Paula Hansen

(aka Hacker) Personal Information: A native New Yorker. My best quality I think I have is honesty. Married for 48 yrs. to husband Henry. He bought a canary for Valentine’s Day in 1990. A yr. later an aviary was built, I joined a bird club.

My History in Aviculture: 1991-Starting with the basics Zebra and Society finch and moving over to Red factor and Gloster Canary. 1994- Interests turned to breeding Shaftails, Button & Coturnix Quail. The local elementary school would have field trips to my house to see the birds. 1996- I shifted to BH/RH Gouldian, Cordon Bleu and Gold-breasted waxbills and applied for AFA’s Red Siskin Project. I also was Oregon’s AFA Representative and Regional Director. Presently, I’m focused on Finch Save and helping a few folks gets established with Red Siskin. I do support aviculture through avian research with the Smithsonian Research Institute for the past several yrs to  present. I continue to manage a diverse gene pool of the red siskin and now involved more with assisting the Smithsonian again to recover them in their country of origin, and their NGO partners (other non-government groups) in that effort. That information, see issue of the NFSS Journal Sept/October 2014. I attended a summit meeting in July 2014 in Washington DC. That was pretty exciting! I continue to assist and be involved in Red Siskins, Smithsonian Research/Conservation and Red Siskin Initiative conservation (NGO) groups. My main focus now is breeding Red Siskins and Gouldians, mentoring my grand daughter with breeding societies, and exhibiting at shows.

Since 1991, I’ve attended multiple shows, bird marts and participate in social media groups.

Administrative experience: I’ve served as club president of the Finch Connection Bird Club for 9 years. I worked for the State of Oregon for 25+ years and am currently semi-retired and work for Blue Buffalo.

I continue be a member of 2 bird clubs and volunteer as show secretary and steward. Also currently on the NFSS Board of Directors for 16 yrs. I am your NFSS Band Secretary for 36 yrs and Webmaster for NFSS for 5 yrs. which are the best offices to hold.

Always open to listen to our members recommendations or suggestions.