by field research. Today, I  thoroughly enjoy all aspects of Hawks Aloft, from working in the field studying nesting raptors along the Rio Grande bosque and songbird surveys to education programs to working with our large cadre of non-releasable education birds. I have been thrilled to  write not only technical papers, but also articles about birds and nature for the general public.  A selection of these can be found on my blog, and I hope that it will soon include articles by other Hawks Aloft staff.  In my other life, I am a professional quilt maker (Gail Garber Designs) and often travel to teach and lecture methods that I have developed in this media. My leisure time is often spent outdoors, searching for birds and more birds, but my dog and I also enjoy the peace and quiet of our mountain home (and the birds). Trevor Fetz, Biologist I grew up in northeastern Oregon and received a B.A. in English from Whitman College. Upon realizing that my baseball career was not going to advance beyond college, and that I didn’t want to teach English, I decided to pursue my interest in nature. I received an M.S. in Environmental Studies from Southern Oregon University, and it was during that time I discovered my obsession with birds. After completing my M.S., I spent several years working for the Oregon Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit studying Spotted Owls in southwestern Oregon and two years as the project coordinator of a MAPS station for the Medford, Oregon, district of the Bureau of Land Management. For the past 5 years, I have been working on a Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at New Mexico State University. If all goes well, I will complete my Ph.D. in the spring of 2006.   Ron Kellermueller, Raptor Projects Coordinator  Born and raised in Queens, New York, I fled what would likely have become a heinous life of crime and debauchery, for the Rocky Mountain west. There I graduated from Colorado State University with a B.S. in Zoology. I then absconded to Seattle, Washington to pursue a Masters degree in Marine Biology but chose the path of a commercial salmon fisherman in Alaska instead. In between fishing seasons, I worked as a biologist for the Washington State Department of Fisheries on various salmon enhancement projects. These included the reintroduction of coho salmon into rivers on the Olympic Peninsula, and a hatch survival study for sockeye salmon fry on the Cedar River. I returned to the Rocky Mountain west and New Mexico in particular, to escape the relentlessly gray overcast gloom of the northwest coastal winters, and to dry out my hopelessly hyphal infested brain. I have been studying and monitoring New Mexico’s raptors with Hawks Aloft since 1999, originally in conjunction with salmon fishing until fatherhood demanded a more year-round presence. Biology has always been an outgrowth of my love for wilderness and the high mountains. However, I will likely continue to remain a closet Alaskan commercial salmon fisherman. Selah…     Sandy Skeba, Project Manager For the past 20 years, my training as a Wildlife Veterinary Technician has fueled my interest in raptors and other birds. In that career, I worked with these incredible animals in a medical setting. My position at Hawks Aloft allows me to interact with them on a more basic level, as I walk among the various habitats of New Mexico and observe their natural behaviors. My love of birdwatching, which I have nurtured since my pre-teen years, has taken on a life of its own as I strive to become better and better at deciphering every chip note and partial song among the cacophony of noises along the Rio Grande bosque and the Sandia Mountains. Mike Stake, Biologist  As part of a campaign to lure his students away from the television, my sixth-grade teacher led a field trip to a local California creek to identify birds. My first scribbled bird list included unheard of species like "Buffalohead" and "Gazebo" along with more correctly recorded "Great Blue Heron" and "Belted Kingfisher". Despite learning that the "gazebo" was where we ate lunch and not actually a bird, I was hooked. My interest in birds later took me to exotic places like Australia, Africa, South America, and the Caribbean. I also lived in St. Petersburg, Russia for two years and developed an interest in everything Russian. Less exotic, but perhaps no less foreign, I settled down in Texas from 1997-2001 and worked for The Nature Conservancy monitoring endangered Black-capped Vireos and Golden-cheeked Warblers. I moved to the University of Missouri in 2001 to pursue a Master’s Degree, using time-lapse video cameras to study nest predators. In 2008, I begin my 5th year at Hawks Aloft, managing a variety of songbird research projects. My research interests include Gray Vireos, Willow Flycatchers, Purple Martins, and the Albuquerque Isotopes. Kim Villescas, Educator My passion for exploring the environment began with the discovery of my backyard here in Albuquerque.  As a child, my curiosity for the natural consisted of collecting bugs, rocks, shells, leaves, anything a child might find between three fences and a wall. My endless questions about the why’s, what’s, and how’s of Mother Nature lead me to realize that biology would be the path I would follow. Eventually, these curiosities lead to a degree in Environmental Biology with a minor in Chemistry from Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado.  While living in Durango,I ventured into the world of extreme sports such as rock climbing, mountain biking, and rafting.   I spent my afternoons playing in the sun and enjoying the natural beauty that surrounded me.   Eventually though, I needed to take on the real world and find a job.  I found Hawks Aloft, and work and play seem to blend into one another.  I am able to explore the bosque whilemonitoring Cooper’s Hawk nests, teach children with our non-releasable raptors,and share my passion for conserving our environment.  I am very excited to be the educator and a field researcher.  The team here at Hawks Aloft is wonderful, and I am happy to be a part of it. Keith Mellon, Operations Manager Keith joined Hawks Aloft in the Spring of 2007 because, as he explained to Gail at the time, “I think I can help you with your Quickbook needs.”  As is typical of Mellon, he offered help without thinking about the long-term implications.  And, as is typical of Gail, she masterfully manipulated Keith in to taking on the accounting duties at HAI for the unforeseeable future—where he remains to date. Prior to moving to the East Mountains, Keith had a specialty bird retail business in Scottsdale, Arizona for over a decade.  As a small business owner, he quickly learned the quirks and intricacies of the Quickbooks accounting software and the importance of keeping a close eye on cash flow.  Prior to his small business, he worked at a number of East Coast consulting firms doing executive compensation consulting.  Helping fat-cats get richer did not suit him and, after a number of years, he turned to one of his life-long passions, bird-watching, and parlayed that passion in to a business. Keith also has experience rescuing wildlife, from hummingbirds to coyotes, and has participated in some rescues with Hawks Aloft.  He considers it some of the most rewarding work that a person can do.  He also functions as needed in the field as a songbird technician, performing point count surveys and generally having a good time wandering about the New Mexico countryside.  He would be happy to have someone else take on the bookkeeping needs of  HAI, in order to more fully pursue his idle whims and fancies! Jack Herrmann Intern I was born, raised, and have lived my whole life in Albuquerque. I have always loved to travel and have been lucky enough to visit many different countries.  I have been to England, Europe, and Canada, as well as Hawaii and countless places around the continental U.S.  In these travels, I've experienced many different climates and ecosystems which have fueled another passion of mine, wildlife biology and environmental studies. I have grown up close to nature, from family camping trips to visiting National Parks, and because of this I've always felt an affinity towards the natural world.   The first time I considered going into a field such as this was when I heard about the reintroduction of wolves into Yellowstone. The scientific processes and analysis of techniques took hold of my curiosity and started me thinking about becoming involved in environmental science. Through the years, I continued looking to achieve this goal, and my interest has grown.  When I looked into the internship programs at my school, I didn't have a lot of hope of finding something that truly fascinated me. Then, a recommendation from a previous teacher led me to Hawks Aloft and I jumped at the opportunity to become involved with this organization.  By focusing on a specific area of interest, I look forward to gaining experience in environmental projects and wildlife conservation as well as bettering my knowledge and understanding of New Mexico's bird population.