Wildlife biologists study animals and how animals interact with their environment. My research is directed at what resources bird and other wildlife populations need to continue into the future.
I am observant, creative and hard working, which makes it possible for me to develop new and interesting research projects to promote the conservation of wildlife and their habitats.
Are Neotropical migrant birds picky about habitat on their wintering grounds? Do these habitat choices by Neotropical migrant birds promote their survival during the winter? Neotropical migrant birds are birds that breed in North America and spend winter in Mexico, Central and South America, and the Caribbean.
Radio-telemetry is a method we use to track birds on the wintering grounds. It is an important method because the birds do not sing on their wintering grounds, so they are hard to find. Radio transmitters for radio-telemetry are tiny. The radio transmitters are attached to birds with leg-loop harnesses. Birds are tracked using a handheld antenna that beeps louder when the antenna is pointed at the bird. Gradually, you are able to find the bird’s location.
Birds appear to select shade-grown coffee farms on their wintering grounds. However, their use of shade-grown coffee farms can hurt survival rates. Shade-grown coffee may be an ecological trap. Ecological traps are changes in the environment that lead animals to believe a habitat is good when it is actually not good.
I have always enjoyed logic, or reasoning, and organizing information in systems. In college, I learned that I could apply these tools to the study of wildlife in graduate school.
