In this ZIMS at Work article, we interview Erica Royer, Aviculturist and Red Siskin Consortium Coordinator and Studbook Keeper at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute (NZCBI) in Front Royal, Virginia (United States). Erica shares insights on achieving reproductive success with the endangered Red Siskin, and the impact of using ZIMS for Institutional Studbooks to manage essential information about individual birds, breeding pairs, and hatchlings.