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.
Leah Fuller, Program Coordinator
Leah graduated with an M.S. in Paleontology from East Carolina University in 2004, and began doing research and collections work with the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences in 2005. Her interest in birds blossomed when she assisted the Museum's ornithology researchers with 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. Leah's duties include writing thePBOT News Blog, reviewing your Sightings Reports, maintain the program's Facebook and Flickr pages, and corresponding with our volunteers. If you have any questions, comments, or trouble with the website, feel free to contact her!
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.
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, SC for PBOT and is thrilled to be working with these special birds.
Doreen Cubie
Doreen Cubie received her B.A. from the University of Florida, and has been working as an editor and award-winning author for over 25 years. During her career as a freelance writer, Doreen has published nonfiction articles and essays on nature, natural history, travel, and gardening for wildlife in many national magazines, including Audubon, Nature Conservancy, and Birder's World, as well as in general interest magazines for all ages. Doreen has been studying wintering hummingbirds in the southeastern United States since 2005, and she is a master bird bander - one of only 200 licensed hummingbird banders in the world. Doreen helps to band our Painted Buntings in South Carolina.
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.