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Kachemak Bay Shorebird Festival May 7-10

2009 Festival Speakers/Guide Bios

The Kachemak Bay Shorebird Festival Committee would like to thank each and every one of our presenters for their energy and enthusiasm, and for sharing their passionate wealth of knowledge during this year's Festival.

Aaron Lang has been addicted to birding since age 11 and his passion has taken him around the world in search of birds. Since 2002 he has been a tour leader for Wilderness Birding Adventures, an Alaskan based bird tour company. He lives in Homer with his wife and two dogs.

Andrea Swingley lives in Fairbanks and is the former education coordinator of the Alaska Bird Observatory. She's been an avid birdwatcher in Alaska for more than 16 years.

Ben Lizdas is currently the sales manager for Eagle Optics and an avid birdwatcher as well. His interest in birds and optics dates back to his college years when he was conducting bird surveys on the prairies and oak savannahs of Wisconsin.

Betty Siegel moved to Homer 5 years ago after retiring from a career in social work in San Diego. She's been an avid birder for 20 years birding in exotic destinations including Bhutan, India, Thailand and Antarctica. Betty volunteers for Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge and the Kachemak Bay Shorebird Festival, and is Volunteer Coordinator for the Friends of Alaska National Wildlife Refuges.

Bob Shavelson is a reformed attorney with backgrounds in biology, chemistry and environmental sampling and compliance. For the past 13 years Bob has been the Executive Director of Cook InletKeeper, a community-based non-profit dedicated to protecting Alaska's Cook Inlet watershed and the life it sustains. Bob is currently an officer on the Board of Directors of the National Waterkeeper Alliance and the Cook Inlet Regional Citizens Advisory Council.

Buzz Scher has been passionately watching birds for well over 40 years, having now birded on all the continents except Africa. He's a professional civil engineer in Anchorage, as well as the Audubon regional editor for all of the Alaska Christmas Bird Counts.

Carmen Field is a coastal science educator and naturalist with the Kachemak Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, providing educational programs for Alaska students and visitors to the Alaska Islands & Ocean Visitor Center.

Daisy Lee Bitter has lived in Alaska for 54 years, having taught science in Anchorage for 39 years, produced an award-winning TV series, administered educational programs for Alaska Native students, and served as a school principal. By 1986 Daisy Lee had become a regular on public radio's Kachemak Currents. She set up an award-winning program for Homer's Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies, helped organize the Kachemak Heritage Land Trust, and she volunteers for many non-profit organizations.

Dale Chorman is a lifelong birder who lives in Homer and has worked as a naturalist in Alaska for over 25 years.

Dan Thorington is the Alaska Islands and Ocean custodian, and a lifelong birder.

Dave Erikson is a professional biologist with over 37 years of experience of birding in Homer. He complies data for the annual Christmas Bird Count in Homer, and has volunteered with the Shorebird Festival since its beginning at the viewing stations, leading bird walks, and giving presentations.

Debbie Corbett always wanted to be an archaeologist and got her BA at the University of Arizona in 1980. She found work in Alaska with the Bureau of Indian Affairs on Alaska Native land claims projects. This work took her all over Alaska and taught her that archaeology is about people. In 1991 she started working for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and is now the Regional Archaeologist. One of her interests is human interactions with the natural world.

Elizabeth Jozwiak is a wildlife biologist for the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge in Soldotna, Alaska. While her primary focus is carnivores, she takes every opportunity to go birding, and is the local coordinator for the Kenai Loonwatch program. Liz has been leading walks at the Kachemak Bay Shorebird Festival since 2001.

Elizabeth Wasserman is an Education Specialist for Lake Clark National Park & Preserve. She's an intermediate birder who enjoys discovering birds wherever she is in the world.

Frank Keim is a retired high school teacher who taught for 21 years in 4 Yup'ik villages in the Lower Yukon School District in Southwest Alaska, at the mouth of the Yukon River. He lived for many years in Latin America, where he was a Peace Corps Volunteer and an anthropology instructor at the University of Cuenca in Ecuador. He has been on the Audubon Alaska Board of Trustees for the past 7 years and regularly contributes articles to local and regional publications. He recently contributed to the chapter on winter birds for Arctic Wings, a book about the birds of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. He is also a nature poet and wood carver.

George Matz is an avid birder who was active with Anchorage Audubon for about a dozen years and now lives in the Homer Area. He likes to participate in citizen science birding projects.

Jack Dalton was born in Bethel, Alaska and raised in Anchorage. Jack grew up an ambassador between two worlds, his Yup'ik heritage and his European heritage. A professional storyteller, writer and teacher, Jack has been honored by the World Indigenous Peoples' Conference on Education as a Distinguished Dignitary, featured as the cover story for the premiere issue of First Alaskans magazine and considered by many people around the world, indigenous and non-native alike, to be "The Storyteller". He was also chosen as one of Alaska's Top 40 Under Forty, one of the top forty business people in Alaska under the age of 40, and was the first storyteller ever to perform at the Camai Dance Festival held annually in Bethel. He has created and produced five theatrical works of epic storytelling, written a book, and has both a DVD and a CD of his storytelling available. He travels extensively around Alaska, the United States and the world sharing his culture and stories in schools, universities, and theatres. At residencies in schools across the country, he teaches the importance of storytelling to the continuation of all cultures and works with students to create their own stories, thus, continuing the tradition. He also speaks Swedish fluently and carries a great deal of wisdom for one still considered young. His company, Raven Feathers & the Wind, is based in Anchorage. Visit www.ravenfeathers.com.

Jeff Bouton has, for the past 24 years, worked as a field researcher, professional tour leader (including 5 years in Alaska), and most recently travels the country giving presentations and leading trips as the Birder/Naturalist Representative for Leica Sport Optics, USA. He is a contributing author on the ABA Bird Finding Guides to Alaska and Florida, respectively, writes a regular column in WildBird magazine and hosts a blog on the Birdwatcher's Digest website - www.birdwatchersdigest.com/leica. Jeff works for Leica Sports Optics as the product specialist to the birder and naturalists markets in the United States.

John Wenger is a wildlife biologist/naturalist with an M.S. in Nature Interpretation, and has held positions with ADF&G, USFWS, and the Alaska Division of Parks. He has taught natural history classes for the University of Alaska Anchorage, and created and operated a highly successful business conducting natural history expeditions and classes into Alaska's wilds. After a 35-year career, he is retired but active with his nature preserve in Bolivia. As his business card says: "Now retired - just sniffs flowers and gawks at birds all day".

Laurie Daniel is a wildlife restoration biologist with the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge and a longtime active member of the Kachemak Bay Conservation Society (KBCS). Laurie serves on the Board of Directors for KBCS and is the Overlook Park chairperson. She has led the day-long hikes into Overlook Park for most all the years they've been part of the Shorebird Festival. Not surprisingly, she lives on the Bluff overlooking the Park.

Lisa Matlock recently joined the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge staff as the new education specialist. Lisa brings with her a deep love for coastal Alaska and many years of experience working all over the state. Lisa has educated children of all ages and the general public for the National Park Service, the USDA Forest Service, the University of Alaska system, and for private nature centers and eco-tourism companies for over 15 years, most of that time in Alaska. Her passion is helping people of all ages to be inspired by and better understand the resources of their public lands, nature, science, culture and history.

Mossy Kilcher has lived in Homer her entire life, and is an artist, photographer and an avid, lifelong birder. Mossy is a member of several bird organizations and participates in many local bird activities, including feeder watch, bird counts, and bird walks. She also contributes material to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Mossy's main passion is filming and photographing birds, especially songbirds, documenting their habits, and collecting their songs.

Nancy Lord Alaska's Writer Laureate, makes her home as a writer and creative writing teacher. Her books include Fishcamp, Green Alaska and Beluga Days.

Orville Lind is an Aleutiq, born and raised in a small village along the Alaska Peninsula pacific coast called CHIGNIK; Aleutiq word for BIG WINDS. He is an intermittent employee with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. His hobbies include teaching Alaskan art, traditional stories, music, hiking, hunting and fishing, and he is an avid outdoorsman.

Paul Baicich is one of this year's featured Keynote speakers. Paul has been an active birder since his early teens and worked for the American Birding Association from 1991 to 2003. While with ABA, Paul ran their conventions and conferences, edited their ABA Birdfinding Guides and magazine Birding, and served as their Director of Conservation and Public Policy. Paul has co-led several birding tours to Alaskan destinations, including the Aleutians, the Pribilofs, the Seward Peninsula and St. Lawrence Island. He is on the Management Board of the Prairie Pothole Joint Venture, the Waterbird Conservation Council and the Bird Education Network Committee for the Council for Environmental Education. Paul co-authored A Guide to the Nests, Eggs and Nestlings of North American Birds, and writes regularly for Bird Watcher Digest and for Birding. He is the co-editor of the popular monthly Birding Community E-bulletin.

Peggy Kuhn is this year's Tim Schantz Memorial Scholarship recipient. Peggy acquired her love of birds and nature while growing up in the woods of Vermont. She received a Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Studies from the University of Vermont and a Master of Science degree in Wildlife Biology from Louisiana State University. Over the years she has worked with a number of bird species including, piping plovers in Massachusetts, Attwater's prairie chickens in Texas, and ducks in North Dakota. Currently, she is the Coordinator of Nature Tours and Ornithologist at the King Ranch in Kingsville, Texas. A large part of her job is leading birding tours on the 825,000 acre ranch.

Rich Kleinleder is a wildlife biologist who has lived in Homer for 20 years. He is the author of the Homer Birding Hotspots Guide and website - www.birdinghomeralaska.org.

Susan Sharbaugh holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Washington. She worked as a research technician, then pursued a graduate degree at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF), studying the physiological adaptations of Black-capped Chickadees to survive the winter in Interior Alaska. Susan taught as an adjunct at UAF and is now the Senior Scientist for the Alaska Bird Observatory. She has done field work in Alaska, Washington state, Panama, South Africa, and the Northwest Territories. This work mainly focused on physiological adaptations of animals in response to environmental extremes.

Taldi Walter joined the staff of Audubon Alaska in 2008. Prior to this, Taldi worked for the National  Audubon Society's Public Policy Office in Washington, D.C., as the Alaska Outreach Coordinator. During her time with National Audubon, Taldi worked with federal officials, Congress, and Audubon volunteers throughout the United States to increase awareness and motivate protection of priority public lands in Alaska. Taldi received her master's degree in Biology from the University of Central Arkansas. Her thesis work took her to the Atlantic rainforest of Brazil, where she studied tropical and invasive species ecology.

Tamara Zellar works for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Migratory Bird Management Program in Anchorage as an outreach biologist. She is involved in numerous research and survey projects, while also reaching out to various audiences about bird conservation issues.

Tim Craig holds a MS from Idaho State University where he studied hawks, eagles and owls for his thesis. Tim and his wife worked in the Western US as environmental consultants for about 20 years before calling Fairbanks, Alaska home. Tim works for the Bureau of Land Management as a wildlife biologist in the Central Yukon Field Office. Tim's work has taken him across much of Interior Alaska where he has been involved in studies of raptors, passerines, caribou, moose, Dall's sheep and the environmental effects of land uses.

Toby Burke is employed by the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge. He has been a wildlife technician and active birder for approximately 20 years, with ten years of birding specific to Alaska. He is especially intrigued by the status and distribution of Alaska and Kenai Peninsula birds and enjoys birding with his wife and family.

Tommy Joseph, a Tlingit artist of Eagle Moiety, Kaagwaantaan Clan calls Sitka, Alaska home. A talented young wood carver, he is an Artist in Residence at the Southeast Alaskan Indian Cultural Center at Sitka National Historical Park. Tommy works on his carving projects, while also teaching carving classes and mentoring beginning carvers. He creates hybrid carved wooden totems that are imaginative interpretations of creatures, be they fish, animal or human. He uses stylistic and formal elements drawn from his Tlingit heritage as inspiration to create innovative reinterpretations that comment on contemporary community life. Tommy has been actively working in Northwest Coast carving for more than 20 years as an instructor, interpreter, and demonstrator.