Board Affiliates

Renee Baade
Membership Welcome, Warbler Index and Printing Liaison

After growing up in the Midwest and getting a degree in Interior Design and then meeting her future husband David, Renee and her two daughters followed his career through many states before ending up in Connecticut in ’98.   Along the way she nurtured her curiosity of birds and birding, discovered international birding trips and got involved in projects such as the Christmas Bird Counts and various Environmental Impact Studies.  COA gave her even more of these opportunities, which she enjoyed during her years on the Board.  She remains involved behind the scenes and still feels part of this birding family.    

Steve Broker
COA Archivist

Steve’s interest in birds began in 1980 thanks to mentoring from Tony Bledsoe. His birding gained focus during graduate work at Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies. It includes field studies of nesting Peregrines, Ravens, and marsh birds. He joined COA in 1984 and has served as a board member, secretary (2004-14), vice-president (2015-17), president (2017-19), and editor of the COA Bulletin. He is a former compiler of the New Haven Christmas Bird Count and currently is New Haven’s regional coordinator for the Connecticut Bird Atlas. Since 1988, he has written the summary of the statewide Connecticut CBC for The Connecticut Warbler. His professional work included high school science teaching, university graduate administration, and university adjunct lectureships.  

Mona Cavallero
Website Calendar

Tina Green
Annual Meeting Chair and former COA President

Tina has loved birds since she was a young child but did not begin birding until 2008 after her children were grown. She is a past president of the Connecticut Ornithological Association (COA) as well as co-chair of their Annual Meeting and the co-coordinator for the First Wednesday Walk for the New Haven Bird Club. While she loves CT birding she spends as much time as possible sea watching on Cape Cod. When not birding, you can find her in a Westport studio designing stained glass panels or working on leaded glass window restorations.

Greg Hanisek
The Connecticut Warbler editor

Greg grew up in rural northwestern New Jersey and has been interested in birds from an early age. Before moving to CT, he captained the Bausch & Lomb team in the World Series of Birding for 12 years, winning three times. As a retired journalist from the Waterbury Republican-American, he maintains his 40+ years of writing by continuing to pen a popular weekly nature column. Greg is also the editor of The Connecticut Warbler, the quarterly journal of the COA, and also authored CT Birds by the Season and is the eBird Reviewer for Connecticut.

Chuck Imbergamo
CT Birds Moderator

Chuck has been a bird watcher his whole life and got hooked after seeing a Great Gray Owl in the 1970s.  He became an enthusiastic birder after moving to New England in the 1980s, and especially after he moved close to Hammonasset Beach State Park in Madison.  He has a passion for the environment and prior to becoming CT Birds Moderator he volunteered for the Madison Land Conservation Trust.  When he’s not birding local patches, Chuck keeps an eye on his feeders, and he has seen over 130 yard birds to date.  Chuck enjoys teaching others about birds and competing with his brother to find the most species each year.

Frank Mantlik
ARCC Chair

As a teenager, Frank’s eyes were opened to the natural world after attending a local nature walk. He has served as COA president and has been active in organizations including Connecticut Audubon and New Haven Bird Club. He is the Region Coordinator for the ongoing CT Bird Atlas and also helps monitor the Milford Point Purple Martin colony. Frank is a talented photographer, with images showcased in Audubon, Natural History, The New York Times, American Birds, Birding, and Bird Watcher’s Digest. After retiring from a postal career he guides trips for Sunrise Birding LLC. As one of the hardest working birders in the state with a bevy of good finds, his more exceptional discoveries include first state records of Anhinga, Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, Bell’s Vireo, and Pacific Golden-Plover. He enjoys birding Stratford, where he shares a home with his wife Linda and four adopted cats.

Emanuel (Manny) Merisotis
COA Warbler- Layout/Production

Manny is a former COA Board member who became active in COA while working as the Clerk of the Environment Committee at the Connecticut General Assembly. He took over computer layout duties for the COA Bulletin in 2001 and then switched to layout/ production work on the COA Warbler in 2004, which he continues today. He is the Director of Research for the Connecticut Senate Democrats where he has worked for over 30 years. Besides birding, Manny has many hobbies including gardening, woodworking, photography, and computers.  He lives in Coventry with his wife Teri (who hooked him on birds over 25 years ago), their children Katherine and Stephen and their two Australian Shepherds.

Steve Morytko
IT Support for Website, CTBirds and Membership

Steve has selflessly and ably assisted COA helping to upgrade and reorganize our IT assets. A former COA Board member, he has worked to update and improve our website security, design, and function and he promotes, troubleshoots and maintains technology resources for COA. Steve is also a long-time member of the Ashford Conservation Committee. He started seriously birding later in life in 1998 and began with an incredibly lucky and auspicious start by finding the first accepted lower 48 record of Pink-footed Goose in his first month of birding seriously. In his free time, Steve enjoys traveling, birding, photography, and nature.

Maureen Wolter
Annual Meeting and Camp Scholarship

Maureen is a former member of the COA Board and continues to be active in COA by organizing the Annual Meeting and serving on the committee to select the candidate for the Zepko Audubon Camp Scholarship.