Joanna Eckles has been a bird lover all her life. She became fascinated with birds and birding at a young age and this passion remained a constant in life through high school and college. At Cornell University Joanna studied Natural Resources and worked on a number of projects studying wild birds. After Cornell she moved to Minnesota to work as a trainer with the World of Birds Show at the Minnesota Zoo. She trained a variety of birds and presented free-flight educational programs at the zoo for 11 years. Upon leaving the zoo to start her family in 1999, she joined the World Parrot Trust as the administrator of World Parrot Trust USA. In 2006, she began working almost exclusively on PsittaScene, the magazine of the World Parrot Trust. Joanna lives in Minnesota with her husband, son, and daughter, along with a dog, cat, and African Grey Parrot.