Mr. McCaffery has served as leader of both the Spectacled and Steller's Eider recovery teams. Since 2000, he has 15 scientific publications, including co-authorship on 5 life history accounts for the prestigious Birds of North America (BNA) series. During that same period, he has authored or co-authored 15 papers at professional meetings. In addition to being an active author, he also has served as a reviewer for The Auk, The Wilson Bulletin, The Quarterly Review of Biology, and the BNA series. He reviewed and contributed recordings to the CD, ?Bird Songs of Alaska,? produced by Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology. Brian just completed a 2-year stint as chair of the Alaska Shorebird Group, and was recently elected as a member of that group's Executive Committee. In addition, he serves as field adviser for three doctoral students.

In September, 2004, Brian coordinated an international shorebird expedition to Yukon Delta Refuge. Leaders in shorebird ecology from Sweden, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Australia and the U.S. conducted research on migrant sharp-tailed sandpipers and bar-tailed godwits. Brian and shorebird researcher Bob Gill from the U.S.G.S. Alaska Science Center obtained funding for the expedition through a Challenge Cost Share with Lund University in Sweden. Visiting researchers were impressed with the planning and logistics required to conduct field work at multiple sites on the 20 million acre refuge. Following that successful 2004 expedition, a full- scale research effort in coordination with the Swedish Polar Research Secretariat is planned on the refuge in 2005.