Liz Wilson has been living and working with parrots for more than 45 years. Though retired now, she worked for 20 years as a certified veterinary technician specializing in avian and exotic animal nursing and another 20 years as an International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants (IAABC)- certified parrot behavior consultant.
Her greatest love has always been parrots and consequently, she has shared her home with them for more than 45 years. Her current feathered companion is a 60-plus-year-old female blue-and-gold macaw named Sam, who has shared Wilson’s life for 40 years.
Wilson gained recognition internationally as a parrot behavior consultant thanks to her seminars, freelance writing and consultations with parrot owners. An experienced and entertaining speaker, she lectured extensively at avian veterinary conferences, avicultural conferences, companion parrot conferences, and bird clubs both in the United States and in Europe.
She has been a regular contributor to BIRD TALK and BIRDS USA, and numerous other parrot magazines over the years and she has written BIRD TALK’s “Parrot Psychology” column since 2001. In addition, she has written numerous articles for veterinary magazines, journals and proceedings. Wilson also has eight veterinary textbook chapters to her credit, writing for such excellent publications as Orosz’s “Manual of Avian Medicine,” Harrison’s “Avian Veterinary Compendium” and Luescher’s “Manual of Parrot Behavior.”
Actively concerned with the plight of homeless parrots, Wilson has served on the steering committees and/or board of directors of several parrot education and rehoming organizations over the years and she currently serves as the education vice president of the Phoenix Landing Foundation (www.phoenixlanding.org).
Concerned also with teaching others to work with parrot behavior, Wilson founded the Parrot Division of the International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants (www.iaabc.org) and remains active with that organization as well.
In addition to her parrot behavior work, Wilson was an adjunct faculty member in the veterinary technician department at Harcum College in Bryn Mawr, Pa. for many years. She also worked for several years with wildlife rehabilitation at the Aark Rehabilitation and Education Center (www.aark.org) in Newtown, Pa., and served on its board. She has a degree in elementary education and psychology from DePauw University and an associate science degree from Harcum College.
Wilson is now retired and while she continues her writing, she is no longer taking new clients. She and her extraordinarily patient husband David Hearn now live in her father’s old home on one of the barrier islands off the southern coast of Georgia.