You know your bird will be in good hands with Dr Pat as she has worked and studied both in Australia and overseas and has been a trail blazer in Bird Medicine, being, in 1993, the first person in Victoria to gain Veterinary Board recognition as a Specialist in Avian Medicine. She descends from early American pioneers but her family moved far west, all the way to Sydney, Australia when she was twelve and she went on to graduate, with honours, as a vet from Sydney University and, afterwards, went back to the USA to complete an internship and fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania.

Returning to Australia in 1980, she opened Burwood Bird and Animal Hospital and owned or co-owned that clinic until 2015, when it was sold, and she enjoyed a brief year’s retirement before starting work with fellow avian vet Dr Matt Gosbell at Greencross Vets, Springvale. She has always had an interest in birds, bird watching and bird medicine and surgery and, over the years, has kept and bred budgies, Major Mitchell Cockatoos and galahs, peacocks and Quaker parrots. She has authored or co-authored numerous scientific papers, books and conference proceedings and has been an invited speaker at veterinary and other conferences in Asia, Central America, North America, Europe and Australia. She and Dr Matt are both excited about owning and working in a clinic treating birds exclusively and the opportunities this presents for helping bird owners and doing cutting edge work in the field.

Pat is passionate about getting people connected with nature and trying to stem our current global wave of species extinctions. She owns Harewood, a remarkable 150 year old heritage-listed property on Western Port and currently serves as President of the Healesville to Phillip Island Nature Link (see https://www.hpnl.org.au/ ). She has grown up children and two gorgeous little granddaughters, Heidi and Claudia.

Tawny has been a nurse at Melbourne Bird Veterinary Clinic since 2015, before this she had been studying/working in small animal practices for about 6 years. Tawny has always had a love for animals, but discovered her passion for birds when she adopted an Eclectus Parrot named ‘Ringo’ through a previous workplace. It didn’t take long for her to fall in love with the personality and intelligence of Ringo and ever since then, she has been very interested in learning all she can about the health and wellbeing of pet birds. Tawny really enjoys meeting the various different birds that come into the clinic, and chatting with like-minded bird owners.

Tawny currently lives with her partner Andrew, her two rescue dogs Indi and Boris, a Yellow-Crowned Amazon Parrot named Kip and a Gang-Gang Cockatoo named Jem. When not in the clinic, Tawny also works at a pet supplies store. On her rare days off, you can find her spending as much time with her family and pets as possible.

Alex has always had a passion for caring for animals. Originally from Perth, Alex grew up surrounded by animals and volunteered at a wildlife shelter for years while studying. It was here that she fell in love with native wildlife, in particular, birds. Over the years, she helped rehabilitate a variety of species from tiny honey-eaters, to ravens, cockatoos and everything in between.

Since moving to Melbourne in 2016, Alex continued working in pet retail and pet minding. When offered a position at Melbourne Bird Vet she was absolutely over the moon at the opportunity to gain experience in an exceptional, exclusively avian veterinary clinic while completing her Cert IV in Veterinary Nursing

Alex lives with her partner, Brodie and their furry family consisting of their Australian Shepherd (Drake), two cats (Anakin and Essie) and fish. When she isn’t at MBVC you will probably find her camping or hiking through the wilderness with her partner and their dog.