About Me
Growing up exploring Pennsylvania State Game Lands with my dad, our yellow lab blazing the trail, I developed a fascination for the organisms around me. While earning my bachelor’s degree at Penn State University, I dove into my first nature job as a guide for an outdoor orientation program, using backpacking to connect incoming freshmen with each other and the natural world. My love of ornithology sprouted while volunteering at the local bird banding station and led to a summer position as a technician for an avian research project at a remote field camp in Arizona. It was an honor to forgo many showers, chase many fledglings, and process many samples with the fellow nature-enthusiasts of Bird Camp! I am now pursuing my master’s degree while studying the winter ecology of the endearingly fierce Loggerhead Shrike (Lanius ludovicianus), a declining predatory songbird, and possible effects of agricultural practices across the Mississippi Alluvial Valley. Wherever my career may take me, I know my true home will always be waiting in the great outdoors.
Collaborations
Nightjar Competition and Migratory Connectivity Project (summer 2022-present)
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Trap and tag breeding Chuck-Wills-Wodows in AR to monitor migratory route
Kingbird Species Delimitation and Ectoparasite Co-evolution Project (2021-present)
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Trap and sample various kingbird species for blood and ectoparasites in AR every summer
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Trap and sample Loggerhead Kingbirds in the Cayman Islands during summer 2022
Snake Fungal Disease and Microbiome Project (spring 2022-present)
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Assisted lab mate with catching snakes and procuring skin swab and blood samples
Turtle Physiology Project (spring 2022-present)
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Assisted lab mate with trapping, bleeding, and measuring various turtle species at AR field site
Kestrel and Barn Owl Box Monitoring and Pest Control Project (spring 2017-present)
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Build and place kestrel and owl boxes around agricultural areas of NE Arkansas
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Monitor nesting attempts of American Kestrels
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Conduct small mammal trapping in areas surrounding boxes and random points to study pest control
Meadowlark Migratory Connectivity Project (March 2022-July 2023)
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Assisted collaborators at Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center with nationwide meadowlark tagging project
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Fitted Eastern Meadowlarks with tags and bands in NE Arkansas
Kingbird Acoustic Project (June 2019)
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Assisted with University of Illinois collaborators with recording wing sounds of kingbirds in AR and TN
Warbler Feather Mite Project (April-May 2019)
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for a feather mite study
Kingbird Species Delimitation and Ectoparasite Co-evolution Project (summer 2017-2020)
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Survey for Scissor-tailed Flycatcher x Western Kingbird hybrids in the hybridization zone in AR and TN
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Trap and sample putative pure birds and suspected hybrids for genetic analyses
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Conduct resighting surveys for previously banded kingbirds every breeding season
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Monitor breeding attempts of hybrids
Warbler Feather Mite Project (April-May 2018 and 2019)
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Resight warblers in AR and MO and collect blood and mites in 2018
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Resight banded warblers in AR, MO, and LA in 2019
Cerulean Warbler Breeding Habitat Project (6/27/18 – 7/2/18)
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Assisted lab mate in completion of vegetative surveys for Cerulean Warblers breeding in AR
Chimney Swift Bander at Rhodes College (September 2017)
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Assisted in setup of rooftop, chimney funnel trap and extracting, banding, and bleeding swifts
Kingbird Communication by Wing Sound Production
I assisted a previous A-State student, Alexander Worm, in hosting Dr. John Bates and PhD student Valentina Gómez from the Field Museum of Natural History and the University of Illinois at Chicago to travel around NE Arkansas and the Memphis area recording kingbirds, specifically Western Kingbirds and Scissor-tailed Flycatchers. Valentina is currently studying the specialized primary feathers used by kingbirds to create noises with wing beats as air rushes between feathers. Similar to a katydid using its wings to sing a ballad of chirps and buzzes, these birds have developed a unique method of wing communication. We headed out in the early morning to the preferred nesting sites of these kingbirds, utility pole crossbeams and electrical substations, with a taxidermy Cooper’s Hawk in tow to initiate a response from the birds. Once they were moving and communicating with each other, or attacking the apparent predator now perched below their nest, Valentina and John then used a parabolic microphone and high-speed camera to capture visual and audio and later line up the wing movements with the sounds produced.
Alex was able to take us to previous kingbird nesting sites from his master’s research on the hybridization of Western Kingbirds and Scissor-tailed Flycatchers. We were able to find 6 pairs of Western Kingbirds, becoming more common as their range expands eastward, and 16 Scissor-tailed Flycatcher nests in Pocahontas alone. At a substation in Bald Knob, we were able to relocate a female hybrid (pictured right) banded in 2016. Valentina is curious to see if different kingbird species, or hybrids, produce wing sounds with unique pitches or patterns. We could think of no better way to spend a spring weekend than getting to know our guests, sharing in their obvious passion for the field, while observing these beautiful birds.
Capturing sound recordings in industrial parks of Memphis
The parabola was surprisingly efficient at reducing industrial background noise