“PROJECTS”
Population and community dynamics of birds in “intact” Amazonia
My PhD dissertation work takes place at the Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project (BDFFP) north of Manaus, Brazil. Since BDFFP’s establishment in 1979 by Tom Lovejoy, we have learned quite a bit about what happens to birds in Amazonian forest fragments. Here we want to understand how birds fare in continuous primary forest. Spoiler alert: they don’t seem to be doing well.
Barred Owls in Louisiana
We are interested in the movement, activity, genetics, and disease prevalence in owls across an urban gradient in Baton Rouge. This is a collaboration with Drs. Sabrina Taylor, Ashley Long, and Phil Stouffer, and is a “side project” to my dissertation at LSU.
Swainson’s Warbler migration
These birds are elusive, little-known, and live near the ground—all among the factors that make a bird interesting for me. I partnered with Audubon Louisiana’s Erik Johnson and Katie Percy to put geolocators on birds around the state. More recently, we have connected with folks at the Smithsonian and their geolocation data from birds wintering in Jamaica.
SWWA photo by Cameron Rutt
Wood Thrush movement in Virginia
This is my MSc work at the College of William & Mary with Matthias Leu. We radio-tracked Wood Thrushes around Virginia Peninsula to answer questions about their habitat use and roosting, among others.
