Research

My research program  involves studying the ecology, population dynamics, and habitat relationships of birds in highly human-influenced landscapes.   

        Current Projects:

Ecology of Red-tailed Hawks in metropolitan Hartford

• Spatial distribution of hawks in the urban environment, home range and habitat use

• Food resources and foraging behavior

• Reproductive biology

• Mercury levels in feathers

Our urban hawk study team in front of CT State Capitol               Isabel and Maggie with captured hawk

 

                       

 

             Juvenile Red-tailed hawk feeding on squirrel, right on campus!

 

 

Ecological studies of the Crested Caracara in Florida 

• Long-term study based out  of the  MacArthur Agro-Ecology Research Center, a subsidiary of Archbold Biological Station. 

• A cooperative  effort  between cattle ranchers and scientists to understand the biology of this raptor and document land  uses  compatible with its survival. 

• Recent publications focused on diet studies using analyses of pellets and prey remains.

• My PhD student at Virginia Tech is currently studying flocking and roosting behavior of non-breeding caracaras

      

 

 

Avian Biodiversity in rural eastern Connecticut

• Seasonal changes in avian communities on the post-agricultural landscape at Trinity College Field Station, in Ashford, CT.

•  Summer breeding bird diversity and productivity  through the MAPS program, trapping and banding birds during summer breeding months..

 

                        Samantha with Northern Cardinal                       Students aging a Downy Woodpecker

                                   

        

 

 

Urban Birds

• Avian diversity in Hartford's Parks and green spaces and factors influencing that diversity.

 

Yellow warbler, common in some urban parks               Mill Woods Park, Wethersfield, CT

                            

 

 

Older:

Status and distribution of the Meadow Jumping Mouse (Zapus hudsonius luteus) in New Mexico and Arizona  

see links to publications