Cathy Wise

Community Science Manager

Cathy Wise has worked with Audubon Arizona since 2008, and oversees community-based bird survey and habitat restoration projects. She designed Arizona-specific bird study curriculum for middle-school students, created the River Keepers after-school program, and initiated and leads Conservation Workdays and the Downtown Owls program. She uses her Master Gardener certification to lead Audubon Arizona's Native Plants for Birds initiative.

Cathy earned a Bachelor's of Science in Avian Sciences from University of California, Davis. An experienced bird biologist, Cathy has studied birds throughout the southwest for almost 20 years and has worked as a wildlife biologist for several agencies including the US Forest Service, the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, and the Arizona Game and Fish Department.

Completed projects include Cactus Ferruginous Pygmy-owl and Southwestern Willow Flycatcher surveys, bird point count monitoring of Utah’s remote Book Cliff region, land-bird mist-netting and banding at Point Reyes Bird Observatory sites at Palomarin and the Farallon Islands, and the Arizona Breeding Bird Atlas (Wise co-edited). Cathy has been involved with raptor rehabilitation and education in California at the Davis Raptor Center and in Arizona at both the Liberty Wildlife Center and the Adobe Mountain Wildlife Center.

Cathy is an avid backpacker, climber, snowboarder, gardener, and enjoys sharing her passion for the natural word with others.