Staff

Robert Mesta, Coordinator
Robert has spent his professional career leading or coordinating national and regional bird conservation and recovery programs. Before coming to Tucson, Arizona to initiate and lead the Sonoran Joint Venture, Robert coordinated the California Condor Recovery Program, the American Peregrine Falcon Recovery Effort, and the Arizona Bald Eagle Nest Watch Program, and was a regional representative to the National Bald Eagle Working Team. Additionally, he has lead or participated on numerous avian recovery, conservation, and management teams in the western United States. Robert has traveled and worked throughout the deserts of the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico and enjoys applying his experience to the unique avian conservation issues of the region.

Carol Beardmore, Science Coordinator
Carol's career has taken her from a North Dakota refuge to a Research Institute to Georgia DNR and FWS in Texas where she was an endangered species biologist with responsibilities for two federally listed Neotropical migrants, one of which, the Golden-cheeked Warbler, was her thesis topic. Before coming to the SJV Carol worked as the Partners in Flight Western Regional Coordinator for seven years. In this position she facilitated bird conservation planning and bird monitoring efforts with the western states and at a national level. This coordination job allowed international bird conservation coordination in Canada, Mexico, and Central America. She has coordinated several international meetings and is an author of the PIF North American Landbird Conservation Plan (2004) and Saving our Shared Birds: PIF Tri-National Vision for Landbird Conservation (2010). Carol has traveled throughout the western hemisphere working on and learning about bird distribution and habitat use.

Jennie Duberstein, Education and Outreach Coordinator
Jennie has spent her professional career working to protect birds and their habitats across the United States and northwest Mexico. She has diverse skills and experience working as a field biologist and educator for a variety of organizations, including Hawk Mountain Sanctuary, Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory, and Prescott College. She has developed community-based conservation projects in the U.S.-Mexico border region, coordinated and taught workshops on bird identification, ecotourism, and bird monitoring and has studied species including Yellow-billed Cuckoo in Arizona and Double-crested Cormorant and wading birds in Sonora. She has also worked with young birders for many years, directing summer camps, organizing conferences, and editing and managing young birder publications for the American Birding Association. Jennie received her B.S. in Wildlife Biology from Virginia Tech and her M.S. and Ph.D. from the University of Arizona's School of Natural Resources and the Environment, where, in addition to her position with the SJV, she is currently adjunct faculty.