At Maryland Bird Conservation Partnership, we are excited to welcome new leadership to our helm! In the last year, Gabriel Foley joined us as our new Executive Director, and Mike Spurrier, Anir Bhat, Gaurav Kapoor, and Margaret Poethig all joined our Board of Directors. They’re bringing passion and expertise to Maryland’s conservation scene, and we couldn’t be more optimistic about the direction we are heading!
Gabriel Foley
Executive Director
Gabriel Foley joined Maryland Bird Conservation Partnership as its Executive Director in late 2024. Gabriel may already be a familiar name to many in Maryland’s birding community through his work as Coordinator of the Maryland & DC Breeding Bird Atlas 3, where he worked with nearly 2,500 volunteers documenting breeding birds across the region. His favorite part of the Atlas was getting to know so many passionate volunteers and seeing the outstanding effort that so many birders poured into the project.
Gabriel Foley is the new Executive Director of MBCP.
Originally from Canada, Gabriel has a strong background in research. He’s been involved with projects ranging from sampling fish in the Zambezi River to surveying birds in the Alaskan north to radio-collaring foxes in Canada’s arctic. His own research has focused on bird behavior, including habitat selection in nighthawks and nest-building in weavers—research that earned him recognition as a Queen Elizabeth Scholar.
Gabriel is an active member of the birding community and co-founder of Bird Names for Birds. He currently lives in Washington County with his wife Jordan and their dog Eider. He’s thrilled to bring his mix of experience, enthusiasm, and community focus to MBCP, and looks forward to working with partners and volunteers across the state to help our birds flourish.
Mike Spurrier
Board Vice-Chair
Mike Spurrier was born and raised in Frederick, Maryland. He began birding in 1988 and has been very fortunate to have had birding experiences in India, Ireland, Wales, England, France, Peru, Belize, Panama, Canada, several Caribbean islands, and across the United States.
Mike has served as the president of the Frederick Bird Club, a local chapter of the Maryland Ornithological Society. He serves as vice-chair of the Board of Directors of the Maryland Bird Conservation Partnership, and volunteers with the Maryland Farmland Raptor Program and with Fox Haven Organic Farm and Learning Center.
Mike is a certified Maryland Master Naturalist and is certified in Permaculture Design through Oregon State University and the Permaculture Institute of North America. He holds a master of arts degree in Social Innovation and Sustainability from Goddard College; a bachelor of arts degree in Sustainability from Goddard College; and an associate of arts degree in Park Management from Frederick Community College. Mike served as an AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer at Morningside Emergency Shelter in Brattleboro, Vermont, and worked at federally-designated Community Action Agencies for 33 years. Prior to starting a career in human and homeless services, Mike worked as a summer camp counselor for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and as a seasonal park technician for the National Park Service.
Mike and his wife, Susie live in Frederick along with their son, two dogs named Buddy and Boswell, and an “indoor-only” cat named Elfie.
Anir Bhat
Board Member
Anir Bhat is a passionate hobbyist photographer and amateur astronomer whose journey into birding began in 2013 with a single photograph of a Northern Cardinal and he hasn’t looked back since. He also enjoys birding in India, where he grew up. His conservation work spans multiple species. He has previously supported Monarch butterfly conservation and installed and monitored bluebird boxes. More recently, he has been involved in monitoring American Kestrel boxes within the county, assisting with the banding of nestlings, and working with the local community to promote conservation. When not in the field, Anir works full-time as an IT executive for a privately owned consumer packaged goods company.
Gaurav Kapoor
Board Member
Gaurav Kapoor was raised in the DMV. Intrigued by history, government and civic action from a young age he attended James Madison University where he received his degree in International Affairs and Political Science. He went on to attain a Master's degree in Public Administration from George Mason University concentrating on Environmental Science and Public Policy. For the past fifteen years Gaurav has worked in the areas of sustainable development, energy efficiency, and affordable housing.
Gaurav’s active and inquisitive nature led him to photography, which drew him into birding. MBCP's mission matters to him because he strongly believes environmental conservation and management is the responsibility of everyone who is able to contribute to the cause. He hopes to accomplish an expansion of the organization, in regards to partnerships, recovering bird populations, and conserving habitats. His greatest goal is to increase the opportunities for others to enjoy positive experiences in the outdoors as he's been able to throughout his life in the DMV. When he's not taking pictures of birds you can find him pursuing one of his many hobbies: woodworking, native gardening, motorcycling, writing poetry and short stories, singing, and cooking. He is also really good at taking naps.
Margaret Poethig
Board Member
Margaret Poethig lives in the DC Metro area. She started birding immediately after retiring from the federal service, fell in love with community science, and volunteered for the Maryland & DC Breeding Bird Atlas 3. Participating in the atlas opened her eyes to the diversity of ecosystems across the state as well as the threats to birds. In the final year of the atlas Margaret was Somerset county coordinator, and she used her strategic management expertise to get the under-atlased county across the finish line. After joining the board of MBCP, she helped write the new strategic plan.
Margaret is grateful that through her association with MBCP, she has a path to continue community science and to support the analysis and publication of the atlas data. Guided by the MBCP principle that connecting with people is the key to preserving critical habitat, she's been helping to expand MBCP’s Farmland Raptor Program by reaching out to the landowners and volunteers she met on the Lower Eastern Shore. Margaret is perpetually amazed at what researchers are able to learn from data collected by community scientists and looks forward to seeing those scientific findings represented in future MBCP conservation programs.