Rebecca K. O’Connor is a freelance writer, author and animal trainer in California. She has more 20 years of experience as a parrot owner, has trained birds professionally and consulted for zoos and facilities in the United States, Mexico and Australia. She gives lectures and workshops on training, care and living with parrots at bird clubs and facilities across the U.S.. She has also been a falconer for most of her adult life.
O’Connor is the author of “A Parrot for Life” and several other pet book books, as well as a frequent contributor to BIRD TALK Magazine and BirdChannel.com. O’Connor has an MFA in creative writing from the University of California, Riverside. She frequently writes about the natural world and our relationship to it. She is probably best known as a writer for her memoir, "Lift."
She shares her home with Ty, a African grey parrot; Loki, a Senegal parrot; Bali, a red-bellied parrot and Anakin, a peregrine falcon. She says that Ty, who she has lived with for 17 years, gives her the best advice. When asked to sum up her life, O’Connor said, “Birds and words, baby. Words and birds.”