Us

Orietta Estrada (She/Her/Ella)

Birders Fund and Amplify the Future Co-founder, Acting Executive Director, Board Chair.

Before starting her career as a content and media professional in 2013, Orietta worked for seven years in the tech industry as a technical writer and editor. She has bird-related bylines in several online and print publications from BirdWatching to Sierra. She is co-founder of IDEA Birders and the IDEA MD RBA, a birding group and RBA based on the values of inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility; and co-founder of the Black & Latinx Birders Scholarship Fund.

Orietta volunteers as a master naturalist participating in community outreach focused on delivering information about raptors. She also volunteers as a judge and mentor for the American Birding Association’s Young Birder of the Year program. She holds a B.A. in Literature from New York Institute of Technology, an M.A. in Postcolonial Literary Theory from Stockholms Universitet, and has both undergraduate and graduate coursework in geographic information systems and environmental biology from Hood College.

When she’s not thinking about birds or birders, she’s tinkering with the latest in tech-media, reading, taking courses, spending time with her daughter and their three dogs (Poochies, Princesa, y Frijolita), and playing music.

Twitter: @BirdsNatureLife Instagram: @Birds_Nature_Life

Tykee James (He/Him/His)

Birders Fund and Amplify the Future Co-founder, Board Chair.

Tykee James serves on the board of directors of the DC Audubon Society, Wyncote Audubon Society, Audubon Maryland-DC, the Birding Co-op, and the Academy of Natural Sciences. 

He has built residency in this work starting from his experience as an environmental educator in Philadelphia, his hometown. In fact, that was his first job in his own neighborhood where he became aware of the significant connection between public health and environmental conditions. Before moving to DC almost two years ago, he worked for a State Representative as her environmental policy advisor and developed his leadership capacity with the Environmental Leadership Program.

Tykee has been a part of the birding community for almost a decade. Most recently, he was one of the organizers of the first #BlackBirdersWeek.

In his personal time he is a podcast host for Wildlife Observer Network, a wildlife media project he started with some wildlife-friendly friends in Philly. Tykee hosts two podcasts: Brothers in Birding and On Word for Wildlife.

Website: WildlifeObserverNetwork.com Twitter: @Tykee_James Instagram: @TykeeJames

Yamina Nater-Otero (She/Her and They/Them)

Co-Chair Birders Fund, Board Secretary.

When she is not out in her local park or at a nature preserve looking for birds, Yamina spends her time advocating for equity in the outdoors. She puts her MA in Environmental Education to good use at Audubon NY by engaging diverse communities in topics such as bird conservation, redefining “the outdoors”, and urban environmental education. She is excited to bring those skills (and gain some new ones) to Amplify the Future while serving as Co-Chair for the Birders Fund. In her free time, she enjoys consuming far too much pop culture and spending time with her Boston Terriers.

Andrés Anchondo (He/Him/Él)

Birders Fund Founding Committee Member, Partnerships & Website.

Originally from Chihuahua, Mexico, Andrés moved to the United States in 2016 with his wife. He works with American Bird Conservancy to conserve migratory birds and their habitats in Colombia, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Venezuela. Before joining ABC, Andrés worked with NRDC’s Latin America Project researching mechanisms to finance climate-smart projects in the region.