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president
Juliet Berger
Juliet’s been in love with birds since her earliest memories, birding with her Dad at Pointe Pelee Provincial Park. She’s been President of Washtenaw Bird & Nature Alliance (WBNA) (previously, Washtenaw Audubon Society) since 2014, and the ornithologist for Natural Area Preservation (NAP), a division of City of Ann Arbor Parks and Recreation since 2016. She coordinates and compiles the Washtenaw May Bird Count, as well as leading many field trips for WBNA and NAP. The joke at work is, “What does Juliet do in her free time, when she’s not working? The same thing she does when she’s at work!” Juliet enjoys cooking, baking, and canoeing, as well as anything outdoors. Her many friends and her family are her greatest gifts. Juliet lives in Ann Arbor with her husband, and they have a college-age son and daughter.
TREASURER
Keith Dickey
Keith Dickey is an avid birder and passionate amateur wildlife photographer. He is the treasurer for the Washtenaw Bird & Nature Alliance, and a relatively new resident of Michigan, having moved to Ann Arbor from New Hampshire in 2017. When not traveling, birding, working in his garden with his wife Alison, or hiking with his Irish Water Spaniel Phineas Finn, Keith leads strategic planning for Michigan Medicine, the academic medical center of the University of Michigan. Keith has a PhD in classical archaeology and was a Fulbright scholar to Greece in 1987.
membership
Diana is new to the Membership Chair position with Washtenaw Bird & Nature Alliance and is excited to take on this new role. Born and raised in Ann Arbor, she’s been an outdoor enthusiast since her childhood days of Girl Scout camping, hiking, and backpacking. Diana has traveled extensively on birding trips to a number of different spots around Michigan, the nation, and the world, including: the Leelanau Peninsula Birding Festival, the Tawas Birding Festival, several UP Winter Birding trips in Sault Ste. Marie, Sax-Zim Bog Birding Festival near Duluth, MN, The Biggest Week in American Birding Festival at Magee Marsh and Maumee Bay in northern Ohio, Point Pelee Provincial Park in Ontario, Canada, the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival in southern Texas, the San Diego Birding Festival, the Southeast Arizona Birding Festival in Tucson, Costa Rica, the foothills of the Himalayas in Northern India with Himalaya Birding Tours, a private Birding trip to Southern India’s Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu, and she also spent considerable time birding while on safari in Botswana, Zimbabwe, and South Africa. Diana is especially looking forward to continuing her birding adventures with the wonderful folks of the Washtenaw Bird & Nature Alliance.
EDUCATION
Victor has always loved being outdoors and enjoys taking long hikes with his family (photo shows him with his wife, Jill, and daughter, Morgan, after they saw California Condors at Pinnacles National Park). He got into birding during the start of the pandemic and was awestruck at how many species of birds visited the nature areas near his house. For his work, Victor teaches chemistry at Thurston High School in Redford. He is passionate about teaching the youth of today about the environment and conservation, as well as working for equity and inclusion in the outdoor spaces. Taking inspiration from the BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) birding club of Wisconsin, Victor started leading monthly BIPOC walks with Washtenaw Bird & Nature Alliance. As the education chair, he loves leading these walks and helping elementary school students learn about birds and the outdoors.
Field trips
Matthew is a native North Dakotan who has been loving Ann Arbor since 2019. His bird addiction started with his first eBird checklist in March of 2014. Birds have opened a door to the wider natural world that has found his interests expand to plants, insects, and fungi. He particularly enjoys leading birding and nature walks while introducing people to the wonders of our interconnected ecosystems. You will often see him biking around town or wandering the natural areas of Ann Arbor.
More here: eBird – iNaturalist – Twitter
newsletter
Jacco was introduced to birding by his dad and older brother when he was 7 or 8 years old and spent his youth looking for birds in and around his native Netherlands with them. After moving to the Ypsilanti-Ann Arbor area in the late 1990s, Jacco joined the vibrant Washtenaw County birding scene and has never looked back. He participated in his first Ann Arbor CBC in 1999, became area leader for area 6 soon thereafter, and has been the overall count compiler for the past 15 years or so. In the early 2000s, he served for several years as the WAS field trip coordinator and has recently re-joined the board as Newsletter editor. He also writes the Washtenaw County rare bird report for that publication. For many years, Jacco has volunteered for the Ann Arbor City Parks breeding bird survey, for which he currently covers South Pond, Scarlett-Mitchell Woods, and Redbud Park. Aside from birding locally, Jacco tries to get in some birding time whenever and wherever his family travels take him and has enjoyed birds in Peru, Mexico, Jamaica, Puerto Rica, and numerous states in the US.
webmaster/technology/social media
Rob has been involved with Washtenaw Bird & Nature Alliance (formerly Washtenaw Audubon Society) for more than 30 years, serving previously as Newsletter Editor and President. He has been running the WAS website since launching it in early 2001. In addition to birding (which he doesn’t do enough of any more), he enjoys nature photography, beekeeping, and outdoor sports ranging from hiking and running to cross-country skiing and mountaineering. He retired in March of 2020 after more than 30 years with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, where he developed regulations and policy for vehicle emissions and fuel economy. He currently works part-time for the Ann Arbor Running Company. He and his wife Nancy are longtime Dexter residents.
