Randy Dettmers

Randy is a transplanted Midwestern farm boy from Wisconsin. The Whip-poor-wills and Northern Bobwhite calling from the cow pasture on summer evenings, Barn Swallows following tractors around the fields, and Purple Martins circling the farm pond instilled a passion for birds from an early age, eventually leading Randy to multiple degrees in Zoology (BS, MS, PhD), all with an emphasis in avian ecology and animal behavior. After a 2-year PostDoc position at the University of Tennessee, Randy joined the USFWS Migratory Bird Program in 1999 as one of only 9 staff across the country dedicated to non-game bird conservation in the Service at that time. The Mig Bird Program was still housed within the National Wildlife Refuge program at that time as well. Since that time, Randy has continued to work for the Mig Bird Program and been fortunate to work on a variety of species-specific and landscape-scale conservation initiatives in support of conserving landbirds of the Northeast, both here on their breeding grounds as well as locations to the south where they spend the winter.