Meet The Staff

Paula and Pete received a cockatiel as a wedding present 57 years ago. Their love for birds eventually grew into a hobby, breeding birds in their home, and then into a business. They opened into a retail store 40 years ago. "We are blessed that the shop is now in the capable hands of our daughter, Bernadette". They are currently enjoying retirement although they still like to sneak in every once in awhile.

Since the store opened the year Bernie was born, she’s been around the birds from the beginning. Bernie has managed the store since 2010 after her graduation from The Ohio State University and officially took over ownership in 2024. Her focus has been on educating customers specifically on nutrition, enrichment, and toy making. At home she has an Umbrella Cockatoo, four Blue Head Pionus, a Rock Pebbler, and two Cockatiels.

Madison has been a vital part of our sales staff since 2019. In addition to excelling at customer service, she also cares for our babies, breeders, and store birds. She has a special place in her heart for the finches as she began her bird journey with wild birding and bird banding.

Bev is responsible for our store birds' care and has been a reliable and loyal member of our staff since 2009. Bev shares her home with birds, cats, dogs, and lots and lots of plants.

Gloria’s first day with us was in April of 2016 in the nursery and she now heads feeding and caring for the baby birds! Since being a long time customer before she became an employee, she has a houseful of animals, including a Cockatiel, three Bourke Parakeets, a Canary, two cats and a dog.

Nathan was hired in December of 2018 and plays a huge part in helping customers on the weekends.  He takes a high tech approach when it comes to charting the health of his own birds which include a Sun Conure and Blue and Gold Macaw.

Liz has been an essential employee in many areas of the store since 2018. As one of our lead hand-feeders, she is often in the baby room, but also uses her green thumb at our indoor hydroponic tower and outdoor garden. She loves to help customers get acquainted with their new babies, as well as answering all passerine questions, too! At home she has two dogs, a Red-rumped parakeet, an aviary of diverse finches, and chickens, too!

Lucy joined the SBF staff in 2022 after moving here from Texas. She is now helping in all aspects of pet and breeder care, as well as being a sales associate on the floor. One of her favorite things to help people with is target training and is a wealth of knowledge with any training and behavior questions. Her first bird was one of our babies, a Blue Headed Pionus. She also owns: sugar gliders, isopods, a gecko, a shrimp aquarium, a salt water aquarium, and a dog named Apollo. 

Paul joined our care staff the summer of 2022 after several years as a loyal customer. Paul is responsible for feeding our small species breeders, and many other tasks that helps to make the bird far run efficientlyl  At home Paul looks after his Congo African Grey, Martha, and Quaker Parrot, Henry.

While Mary started with us first as a volunteer in 2020, she has been part of our sales staff since 2021. Mary’s favorite thing to do is help new customers handle birds and discover a love for birds.  Mary has a menagerie of animals including many budgies, Doves, Cockatiels, House Sparrows, some chickens and a dog and now runs A Little Budgie Told Me, a sanctuary and re-homing facility for the little ones.

Lisa has been on our staff since 2022 and has been an avid bird lover for many years now and we are happy to have her on the team to help guide and encourage our volunteers and staff. At home she has: a Bare-eyed cockatoo, Vasa parrot, Linnie, Red-rumped parakeet, Lovebird a Green Cheek Conure and 2 Quaker parrots.

Hailey, once a volunteer, was added to our staff in 2025. Even though she is now apart of the cleaning crew, she still manages to find time to come in and volunteer during our Jr. Volunteer events. At home Hailey has 1 umbrella cockatoo named Connor.

Eric recently joined our staff the summer of 2022. He is in full charge of our front of store birds feeding and daily care. At home Eric has a 2 year old blue Quaker Parrot named Blue. He has an affinity for all animals, but birds especially.

Kaitlyn began her journey here as a volunteer and her passion for birds pushed her to become a staff member in 2024. She is always so thorough and consistent with her tasks and never fails to notice when a bird may not be acting like themselves. At home she watches over 4 birds and 4 cats.

Nikki has migrated from being a customer in 2019, to a volunteer and finally to sales staff. She is extremely knowledgeable and eager to teach you everything there is to know about birds (especially if it's Green Cheek Conures). At home she currently has 6 Green Cheek Conures of her own.

Rose initially joined the crew as a volunteer and switched her way over to staff in 2024. She has since been a vital part to the cleanliness of our breeding areas. At home she also has to clean a plethora of different exotic pets ranging from parrots to arachnids.

Like many others, Gayle began their journey at SBF as a volunteer and merged over to the team in 2025. He has been a wonderful addition to our staff and keeps everyones spirits high with random post-it note drawings hidden around like easter eggs. At home, his family has a total of 32 birds from finches to macaws so the cleaning never truly stops.