Meet The Crew

AARON GIVEN, Wildlife Biologist; Bander-In-Charge (Master Bander)

Aaron has been a Wildlife Biologist for the Town of Kiawah Island since 2008.  He grew up in Oswego, IL (a far suburb of Chicago) and graduated with a B.S. in Zoology from Southern Illinois University in 2000.   Aaron went on to attend Southeast Missouri State University where he received a M.S. in Wildlife Biology in 2005.  In graduate school, he studied the wintering ecology of yellow rails in coastal Texas.  This is where he got his first exposure to bird banding and was fascinated with being able to study and observe the birds in such fine detail.  His primary research interest is in ornithology with a special focus on avian ecology and management, passerine migration ecology, and secretive marshbird ecology.  Aaron is a member of the South Carolina Bird Records Committee and is also a statewide eBird reviewer but focuses on Charleston and Berkeley Counties of South Carolina.  Aaron is also serving as 2nd Vice President of the Eastern Bird Banding Association.  When not working, he enjoys birding, creating wildlife habitat in his yard, and managing a small flock of chickens in his backyard.


KRISTIN ATTINGER, Bander-In-Charge (subpermittee)


Kristin is from Knox Dale, Pennsylvania. She graduated from Penn State with a B.S. in 2018.  Her most recent job was as a crew leader working with Virginia Tech this summer.  The research consists of studying gulls and terns on the Chesapeake Bay near Norfolk, Virginia. She has worked at various other banding stations as well.  When she's not working you can find her spending her time crafting or enjoying the outdoors.  This will be Kristin's 6th year KIBS and she's excited to see what this season has in store for her and rest of the crew!



MATT HIXSON, Banding Assistant

Matt is from the west suburbs of Chicago and graduated in 2022 from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign with a B.S. in Integrative Biology. After graduating, he has worked with Eastern Whip-poor-wills, Northern Saw-whet Owls, and various grassland birds across central Illinois. Most recently, he monitored the endangered Golden-cheeked Warbler at Fort Cavazos, a U.S. Army Base in central Texas. He is ecstatic to be joining the crew and to experience living and working in such a beautifully unique place as Kiawah Island. Prairie Warbler and Painted Bunting are two species he's especially excited about seeing, as well as the diversity of migrants that will be passing through the station this fall! In his spare time, he enjoys reading, playing board games, and working on his photography and cooking skills.

BRITTANY HOLLIKER, Banding Assistant

Brittany is from Waterville, Ohio and graduated from the University of Toledo in 2020 with a B.S. in Biology. She was first introduced to bird banding as an undergraduate and has since worked various field jobs. Some of her past experiences include monitoring Canada Warblers, radio-tracking Scaled Quail, and nest searching for Florida Grasshopper Sparrows. She is very excited to be a part of the KIBS team! When not working, she enjoys painting and exploring the outdoors.







WENTAO YANG, Banding Assistant

Wentao is an international student from China. He went to Davis, California for college and just earned his bachelor's degree in Ecology this March. His goal after graduating is to work as a field technician to gain more experience in avian fieldwork and research. He is currently working as a seabird technician in Virginia, and he is very excited to work with some eastern species in Kiawah Island Banding Station! In his spare time, he likes birding around, taking pictures of them, and playing Wingspan.  














CAMILLE BLOSE, Banding Assistant

Camille Blose is from Gypsum, Colorado. She studied conservation biology and chemistry at Colorado State University in Fort Collins. Passionate about birds, Camille has a variety of experiences from nest-searching in the Appalachians to raptor monitoring and point-count surveying in Kansas and Colorado. Camille is interested in gaining banding experience to apply to future research when pursuing a master’s degree and PhD. When she’s not doing bird work, you can find her walking dogs or finding fun activities in Fort Collins to do with friends.






















NATALIE MILLER, Banding Assistant

Natalie is from Topeka, Kansas and graduated from Kansas State University in 2023 with a B.S. in Conservation Biology. During her time at Kansas State she did winter banding and summer grasshopper sparrow work on Konza Prairie Biological Station. Her latest job was in Montana working on the Motus tagging of Sprague’s Pipits. She is very excited to be joining the Kiawah Island Banding Station and observing migration along the east coast. In her free time she enjoys listening to music, reading, and hiking.









 























1 comment:

  1. I was just showing your blog to a co-worker who is interested in volunteering to help band birds. It occurred to me that you've got a particularly good photographic record of local bird species. It would be wonderful if this photographic record were searchable by species. Even better, I would love to be able to see (for example) all of the sparrow varieties on one page. If assistance is desired/required with this task, I'm not without skills in this area and would love to help!

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