Operations Manager Debbie Blicher joined Talkin' Birds in 2015. She manages our social media, appears in the "Science Corner" segments, writes the newsletter, produces our Podcast Extras, serves as field engineer on our remote broadcasts, and handles the random stuff Ray forgets. She’s also a published essayist. If you’re looking for her, she’s outside, probably in water.
Outreach Coordinator and Ambassador-In-Chief Freya McGregor is originally from Australia. An occupational therapist by trade, she works to improve access and inclusion for disabled birders through her consulting business Access Birding, her role as a research associate at Virginia Tech, and by writing A Field Guide to Accessible Birding in the United States (to be published by Princeton University Press). She works to promote Talkin’ Birds within our family of Ambassadors, sends the occasional audio postcard, and teaches us how to talk Australian. You can connect with her on Instagram @the.ot.birder
Mike O'Connor owns the Bird Watcher's General Store in Orleans, Massachusetts, on Cape Cod. He's the Mike from the Talkin' Birds "Let's Ask Mike" segment and the author of Why Do Bluebirds Hate Me? and Why Don’t Woodpeckers Get Headaches? When The New York Times asked famed author and linguist Steven Pinker to name some of the "great writing stylists of our time," he mentioned Mike!
Author and poet Susan Edwards Richmond loves talkin’ bird books in the Book Nest. Her Parents' Choice Silver Award-winning picture book, Bird Count, is inspired by her many years participating in her local Christmas Bird Count. Susan has also published five collections of poetry, including Before We Were Birds and Birding in Winter. She teaches preschool at a farm and nature center west of Boston. Check out her website here.
Mark Duffield is Executive Producer Emeritus of Talkin' Birds. For ten years, Mark was the director of business development for WGBH, Boston’s premier public television and radio station. Mark has also been an owner of Boston gift shop Blackstone's of Beacon Hill, and a fisherman. Mark is the author of two children's books, The Last Shepard and As I Recall: Fireflies in the Night.