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 dogs 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…    Gloria Gallegos, Office Manager After retirement, my husband and I moved to Idaho and worked in private industry until late 2008, when we decided to move back to New Mexico . Albuquerque seemed like a good place to settle. I have been working with Hawks Aloft since November 2008 as the Office Manager.  Prior to that, I worked for the State of New Mexico in Santa Fe for over 26 years in various capacities until retiring in 1999.  I have many years experience in governmental and non-profit accounting, auditing, as well as years of training and experience in management and business administration. Kristin Madden, Membership Coordinator/ Field Technician I was mainly raised in northwestern New Jersey where I was fortunate to live on several acres of wooded property surround on three sides by State Park and Game Preserve. My grandfather was the Park Ranger there for 32 years and I followed him around as much as possible. Every spare moment took me out into the woods, where I made it my job to learn as much as I could about every animal, fern, and mushroom.  Eventually, I headed off to college as a pre-med student. After seriously injuring my back after college and coming back from spinal surgery, I fell into a lab job in general chemistry.  It was only supposed to be a short-term gig until I could go to grad school full time. I ended up working as a chemist in four states for 12 years, primarily in organic environmental chemistry. Tired of  getting bounced from state to state to follow my career, my husband and I settled down. He focused on his career while I focused on home schooling our son. Finally, after years of trying to find jobs here, we moved to New Mexico and I discovered this neat little organization called Hawks Aloft. I also discovered wildlife rehabilitation, something I have loved doing for more than ten years now. I have been with Hawks Aloft, in one capacity or another, for over a decade. I love all aspects of this work but must admit that field biology is my ideal job, when I’m not cursing the mosquitoes.  Sometimes, it takes me back to those days of wandering around the forests as a kid. I am finally back working on my Masters in wildlife biology, with an expected graduation date of Spring 2011. Peggy McCormick, Educator Hello! I graduated from the University of Colorado, Boulder, with a degree in elementary education. For many years, I lived in Connecticut and was a teacher/naturalist at an Audubon facility near my home. When we moved to New Mexico in 2001, I began volunteering at Wildlife Rescue and am now a wildlife rehabilitator with that organization, specializing in raptors, corvids and insectivores.  I have 7 years experience doing education programs and booth outreach, and currently house 2 Wildlife Rescue education birds at my home in Placitas: a Western Screech-Owl and a Common Raven, . I am delighted to be working at Hawks Aloft and thrilled that I will get paid to do the thing I love doing most – educating the public about birds! Liz Roberts, Educator I am delighted to join the Hawks Aloft team as a part-time educator. I’ve been working with wild birds for the past five years, rehabilitating, handling, training and educating and have presented many education programs with schools and various organizations as a senior handler /manager with Wildlife Rescue of New Mexico.  It is my belief that education is the key to a better future for our children and the planet. Although we may not be able to judge the exact impact we have with our education programs, I like to think that we do make a positive impact, because when people understand how our society and the things we do affect the environment, they are more likely to be conscious of their actions.  Most of my life was spent in the south of England; I grew up in a beautiful little village just twenty miles south of London and then moved on to Scotland for a couple of years, and then spent almost three years backpacking and working around the world: Australia, New Zealand and Asia.  I met my husband, Marc, at a craft show in Burlington Vermont, 14 years ago. Since then, we moved to New Mexico and had two beautiful children, Rhianna (9) and Brennan (7). By nature, I am a very creative person. I teach theater makeup to high school students and design makeup for two or three amateur plays each year. But my absolute favorite creative outlet, is working with clay.  I have a small pottery studio at home and am currently working on some bird designs, for plates and platters.  I look forward to working more with those of you I already know, and getting to know those of you I have yet to meet.