Marcel Gahbauer BIC:  April 2004 - present Marcel entered the world of banding through Saw-whet Owls at Innis Point Bird Observatory in Ottawa in 2000, and was delighted when Marie-Anne and Shawn provided the additional interest and effort needed to get MBO started in 2004.  Marcel was the lone BIC for most of MBO's first two years, but was able to take some time off once Marie-Anne and Barbara had their permits.  He is now only a part-time BIC, but remains active behind the scenes as Executive Director of MRF, and maintains the website, including the MBO photo ID gallery.

Marie-Anne Hudson BIC:  October 2005 - present Marie-Anne has been bird-banding since Marcel introduced her to Saw-whet Owls in the fall of 2002. The owls brought her in, but the passerines made her stay. Marie-Anne is one of the founders of MBO, and is mighty proud of it. When she's not banding, she's working on her PhD thesis at McGill University, examining the reproductive success of birds breeding on golf courses and other urban green spaces.  She is currently the MBO Director, responsible for banding and all other research programs.

Barbara Frei BIC:  October 2005 - present Like Marcel, Barbara's first banding experiences were at Innis Point Bird Observatory in Ottawa - though in her case it involved mist nets filled with flocks of Yellow-rumped Warblers.  Impressed by her natural abilities as an extractor, Marcel was happy to be able to lure her to MBO, where additional apprenticeship enabled Barbara to obtain her own permit.  Outside of MBO, Barbara can often be found in forested wetlands of Algonquin and elsewhere, studying Rusty Blackbirds for her PhD thesis at McGill University.

Simon Duval BIC:  January 2009 - present Simon came to MBO as an intern for the 2008 spring season, cementing his place in the MBO history books as MBO's first long-term intern.  He was introduced to bird banding while working with shorebirds in an ornithology class in Cegep.  He has since gained additional experience and has acquired his own banding subpermit.

Shawn Craik BIC (owls):  October 2005 - present Shawn's background is in waterfowl research, but like Marie-Anne, he became involved in establishing MBO as a result of quality time spent with Saw-whet Owls during a visit to Ottawa.  Shawn's field work in New Brunswick on Red-breasted Mergansers for his PhD thesis has often kept him away from MBO during the peaks of migration, but he has been heavily involved in both the owl monitoring program and winter banding.

Seabrooke Leckie BIC:  August 2006 - September 2006 Seabrooke came to MBO from Toronto to be BIC for the first half of the Fall 2006 migration season.  She has previously worked at Tommy Thompson Park Bird Research Station in Toronto, Vaseux Lake Bird Observatory in British Columbia, and Pelee Island Bird Observatory in southwestern Ontario - and is looking forward to setting up a new migration monitoring station of her own in Ontario.  During her stay at MBO, we managed to find her an opportunity to band a species we don't usually handle - American Crows!