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 President of the Eastern Bird Banding Association and a member of the South Carolina Birds Records Committee. When not working, he enjoys birding, creating wildlife habitat in his yard, and managing a small flock of chickens in his backyard.

MICHAEL GAMBLE, Wildlife Biologist (subpermittee)

Michael has been a Wildlife Biologist for the Town of Kiawah Island since February 2024. He grew up in Charleston, SC and has a bachelor's degree in biology from the College of Charleston and a Master of Science degree in wildlife biology from Louisiana State University. His graduate research investigated the movement ecology of golden-cheeked warblers in central Texas. Before attending graduate school, he worked on several avian ecology projects, which included seven migration banding seasons, four of which were at the Kiawah Island Banding Station.

LIZ HELD, Bander-In-Charge (subpermittee)

Liz (she/her) is from Madison, WI. She graduated from the University of Wisconsin Lacrosse with a B.S. in Biology and is currently pursuing a masters in Conservation Biology and a GIS certificate at Antioch University New England. Liz is passionate about avian research and conservation and has worked as a bander for the last five years with a few different stations including KIBS, Black Swamp Bird Observatory, the University of Montana Bird Ecology Lab, and the University of Utah. While she migrates to various research stations a couple of times a year, Liz's home is in Wisconsin and one day she hopes to use her knowledge and experience to fill in knowledge gaps in the Midwest. In her free time Liz likes to sew, craft, and enjoy the outdoors. It's her second season with KIBS and she is so excited to be back on Kiawah and see what the season has in store. 

OLIVIA DEMARCHI, Bander

Olivia is from the Twin Cities area of Minnesota and graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2021 with a B.S. in Conservation Biology. Since graduating, she has bopped from one fieldwork job to the next, working primarily  on avian research projects with a focus on songbird banding. She has had opportunities to band birds all over the United States, but is looking forward to working on the east coast for the first time this fall. At KIBS, she is most excited to see Prairie Warbler and White-eyed Vireo in the hand and is hoping for a fun wading bird or nightjar to find its way into a net. When she is not working a field job, Olivia enjoys travelling the U.S. in search of beautiful hikes and good birding. 

 

JASMINE FU, Bander

Jasmine is based in Atlanta, GA and majored in Wildlife, Fish, and Conservation Biology at UC Davis. She started banding birds in Belize, and has since assisted at banding stations in Georgia, Tennessee, North Carolina, Montana, Lake Superior, and Peru. She helps run the Panola Mountain Banding Station, part of the Georgia Bird Observatory. Jasmine is interested in RFID tracking; she has deployed RFID-integrated Eastern Bluebird boxes and developed RFID feeders for Brown-headed Nuthatch tracking. In her free time, she enjoys teaching English, had-painting tiny fish, and doing digital illustrations.

AIDEN GIFFORD, Bander

Aiden grew up around bird banding at Albany Pine Bush in New York but didn't truly recognize his love for birds until attending college at Plymouth State University in New Hampshire. For the past two years, he has worked for the Ricketts Conservation Foundation in WY doing songbird and owling banding, point counts, and other tasks. He has additional background in fire history and prescribed burning, and previously worked to reconstruct wildfire history using tree rings in eastern NH. He hopes to soon weave these interests together in a Master's program in the Northeast studying how the restoration of fire and historical forest structure in fire-dependent forest types affects songbird ecology. When not banding or birding, Aiden loves to climb, hike, canoe, and play video games.