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x Notes on Contributors
Veronica Bowers has been working exclusively with passerines since 1999. She is director and
founder of Native Songbird Care and Conservation (NSCC), located in Sebastopol, California.
NSCC is a state and federally permitted wildlife rehabilitation facility and cares for approximately
1000 songbirds each year. Veronica teaches songbird rehabilitation workshops and species‐specific
classes to rehabilitators throughout North America. During the winter, she can be found in Central
and South America birding and studying migratory songbirds in the field. Her favorite bird is the
Cliff Swallow, but all other insectivorous and migratory passerines run a very close second.
Andrew Bowkett started his career studying enrichment and visitor effects in primates as a student
at Paignton Zoo in Devon, England. He subsequently switched focus to field‐based conservation and
research projects overseas, including working hands‐on with endangered birds in Mauritius and a
PhD on Tanzanian duikers. He currently coordinates conservation projects in sub‐Saharan Africa
and southeast Asia, and supervises zoo‐based research on birds, reptiles, and amphibians back at
Paignton Zoo. Andrew holds honorary teaching and research positions at the Universities of
Plymouth and Exeter, is a member of the IUCN SSC Antelope Specialist Group, and chairs the Field
Conservation Committee of the British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums.
Nikki Buxton is a founder‐Director of Belize Bird Rescue (BBR). The facility was created in 2004,
and BBR has been working with the Belize Forest Department since then to reduce or eliminate the
illegal trade in wild‐caught parrots. BBR has developed an innovative rehabilitation program for
former‐captive and hand‐reared wild parrots with documented results addressing inappropriate
diet, husbandry‐related conditions, and adverse behaviors through careful flock‐building, enclosure
management, and nutrition. Parrots soft‐released following rehabilitation at BBR are documented
thriving and breeding in the wild. BBR also hand‐rears endangered Yellow‐headed Amazon chicks,
releasing over 100 back into the wild since the program began in 2014.
Laurie Conrad began her career in aviculture and rehabilitation in 1989 at SeaWorld in San
Diego. Her hand‐rearing experience includes small mammals and numerous exotic bird species.
Laurie represented SeaWorld in the collaborative Light‐footed Clapper Rail recovery conservation
program from 2001 to 2018. She served on several Association of Zoos and Aquarium Taxon
Advisory Group steering committees, presented at numerous conferences, and coordinated two
North American Species Survival Programs. Laurie co‐organized the Third International Flamingo
Symposium in 2014 and acted as the IUCN Flamingo Specialist Group Ex situ Coordinator for
North America. Laurie also worked at the San Diego Zoo Global Avian Propagation Center, where
she specialized in hand‐rearing and incubation.
Kateri J. Davis lives with her husband in Oregon, USA, and together they run the Davis Lund
Aviaries where they specialize in raising and breeding a large variety of softbilled birds. Kateri has
been involved with birds her entire life and has been working with softbills since the early 1990s.
She currently has about 130 birds of 25 different species in her aviaries and ships offspring to zoos
and other private aviculturists around the USA. She is the author of the Birdhouse Publication
books Turacos in Aviculture and Mousebirds in Aviculture, and has written many softbill articles for
publication in magazines and journals.
Rebecca S. Duerr is the clinical veterinarian and research director at International Bird Rescue’s
two wildlife clinics in California. After earning a BS in marine biology from San Francisco State
University, she completed DVM, MPVM, and PhD degrees at UC Davis, with graduate work on the