Rebecca brought her first bird home when she was eight years old, a mockingbird chick that somehow survived to fly off into young adult adventures. Much to her family’s chagrin, the parade of wild birds became an ongoing affair. The neighbors never ceased to bring her fallen fledglings.
When she was nine she begged for a cockatiel, a bird that she could keep, and when she received a pretty lutino in an immense cage under the Christmas tree, she promptly began training it to do tricks. It wasn’t unusual to see her riding around the neighborhood, the cockatiel wearing a harness she made, tethered to her handlebars. When a loose cockatiel arrived in the neighborhood, the wayward bird was enticed down into Rebecca’s yard by the calls of her parrot from his strategically placed cage. Now she had two parrots. She eventually had crows, pigeons, doves and when a lost falconer’s peregrine landed on her roof, she knew someday she would train one of those too.
Thirty years later, her avian adventures still continue. From little girl to young adult falconer, the parade of birds continued. She eventually ran away from home and a “good” job to work for Natural Encounters, Inc when she helped setting up the first bird show at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. At NEI she had the opportunity to work at and manage shows in Toledo, Ohio; Dallas, Texas and Melbourne, Australia. She has since worked at The Living Desert in Palm Desert, California and consulted in places like Guadalajara, Mexico. Rebecca has lectured in many places including in all around her home state of California and across the country.
With a BA and an MFA in creative writing, she is a prolific writer and her writing on parrots can be found in Bird Talk, Good Bird magazine, Bird Times, and in her books A Parrot for Life, Finches and Lories & Lorikeets from TFH Publications. (She has a new book on parrot training forthcoming in 2012.)
Although heavily involved in the parrot world, she is also an avid falconer and a determined conservationist. Her “day job” is as Director of Development for the Western Regional Office of Ducks Unlimited, where she works to raise money for wetlands conservation and restoration. Wetlands are perhaps the most critical habitat in North America and the survival of a variety species and arguably humankind, depends on their protection. (Besides, wetlands make for the best bird watching!)
Of course, Rebecca shares her house with a bevvy of animal friends. Ty, a 17 year-old African grey parrot; Bali, a 18 year-old red-bellied parrot; Loki, a 17 year-old senegal; Anakin an 9 year-old peregrine falcon and Booth, a eight year-old adopted Brittany.
More about Rebecca’s falconry and books here.