Jamie Rotenberg
Dr. Jamie Rotenberg is an assistant professor in the Department of Environmental Studies at the University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW). Jamie began the PBOT study with a grass-roots effort during the spring and summer of 2005 and now has over 600 volunteers. His research interests include the breeding and population status of single-species, neotropical migratory birds of conservation concern, specifically, Painted Buntings (Passerina ciris) from coastal North Carolina south to Florida; and, tropical avian ecology, using birds as environmental indicators of habitat change and condition. Jamie currently leads the Painted Bunting Observation Team monitoring and research project and also leads the Integrated Community-Based Harpy Eagle and Avian Conservation Program for the Maya Mountains Massif in Belize Central America. This project includes the monitoring of rare Harpy Eagles (Harpia harpyja) and the bird community as well as running an alternative livelihood strengthening program for avian technicians and K-12 outreach for buffer zone communities.
John Gerwin
John is Curator of Birds at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, and has been with the Museum since 1988. For the past 14 years, he has primarily studied birds in a variety of managed landscapes. He currently works on the breeding biology of southern Appalachian Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers, Swainson's Warblers (in bottomland hardwoods), Painted Buntings (in a semi-urban landscape), and population genetics of selected southern Appalachian species. He is the chairperson for the NC Scientific Council on Rare, Threatened and Endangered Birds, and has served on the Board for Wake Audubon since 2003. John also co-leads nature-watching trips, both locally and internationally.
Sarah Green
Sarah received her B.S. in Criminal Justice, with a minor in Field Biology, from Guilford College in 2006. Since then, she has worked as a field technician on numerous projects involving Swainson's Warblers, Painted Buntings, and White-throated Sparrows. She assists with all the technical aspects: bird capture and banding; taking blood and crop-flushing; radio telemetry and GPS; vegetation data collection; and DNA extraction and subsequent polymerase chain reaction processing. In addition to her PBOT duties, she assists with bunting surveys for a larger range-wide survey effort. Sarah has banded our Painted Buntings from Beaufort, NC to Charleston, SC.
Becky Desjardins
Becky began birding as a young girl, when her parents would bribe her and her brother to look for birds on long family car trips. While in school at Guilford College, she discovered the world of bird field research and after graduation in 1995, she worked seasonal research jobs throughout the western US. Becky was hired as the Research Technician at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh in 1998, and became the Bird Collections Manager in 2005; she is also on the Board of Wake Audubon. Becky bands our Painted Buntings in Brunswick and Onslow Counties, NC.
Kathy Shaw
Kathy Shaw received a B.S. in Biology from Middle Tennessee State University. She worked as a Tennessee State Park Ranger at Radnor Lake State Natural Area, as the Tennessee State Scenic Rivers Administrator, and as a Park Naturalist at the Warner Park Nature Center in Nashville. Kathy has been birding for over 30 years and banding birds for the last 15 years. After buying a second home in Murrells Inlet, SC, she wanted to become involved in conservation efforts on the coast and volunteered to work with the Painted Bunting Observation Team (PBOT). Kathy covers the area from Georgetown to Myrtle Beach for PBOT and is thrilled to be working with these special birds.
Laurel Barnhill
Laurel is the Bird Conservation Coordinator for the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources (SCDNR), where she oversees the nongame bird program that includes projects for passerines, sea and shorebirds, and Red-cockaded Woodpeckers. She received her M.S. from the University of Arkansas (where she researched wild turkeys), and worked for the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission and the US Forest Service before coming to South Carolina. She works primarily with passerine birds and on partner projects with game birds, especially early succession species (Bobwhite Quail, Painted and Indigo Buntings, Blue Grosbeaks, and others that use the same habitats). Although she currently spends most of her time in the office coordinating funding for ongoing field projects, she enjoys spending each May and June in the field running breeding bird survey routes and point counts. She has banded hundreds of ducks and passerines in the United States and in other countries.
Leah Fuller
Leah graduated with an M.S. in Paleontology from East Carolina University in 2004, and began working for the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences the following year. Her interest in birds was cemented when she assisted the Ornithology Division of the Museum with their field work on Swainson's Warblers and Mockingbirds. She stepped in as PBOT Program Coordinator in November 2008, just as the program was expanding into Florida. A big part of the Program Coordinator's duties is to correspond with our volunteers - so if you have any questions, comments or trouble with the website, feel free to contact her!