This is season four for Ron as director of the Lab's ivory-bill search in Arkansas. Ron works with the entire team to hammer out overall strategy for the search, coordinating with many partners in this far-reaching project. Ron has been with the Cornell Lab of Ornithology since 1996. He has an M.S. in Wildlife Science and Ecology and a B.S. in Wildlife Science, both from The Pennsylvania State University. 

Martjan Lammertink, Project Scientist
Martjan is one of the world's leading experts on large woodpeckers and has been part of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker Research Project from the start. He oversees the activities of the 2007-08 mobile search team, which he led last season. Martjan has a Ph.D. from the University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands

Marty manages logistics for the 2007-08 field season, as he did last year, and lends on-the-ground support as the need arises. He is also managing an equipment loan program for coordinators and agencies across the southeast United States where other searches are taking place. Marty also was a volunteer during the 2005-06 ivory-bill search in Arkansas. He earned his B.S. in Biology from Penn State and his M.S. in Zoology from Oklahoma State.

Arkansas Search Team

Leighton Reid, Arkansas Team Leader
Leighton is joining the search effort this year as supervisor of the Arkansas crew. He will design search strategies and manage logistics. Leighton received his B.S. in Environmental Studies from Sewanee in 2006 and has worked on bird projects in Costa Rica and Ecuador. He is thrilled to be part of the ivory-bill research project!

Chris Rea, Field Technician
Chris  is excited to start his second season on the Arkansas search team. He has worked on the Hoosier National Forest Breeding Bird Monitoring Program, Indiana Osprey Restoration Project, Piping Plover Monitoring in Montana, and Southwestern Willow Flycatcher Monitoring in Arizona.  In his spare time, Chris enjoys bowling perfect games and building model cars. His home state is Indiana, and has received a B.S. in Wildlife Management from Purdue University. 

A former Arkansas resident, Tonya is enthusiastic about her first year on the ivory-bill recovery team. Tonya has volunteered for studies on migrants in the western Lake Erie basin for eight years. She also spent three years on the recovery team for the endangered Karner blue butterfly, and worked on another project locating blue whales in the Sea of Cortez. Tonya enjoys being in the outdoors and especially loves kayaking. This Buckeye fan from Ohio received her B.S. in Biology with a Wildlife Management emphasis from the University of Findlay in Findlay, Ohio.

Abe Borker, Camera Specialist
This is Abe's first year on the Arkansas search team. As a lifelong birder and nature photographer, he has been eager to get involved in the search from the beginning. A Brooklyn native, Abe's experience with birds has varied from working with urban bird populations in New York City to exotic island endemic species in New Zealand. He hopes to return to school to research other endangered and rare species. In his spare time Abe enjoys kayaking and Chinese food. Abe has a B.S. in Conservation Biology from SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry. 

Ehren Banfield, Field Technician
Ehren K. Banfield is new to the ivory-bill Arkansas search. He has worked with interior forest birds in the Ozarks, studied loon behavior in Wisconsin, and worked with Brown-headed Nuthatch and Eastern Bluebird Everglades National Park in Florida. Most recently he trapped wintering Sandhill Cranes in Louisiana, attaching satellite transmitters to the birds to help study their migratory routes.  Ehren graduated from Central Methodist University with a B.S. in Environmental Science.

Justin Bredlau, Field Technician
Justin is from Virginia and this is his first year searching for Ivory-billed Woodpeckers.  He has previously worked for the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center, locating and monitoring Swamp Sparrow nests, and the Center for Conservation Biology, searching for Golden-winged Warblers in Virginia. In Justin's spare time he enjoys whitewater rafting and road trips. He graduated from the University of Mary Washington with a B.S. in Biology in 2007.

David Luneau, Affiliated Search Team Member
David captured the now-famous video footage of what many experts believe to be an Ivory-billed Woodpecker in 2004. He has coordinated the remote camera search effort in the Big Woods in past seasons and will be returning to search again as time allows. He is a professor of Electronics and Computers at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. He has an M.S. in Electrical Engineering from Georgia Tech University and a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Rice University.

Ken is a member of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker Species Recovery Team and director of Conservation Science at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. He oversees various studies of the habitat requirements of forest birds, and he is chair of the international science committee of Partners in Flight. Ken also serves as co-captain of the Lab's World Series of Birding team, the Sapsuckers. He earned his Ph.D. from Louisiana State University.

“Fitz”  has been the director of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology since 1995. He has led scientific expeditions to remote areas of South America and published extensively on tropical species including seven new bird species he discovered. Dr. Fitzpatrick received his Ph.D. from Princeton University and A.B. from Harvard University.

Russ Charif, Acoustics Expert
Russ is the coordinator for the acoustic search effort and is a research biologist in the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Bioacoustics Research Program (BRP). He has worked on studies of acoustic communication and acoustically based population monitoring in several species of birds, as well as elephants and whales. He has also been involved in the design, testing, and documentation of specialized software developed at BRP for analysis of animal sounds. Russ earned an A.B. in Biology from Harvard University, and an M.S. in Neurobiology and Behavior from Cornell University.

Mike has coordinated the analysis of sound recordings collected during the search for the Ivory-billed Woodpecker in Arkansas. Mike is currently involved with research using autonomous recording units to monitor hard-to-detect species as well as nocturnal migration across North America. He has a B.A. in biology from Hobart College and an M.A. from the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville.

Mobile Search Team

Nathan Banfield, Team Leader
Nathan is a field biologist who worked on the Arkansas ivory-bill team in 2005-06, and was part of the 2006-07 mobile search team. He's proven himself adept at finding his way back home, despite brambles, darkness, and the occasional crocodile! He leads the mobile team this season with his usual blend of enthusiasm and skillful field work. Nathan has a B.A. in Natural Science from Avila College.

Marjorie MacIntosh, Field Technician
Marjorie is a first-year field technician for the search and the only MST member from the west. She brings from California her passion for exploring and understanding the natural world. She spends her free time hiking and camping. Since earning her B.S. in Conservation and Resources Studies from U.C. Berkeley she has worked with desert tortoises in Nevada and Spotted Owls in northern California.

Lance Ebel, Field Technician
In his first year on the project, Lance brings varied field experience from a life-long interest in wildlife. He has worked with many species of birds in a variety of habitats--from terns off of the coast of Maine, to Burrowing Owls throughout the west. He received his B.A. in Ecology and Wildlife Biology from Unity College in Maine.

Tim is an avid birder from Berrien County, Michigan. He spends his time monitoring waterbird movements along southern Lake Michigan's shoreline, and searching for rare birds. He spent several weeks last April as a volunteer with The Nature Conservancy's South Carolina chapter, participating in the  Ivory-billed Woodpecker search at Congaree National Park. Tim is now taking time off from his interest in field waterbird flight identification to bring his birding skills to the southern swamps.