MEET BECKY ABEL!
Director of Philanthropy since April 2020
Becky paddling at Otsego Marsh (photo by Brenna Marsicek/SoWBA).
Hi, I’m Becky. I grew up in northwest Ohio and came to Madison (sight unseen) for college. I was just a few credits away from a degree in Psychology when I enrolled in a course called Extinction of Species. Following an inspiring lecture on endangered species conservation, I walked out of the lecture hall and immediately changed my major to Wildlife Ecology. After completing my Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Wildlife Ecology at UW-Madison, I determined that Wisconsin—with its abundant wetlands, rivers and lakes—was my home, and bird conservation my calling.
Why did you want to join the team at Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance?
My early career focused on field studies and nonprofit leadership, but I have decided I can contribute most to bird conservation by raising money. Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance’s impressive growth in capacity and effectiveness caught my eye, and SoWBA’s talented staff and many-pronged approach to protecting land and the birds that nest, migrate through, and winter in southern Wisconsin made me want a spot on the team. I love that I can apply skills I learned while working for international and statewide organizations to help protect birds and places close to home. (If you are excited about donating, you can do that here!)
What's your favorite bird?
Becky holds an American Kestrel (photo by Brenna Marsicek/SoWBA).
Corvids. One of my first field positions was a volunteer gig observing nesting crows and their interactions at the nest site with young of the previous year. It sparked my fascination with crows and ravens, which remain my favorite family of birds.
Swans. My graduate work was on Trumpeter Swans and I love everything about them—from the funny behaviors of newly-hatched cygnets, to the awkwardness of fledglings learning to fly, to the loud, elaborate courtship displays and unforgettable grace and trumpeting of adults.
Parrots. I think of Puerto Rican Parrots as my “heartbreak bird.” I haven’t seen one in a long time, but I spent a year studying them in the rainforest, and I feel both lucky and cursed to hold in my memory familiarity with the calls, behaviors and quirks of a species that could become extinct.
There are other species that pretty much always stop me in my tracks, for a mix of mostly personal reasons—Black Terns, Carolina Wrens, Common Nighthawks, American Redstarts, and White-breasted Nuthatches. And I can’t forget my far-flung favorites like todies, bustards, and Blue-footed Boobies.
And then there’s whatever bird I am looking at. . . .
Name your top three favorite outdoor places.
Waves crash onto a sandy Lake Superior coastline (National Park Service photo).
This is almost as hard as the favorite bird question, so I’ll limit my answer to Wisconsin: Lake Superior, St. Croix and Lower Wisconsin Rivers, Crex Meadows.
Share something cool you've learned since joining the team.
I’ve been fascinated to learn about Chimney Swifts, including that they spend virtually all their waking hours on the wing. And I feel lucky to learn cool new things every time I get to spend time at one of our sanctuaries.
Cover image: An American Crow perches on a tangle of branches (photo via Pixabay).
