Wetlands. Waterfowl. PhD Student.
Tennessee Tech University, wintering mallard Ecology
In collaboration with Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency (TWRA) and U.S. FWS, TN Tech graduate students are capturing mallards during the late autumn and winter periods in West TN within the Mississippi Alluvial Valley and associated tributary wetlands. A primary focus of this research is assessing the importance of state and federal waterfowl sanctuaries in this heavily hunted environment with a rich waterfowl hunting tradition. General objectives include evaluating space use patterns of mallards between diel and nocturnal periods, in relation to hunting season, and across varying disturbance treatments that represent human activities that could occur on state or federal refuges.
U.S. FWS Yukon Delta NWR
As a field technician for the U.S. FWS during the summer of 2019, I was fortunate to work on a variety of projects across the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge. At Kigigak Island, we monitored nest success of emperor geese and spectacled eiders and captured females on the nest to mark them with re-sightable tarsal bands to assess survival. Later in the season, we conducted molt round-ups of Pacific Brant and cackling geese. We ended the summer with pre-season banding of dabbling ducks at Kgun Lake.
Wetland suitability for waterfowl, marsh birds, and shorebirds in Illinois
During my master's project, and in collaboration with J. O'Connell (Southern Illinois University) I assessed wetland suitability for spring-migrating dabbling ducks, migrating and breeding marsh birds, and autumn migrating shorebirds. Illinois has lost a majority of it's historic wetland coverage primarily due to conversion of agriculture. My fieldwork was focused on assessing wetland resources along the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers where most remaining wetlands are located. In addition to assessing inundation and vegetation cover over time, I conducted aerial surveys to assess dabbling duck abundance and conducted call-response surveys to estimate marsh bird occupancy in wetlands across Illinois.