Rebecca brought her first bird home when she was eight years old, a mockingbird fledgling 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 stategically placed cage. Now she had two parrots. She eventally 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.
Thiry 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 they set up the first 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 lectures all over the country and last year her talks took her to Victoria, Canada; Seattle, WA; Columbus, Ohio; Cleveland, Ohio; Salt Lake City, Utah; and included lectures in Los Angeles, Granda Hills, Culver City, Banning and Hemet, California.
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 and Finches from TFH Publications. (She has a book on fostering/adopting parrots and another on Lories & Lorikeets forthcoming)
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 the thousands of DU wetlands projects. 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 13 year-old African grey parrot; Bali, a fourteen year-old red-bellied parrot; Loki, a 13 year-old senegal; Anakin a 6 year-old peregrine falcon; Sister a first year gyr/peregrine falcon; Booth, a four year-old rescued Brittany; and Tempe (Wild Mountain’s Tempest in a Teapot), a year-old Brittany pup.
More about Rebecca’s falconry and books at www.rebeccakoconnor.com