The Team

You could probably credit Hillary’s four companion cockatoos for helping her ditch the plan to go to veterinary school after graduating from Colorado State University and following the less conventional path to exotic animal training. Training her birds has inspired her to achieve personal goals of the endless pursuit of self-mastery and authenticity, and as executive director of Avian Behavior Conservancy, there is one thing this endeavor has taught her for certain. That is that ABC would not be where it is today were it not for the unwavering support of family, friends, staff, and loved ones.

Hillary founded Avian Behavior International in 2013 and has taken it on to become Avian Behavior Conservancy. She has a Masters degree in Fish, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology at Colorado State University. She serves on the boards of the African Hornbill Conservation Alliance, the Golden Eagle Partnership, and the Indonesian Parrot Project.

Andre Mondin’s love for animals was fostered from an early age alongside his father, a biologist with a government environmental agency in Brazil. Many an after school hour was spent at his facility learning about the natural behavior and husbandry of South American species such as bats, spiders, rodents, caimans, and primates, including the rare golden lion tamarin. Vacations found Andre the farms and ranches of friends and family, helping out with livestock and poultry and searching for wildlife. Andre left Brazil and moved to the United States and began taking veterinary assistant classes and helping out at the Humane Society. He began a five-year stint volunteering at Wild Wonders in Bonsall, California, spending almost all of his free time working with animals various and sundry, including alligators, wallabies, and exotic cats. With Wild Wonders, Andre fulfilled a lifelong dream of travelling to Africa’s wild animals.

In 2007, Andre reached another enviable goal when he began working as a veterinary hospital keeper at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. This experience has afforded him the opportunity to work side by side with some of the best minds in the zoological community providing special care for each unique case that the Park sees.

It was as if the planets aligned when Andre and Hillary met, combining their love for animals. His beloved reptiles have rapidly taken over the house, and he has developed a reputation as a stray cat charmer. In addition to traveling across the planet to see wildlife, evenings and weekends will find Andre turning over rocks in the desert looking for reptiles or hiking the trails with his beloved dogs.

Ryane Logsdon leads the flock—literally and figuratively—at Avian Behavior Conservancy, where she manages a dazzling array of feathered personalities (and a few quirky human ones, too). With a doctorate in Animal Behavior and a resume that includes caring for non-releasable wildlife in the Bay Area, volunteering with raptors and other education animals, and studying the mysterious Greater Sage-Grouse, Ryane brings serious brainpower to the bird biz.

A passionate amateur birder and avid hiker, Ryane is endlessly fascinated by the weird and wonderful world of birds—from the tool-using brilliance of New Caledonian Crows to the over-the-top courtship displays of Bowerbirds. She’s especially fond of working with the misunderstood rockstars of the avian world: vultures and corvids.

When she’s not fine-tuning training plans or swooning over a perfectly constructed bower, Ryane is geeking out over animal cognition, behavior, and how to build relationships with birds based on trust—not tricks.

Bird nerd? Absolutely. Boring? Never.

Teresa Ely is a raptor biologist with nearly three decades of experience studying birds of prey across western North America. Her research focuses on raptor ecology, migration, and movement patterns, integrating traditional field techniques such as capture and banding with modern wildlife tracking technologies.

Teresa began working with raptors in the 1990s at the San Francisco Zoo, where she volunteered in public education programs involving birds of prey. She has since worked at raptor migration monitoring stations across the western United States and Mexico.

She holds a Master’s degree in Evolution, Ecology, and Behavior, where her thesis analyzed American Kestrel banding and count data from multiple long-term migration stations across the United States. Her research examined patterns of body size change, population dynamics, and environmental stressors affecting kestrels.

Teresa previously served for nearly a decade as Banding Manager and Senior Biologist at the Golden Gate Raptor Observatory. Over the course of her career, she has captured, banded, and studied thousands of raptors, contributing to large collaborative datasets used to understand migration timing, population trends, and climate-driven changes in raptor movements.

Her current research integrates long-term banding datasets with emerging technologies, including the Motus Wildlife Tracking System and GPS telemetry, to better understand how raptors move across landscapes and how those movements connect breeding, migration, and wintering areas. In addition to her work on American Kestrels, she also conducts research on species including Swainson’s Hawks, Ferruginous Hawks, Red-shouldered Hawks, Golden Eagles, and Burrowing Owls across California.

She is the founder of the Golden State Kestrel Research Network, a collaborative initiative focused on studying American Kestrels across California. Through partnerships with researchers, conservation organizations, and community volunteers, the network works to expand research on kestrel ecology and inform conservation efforts for this declining species.

From a young age, Sarah Fonville knew that she wanted to work with wildlife. She started volunteering at a raptor rehabilitation and education facility, and birds of prey quickly took over her life. Soon, she was a licensed falconer with her own red-tailed hawk hunting partner. Since then, she has been a volunteer for many wildlife facilities in Texas, Colorado, and Oklahoma.

Sarah graduated from Texas Tech University’s Agriculture program with a bachelor’s in Natural Resources Management thereafter with master’s in Range, Wildlands, and Fisheries Management. During her time at TTU, Sarah conducted research over American kestrel nesting and wintering food habits, as well as avian point count surveys. She also serves on the board of the High Plains Falconers Club.

When she isn’t training birds at Avian Behavior Conservancy, Sarah can be found training her personal Harris’ hawk, working on artwork as a freelance illustrator, or riding Icelandic horses.

Aley Moore is a lifelong animal advocate who is deeply passionate about conservation and understanding wildlife through a behavioral lens. She is driven by the idea that meaningful connections with animals can inspire care, curiosity, and lasting stewardship, and she strives to bridge the gap between scientific understanding and everyday human experience.

Before joining the team at ABC, Aley worked in the wildlife program at Shaver’s Creek Environmental Center, where she cared for a wide variety of native Pennsylvania birds and other East Coast species. She also developed and led education and outreach programs, finding joy in creating experiences that encouraged people to slow down, ask questions, and see wildlife as something personal and worth knowing. Aley studied psychology at The Pennsylvania State University, a background that continues to guide her thoughtful approach to both animals and the people who care for them.

She inspires others to look closer, listen carefully, and embrace curiosity- one animal at a time.

Lorene has spent much of her career working in the nonprofit world. She has skills in program development, grants management, and operations. Lorene holds a master’s degree in professional studies, Humanistic Education.

Before joining ABC, Lorene spent the last few years developing a best practice to positively impact lives by compassionately improving end-of-life-care for family members through her nonprofit, Transitional Bridges.

Before starting her nonprofit, she had the opportunity to work collaboratively with the University Advancement team at Cal State San Marcos. During her tenure at CSUSM, Lorene utilized her writing skills to secure grant funding for the CSU Shiley Haynes Institute for Palliative Care and other colleges on the campus. Earlier in her career, she dedicated her skills to large nonprofits, including the American Heart Association and the American Cancer Society. In these roles, she worked to facilitate systemic change to improve patient outcomes for Heart Disease, Stroke, and Cancer. While working in these programs, Lorene started taking classes in grant writing and engaged in fundraising activities.

When Lorene moved to Bonsall with her husband eight years ago, they were exposed to an amazing array of wildlife in their own backyard. Never before had they seen Red-tailed Hawk chicks fledge from palm trees, or American Kestrels fledge from a nesting box. She began to recognize various bird vocalizations and learned to identify different birds before seeing them soar above her. She and her partner have been fortunate to see beautiful owlets perched on their box at night, and roadrunners travel through the yard in search of lizards. Every day is filled with utter awe and new wonderment as they open their front and back doors!

Passionate about work with meaning and purpose and with a newfound appreciation for these incredible birds and their connection to humans, Lorene was eager to join ABC and contribute to the organization’s mission.

Deana developed a love for animals long before she ever considered making conservation part of her career. From her first finch to her current beloved cat, animals have remained a constant source of curiosity, connection, and inspiration.

She graduated from Cal State University San Marcos with a degree in Literature and Writing and brings a background in content creation, marketing, journalism, eLearning, and community outreach to her work at Avian Behavior Conservancy. At ABC, she uses those skills to help connect people with the organization’s conservation, education, and animal care work—and to share the stories that make that work meaningful.

She is thrilled to have found a place where communication and conservation intersect and hopes to continue building a career in animal advocacy, with a long-term goal of working throughout North Africa and the MENA region.

While being a mammal lover her entire life, Kathryne has only been involved with parrots for 20 years. Her parrot love affair began when she bought Pearl, an Umbrella Cockatoo. Who could ever imagine the impact one little fluffy white bird would have? Pearl is responsible for capturing Kathryne and her husband Rich and for bringing their hearts and minds into aviculture, into avian medicine, conservation, advocacy, and behavioral science. Idgie the Moluccan cockatoo joined the family more than 14 years ago when his original owner passed away. They have since added young palm cockatoo Rosie to the household and are enjoying the training opportunities that she brings.

Kathryne spent her entire business career as a Capitol Hill staffer, and then a lobbyist, and the cockatoos helped her keep a proper perspective on life. She finally realized she did not want to interact with one more Congressperson so she and Rich decided to retire to San Diego, as far from DC as possible. Tragically, Pearl died unexpectedly of a heart attack a month before the move West. Moving to San Diego turned out to be even better than expected as the move coincided with the formation of ABC. It was love at first sight. And now, ABC can’t get rid of her. Kathryne brings with her experience training birds, mammals, and even goldfish.

She has been involved with wildlife rehabilitation for years. She strongly supports parrot conservation efforts around the world.