BirdNote Team

Board Members  -   Staff  -   Other Team Members  -   Production Team

BirdNote is Hiring!

For information on the open positions, please click Director of Communications or Part-time Contract Producer.

BIRDNOTE BOARD

Tom Livingston - President
Tom is founder and CEO of Livingston Associates, a full-service staffing, strategy and consulting service to public media organizations. A specialty of Tom’s is serving as interim CEO of public media organizations … read more >>

Dan Moore - Vice President
Dan has nearly 20 years’ experience as an entrepreneur, professional travel guide, and environmental educator. Dan is the CEO of Pandion Consulting & Facilitation, a travel industry consultancy and facilitation company based in Seattle... read more >>

Chunnie Wright - Secretary
Chunnie is the owner of the Law Office of Chun T. Wright, a Washington, DC-based boutique law firm, which focuses on intellectual property (trademark and copyright), emerging technologies, and adventure travel law ... read more >>

Jon Barwick - Treasurer
Jon Barwick is the president and chief executive officer of Barwick and Partners, a multi-family office. Jon and his wife Allison enjoy all things outdoors, including golf, skiing, biking, hiking, paddling and fishing, and... read more >>

Christie Constantine - Board member-at-large
For more than 20 years, Christie has worked to promote a wide range of social justice and environmental issues across the Americas, Europe, Africa and Asia. She was most recently the Global Director of... read more >>

Julianne Lamsek – Board member-at-large
Julianne’s been interested in birds since she was a child, when she cared for a juvenile Tree Swallow for three weeks and then released it into the wild... read more >>

Sarah Merner - Board member-at-large
Sarah's passions are teaching kids about nature and getting everyone — most of all children — into the out-of-doors. Over the last 20 years, Sarah has taken a deep interest in environmental concerns, ... read more >>

Deborah Rivel - Board member-at-large
Deborah Rivel has had a varied career. Recently she co-authored a book on birdwatching, Birdwatching in New York City and on Long Island. Her company, Wildtones,  produces nature-based products for smartphones. ... read more >>

DIRECTORS EMERITUS

Drew Lanham
Drew is a Clemson University Master Teacher and Alumni Distinguished Professor in wildlife ecology. His research interests lie in songbird ecology and conservation, integration of game and nongame wildlife management ... read more >>

Tom Luhman
Tom is a retired senior manager from the Boeing Company, who holds a PhD in materials science. He has more than 30 years of experience in program management, strategic planning, and organizational leadership ... read more >>

PRODUCTION TEAM

WRITERS, EDITORS, AND SCIENCE ADVISORS

Tom Bancroft - Science Advisor
Science advisor Thomas Bancroft is a writer-photographer focused on the natural world. His goal is to capture people’s imagination, encouraging them to think about life, nature, and the importance of protecting wild things. His Ph.D. is in ornithology, and he was the vice president of the research department at the Wilderness Society and Chief Scientist for National Audubon. He now lives in Seattle, where he ... read more >>

Trina Bayard- Science Advisor
Trina Bayard earned her PhD in ecology at the University of Connecticut, studying habitat selection behavior in Saltmarsh Sparrows. Her background includes field studies of birds, plants, and other wildlife in the western United States and coastal New England. As director of bird conservation at Audubon Washington, Trina works to advance the conservation of resident and migratory birds, ... read more >>

Ellen Blackstone- Associate Producer
An Iowa girl, Ellen started birding at the age of 8, helping her father with his “bluebird trail” of more than 40 boxes. Ellen now puts her passion to work for birds and nature. After a few years in tech, she edited Seattle Audubon’s newsletter, Earthcare Northwest ... read more >>

Megan Friesen - Science Advisor
Megan Friesen has worked for the past decade in avian ecology, conservation, and research. She received her PhD in biology from the University of Auckland studying the sensory ecology and conservation of tube-nosed seabirds. ... read more >>

Monica Gokey - Writer
Monica Gokey is a science writer and radio journalist from west-central Idaho. Her work has aired on public radio stations throughout the West and Alaska, and on podcasts like Out There and Outlandish. ... read more > >

Gordon Orians - Writer / Science Advisor
Gordon Orians began birding as a child in Wisconsin. At the age of 13, when he discovered that people were actually paid to watch birds, he decided to pursue a biological career. After getting a bachelor's degree in zoology ... read more >> 

Dennis Paulson - Science Advisor / Writer
Dennis Paulson received a PhD in Zoology from the University of Miami, and taught college and adult-education courses about natural history for 35 years. He recently retired after 15 years as the Director of the Slater Museum of Natural History ... read more >>

Todd Peterson - Writer / Editor
Todd spent summers in his boyhood outside along the shores of Coeur d’Alene Lake and the St. Joe River in Northern Idaho. Later, he explored the marshes of Long Island Sound during days afield with his father ... read more >>

Bryan Pfeiffer - Writer
A writer and field biologist, Bryan explores the wild places where people and nature converge. His essays have appeared in The New York Times, Orion, Field & Stream, and elsewhere. When he’s not chasing nature, Bryan teaches writing to ... read more >>

Bob Sundstrom (1951 - 2021)
Bob led birding tours year round for Victor Emanuel Nature Tours. Tours took him to places throughout the world. He taught many birding classes for Seattle Audubon, and led regional tours through Mercer Island Parks ... read more >>

Frances Wood- Writer
Frances Wood inherited her love of nature from her writer-naturalist father and a mother who loved to garden. Writer, artist, teacher, and mother of two sons, Frances completed the Master Birding course offered by Seattle Audubon ... read more >>

Rick Wright - Writer
Rick Wright has long been fascinated by birds, birders, and birding — though not necessarily in that order. A native of southeast Nebraska, Rick studied languages, philosophy, and life sciences at the University of Nebraska, ... read more >>

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PRODUCER

John Kessler
John was musical director of Public Radio International’s Mountain Stage radio show for 14 years. After years as a traveling bass-player, John settled in the Shoreline neighborhood of Seattle with his wife, a cat, and a big black dog ... read more >>

NARRATORS

Mary McCann
Mary McCann creates with sound – as a poet, Internet Radio music director, award-winning broadcast radio DJ, and online radio jazz host, producer, and performer. She's traveled the world by motorcycle ... read more >>

Michael Stein
Storyteller Michael Stein draws on a wealth of life experience as a construction worker, radio DJ, producer, Keith Moon-clone, baker, and record label dude. He travels a bit, works some, speaks passable German (with a "Schwabisch" accent) ... read more >>

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VOLUNTEERS

BirdNote is grateful to the many volunteers who contribute their time and talent, helping our organization to grow. Read more >>

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