MEET MATT REETZ!
Executive Director since September 2014
Matt hiking in Texas (photo courtesy of Matt).
I love birds. My mom was always an enthusiastic bird watcher. She kept our feeders full and was always so excited to get a new bird at her feeder. Once, she even burned through 30 minutes of a VHS tape filming a single Baltimore Oriole. A lot of that passion for birds was naturally absorbed by me.
Growing up, I enjoyed being outside but had no clue what I wanted to do with my life. I liked biology but couldn’t find the right fit career-wise. That is, until I took ornithology, my favorite class of all time. My professor sat at the front of the class each day and just spoke off the cuff and in great detail about each day’s subject. In one late semester class he mentioned opportunities for students to get experience on one of his avian field research projects. I quite literally ran up to him after class to sign up. That summer was a game changer. I worked my first of three field seasons in the forests and swamps of the Suwannee National Forest on a variety of songbird research projects. I spent hours each day slogging around in wet boots, dodging cottonmouths, catching poison ivy and getting eaten alive by mosquitoes. It was awesome. From there I went to grad school and got advanced degrees in conservation and ecology, which set me on this professional career path.
I was on a path to be a career academic as a professor and researcher. But, I kept feeling pulled back to applied conservation—working closely with people on problems that effect real and lasting changes. So, I started volunteering a little bit with a Wisconsin conservation nonprofit—learning a lot and interacting with a fantastic group of people committed to protection of the state’s natural resources. I was hooked.
Matt prepares to release a banded American Kestrel fledgling from a nest box (photo courtesy of Matt).
Why did you want to join the team at Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance?
When this job became available I thought to myself, “Oh my goodness. That’s perfect for me. Now how can I convince them to give me the job. . . .” Spoiler alert: I got it.
Here’s why this job is so fabulous in two words: people and purpose. I interact with some of the most interesting, passionate, smart, and dynamic people you’ll meet anywhere. My colleagues with Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance are super talented and fun and we share a common interest in birds, habitats, wildlife, nature, and conservation. The members of SoWBA are just as awesome and so wonderful to know! I just love that the work we do is for the benefit of birds, wildlife, and people. It’s a privilege to get to work on this every day. Conservation is a serious business but I also feel like we are in the joy business too.
What's your favorite bird?
This is an impossible question. It changes pretty much every time I see a bird outside because that one becomes my favorite. I’ve also been lucky to be involved in incredible research experiences with birds around the world and see things like Chucao Tapaculo, Magellanic Woodpecker (largest in the world), penguins, parrots, fairy wrens, etc. So amazing.
BUT, if I have to answer with a favorite (or favorites) . . . I tend to like common birds that can get overlooked. A Northern Cardinal is a truly exceptional bird. So is a Blue Jay. If you visited a tropical rainforest and these two species lived there, your mind would be blown. You might think, “My goodness, look at the plumage on those birds!” And Blue Jays are so dang smart—and cooperative. Utterly fascinating. Crows too! I also sure do love Black-capped Chickadees. They are like chihuahuas: they don’t seem to know or care that they are tiny and will just start yelling at every dangerous animal they see. I love that. And, I adore the most-hated bird in North America. The Brown-headed Cowbird is a native bird that is an evolutionary marvel, one of the most interesting you will find, hardworking, intelligent—and so unfairly maligned (in my humble opinion).
The Reetz family spending some time outdoors (photo courtesy of Matt).
Name your top three favorite outdoor places.
1: My backyard. It’s my family’s main outdoor haven where we can garden, play with the dogs, have a fire, shoot hoops, etc. Plus, we get lots and lots of great birds and other critters.
2 & 3: Honestly, it’s wherever I’m with my family doing some hiking, or camping, or birdwatching, or whatever. We like to explore and have a lot more places to check out!
Share something cool you've learned since joining the team.
Birds. Are. Awesome! The list of cool things I’ve learned is impossibly long.
Here’s one: some birds sleep while they fly. Species that are aerial specialists like swifts and frigatebirds will sometimes spend many consecutive months airborne without landing. MONTHS. These birds are able to use something called unihemispheric slow wave sleep (USWS). This means they are able to sleep with only one hemisphere of the brain at a time, allowing them to keep the other eye open. AND, sometimes they turn off both sides of the brain for sleep for a few seconds while they continue to fly. Little tiny bird naps on the wing. Tell me that’s not cool.
Cover image: A male Brown-headed Cowbird perches on a twig, photo by Kelly Colgan Azar/Flickr.
