Tamara Zeller

Tamara’s love of birds began in the cornfields of Michigan where she studied Tree Swallows as an undergraduate at Grand Valley State University. After graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Biology, her love of adventure and travel brought her to Alaska in 1996, where she helped with research on seabirds and decided to make Alaska home.  She holds a Master of Science in Biology from the University of Alaska Anchorage where she studied the effects of human disturbance on loon and grebe productivity.  It was during this research where she developed an appreciation for working with people for the benefit of wildlife and these experiences molded her for her current role as an outreach biologist. She currently splits her time between outreach and education, observing seabirds and waterfowl for various monitoring projects, and serving as the point person for loons and grebes.  She is the coordinator for the Alaska Jr. Duck Stamp program, chair of the Alaska Loon Working Group, and serves on many different communication teams helping to spread the word that birds are cool! In her spare time, Tamara enjoys hiking with her dogs, canoeing, traveling, and anything that gets her outdoors.

She talks about her adventures conducting aerial surveys for migratory birds on this episode of My Life, Wildlife. 

Publications:

Communities of Cloacal Bacteria in Tree Swallow Families (In: The Condor)

Changes in Loon and Red-necked Grebe Populations in the Lower Matanuska-Susitna Valley, Alaska.  (In: Canadian Field Naturalist)

Yellow-billed Loon Subsistence Harvest in Alaska: Challenges in Harvest Assessment of a Conservation Concern Species  (In: Journal of Fish and Wildlife Management)

Harvesting the Power of Co-Management (In: Fish and Wildlife News, Open Spaces)