Upcoming Programs
We are pleased to announce that Nuttall monthly meetings are back in person at Harvard.
Amber Roth - A 25-year journey to recover a rapidly declining forest songbird, the Golden-winged Warbler
March 6, 2023
Assistant Professor of Forest Wildlife Management, School of Forest Resources and the Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Conservation Biology, University of Maine
Dr. Amber Roth began studying Golden-winged Warbler in 1998 as a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin. Little did she know then that this was the beginning of a long journey of research, monitoring, and conservation to aid this rapidly declining migratory forest species. Today she is leading a team of researchers to understand the factors driving Golden-winged Warbler distribution and demographics in order to improve interventions to recover the species.
Amber Roth is an Assistant Professor of Forest Wildlife Management in the School of Forest Resources and the Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Conservation Biology at the University of Maine. She received her MS degree in Wildlife Ecology from the University of Wisconsin and her PhD degree in Forest Resources from Michigan Technological University. She is co-chair of the Golden-winged Warbler Working Group, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, and is coordinator of the Midwest Migration Network. She has researched and conserved Golden-winged Warblers for 25 years. Her research interests include bird habitat-management relationships in temperate and tropical forests, migratory bird ecology, and demographics of declining wildlife species. Currently she leads a team of researchers seeking to understand the response of Golden-winged Warbler to climate and land use changes and identify key demographic factors driving the population decline.
Rebecca Jo Safran - The role of adaptation in phenotype divergence and speciation: an integrative and comparative perspective
April 3, 2023
Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies at the University of Colorado-Boulder
Evolutionary mechanisms lead to changes in the phenotypic and genomic features of populations; population genetics and patterns of phenotype differentiation are often used to infer which of these mechanisms are at work. Here, I highlight the need to more directly study the underlying processes and mechanistic basis of population-level patterns. Barn swallows (Hirundo rustica) are widespread throughout their northern hemisphere-wide breeding distribution with fascinating levels of morphological and behavioral divergence among six closely related populations. My lab studies the role of evolutionary mechanisms in shaping phenotype and genomic variation among populations in this young species complex. Experiments and selection studies within populations predict population-level differences in signaling traits and migratory behavior. Analyses within hybrid zones also reveal that differences in both signal and migratory traits are predictive of gene flow and the evolution of reproductive isolation among sub-species in secondary contact.
Dr. Rebecca (Becca) Safran is a Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies at the University of Colorado-Boulder, and co-director of Inside the Greenhouse for creative climate communication. As an evolutionary biologist, Becca’s interests are focused on the formation of new species with a special focus on one of the most widespread birds on planet earth: the barn swallow. Becca is passionate about social justice and belonging in STEM, a topic her research group has worked on collaboratively.
Pepper Trail - Fighting Crime with Feathers: The Casebook of a Forensic Ornithologist
May 1, 2023
Forensic Ornithologist for the US Fish and Wildlife Forensic Wildlife
Dr. Pepper Trail served as the senior forensic ornithologist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Office of Law Enforcement for over 20 years. During this time, he worked on over 2000 cases, identifying bird remains submitted as evidence in wildlife crime investigations. This evidence ranged from carved hornbill skulls to Harpy Eagle headdresses to oil-covered roadrunners to hummingbird love charms to live Indonesian songbirds. He also established The Feather Atlas of North American Birds, the leading website for feather identification. He will describe this unique career in a talk that is by turns entertaining and appalling, illustrating the vital role of wildlife law enforcement in bird conservation.
Pepper Trail grew up roaming the woods and fields of New York’s Finger Lakes region. His early interest in natural history led him to a biology major at Cornell University. He followed this with a Master’s degree from U.C. Davis for his research on the social behavior and ecology of Acorn Woodpeckers in the Chiricahua Mountains of Arizona. Trail returned to Cornell for his Ph.D., conducting a long-term field study of the spectacular Guianan Cock-of-the-Rock in Suriname, work that resulted in publications in National Geographic and Science. After research stints based in Panama, San Francisco, and American Samoa, Trail settled with his family in Oregon. From 1998 until his retirement in 2021, he was the senior ornithologist at the National Fish and Wildlife Forensic Laboratory, where he analyzed bird remains in wildlife crime cases, and created the Feather Atlas of North American Birds, the premier feather identification website. Trail was a founding board member of the Society for Wildlife Forensic Science and served on the wildlife subcommittee of the federal workforce to create forensic science standards. He is a Fellow of the American Ornithological Society and has authored more than forty papers in avian behavioral ecology, conservation, and forensics. A sought-after speaker, he provides conservation training and leads natural history tours around the world.
David Bonter - Public engagement in science: For birds, people, and conservation
June 5, 2023
Arthur A. Allen Director of Citizen Science at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology
Studying birds provide a remarkable window into the coupling of natural and human systems. This presentation will explore what we have learned about birds and people through engaging the public in scientific research. With a focus on Project FeederWatch (www.feederwatch.org), a program with data from more than 12 million hours of observation, and NestWatch (www.nestwatch.org), a program with greater than 2.5 million visits to bird nests, we will share insights on changes in bird populations, range expansions, climate change, invasive species, and how watching birds affects people.
David Bonter is the Arthur A. Allen Director of Citizen Science at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, where he serves as co-Director for the Center for Engagement in Science and Nature. He manages large-scale participatory science projects including Project FeederWatch and NestWatch, teaches field-based avian ecology courses at Cornell University, and takes great pride in mentoring a gaggle of undergraduate students through the independent research and publishing process. David is a former president of the Association of Field Ornithologists and is a fellow of the American Ornithological Society.
Past Programs
(NOC members, login to view and listen to presentations)
Luis Segura – Argentina: 1000 Birds, and More
Field problem presented: Steve Mirick- Extreme Pelagic Birding Luis Segura has worked in ecotourism and conservation since 1982. He has volunteered in projects oriented to preserve natural ecosystems and wildlife species in his native country, Argentina. He is a member of the Argentine branch of Birdlife International, Asociación Ornitológica del Plata. In his home city, Puerto…
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Stephanie Koch – Shorebirds and People: Studying Seasonal Mudflat use at Monomoy NWR
Field problem presented: Vern Laux – Birdquest Stephanie Koch is working towards her PhD by doing research on shorebirds and these days she is soaring in rarified air because she is the only URI student to be awarded a Graduate Research Fellowship from the National Science Foundation. In fact Dr. Peter Paton, chair of the CELS…
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Pamela Rasmussen – History and Mystery: Reevaluating Avian Diversity in South Asia
Field problem presented: Robert Kennedy – Nantucket Offshore Wintering Wildfowl: Possible Impacts from Offshore Sand Mining Dr. Pamela Rasmussen’s research focuses on the diversity, vocalizations, taxonomy, and conservation of the avifauna of southern Asia. She recently (2005) co-authored a two-volume book, Birds of South Asia: the Ripley Guide, published in April 2005. She has also worked…
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John Kricher – Speciation in Neotropical Passerines
Field problem presented: Michael Schindlinger – Listening to the Amazon Dr. John Kricher is professor of biology at Wheaton College where he has served on the faculty for nearly forty years. He received his B.A. from Temple University and his PhD from Rutgers. In addition to Nuttall, he is a member of a number of professional…
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Rob Williams – Avian Endemism in Peru
Field problem presented: Paul Roberts – Population studies of American Kestrel Rob Williams did his undergraduate work in zoology at the University of Wales in Cardiff. He obtained his doctorate at the University of East Anglia where he studied Long-eared Owls. In 1999 he moved to Ecuador where he has worked with a number of conservation…
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William E. (Ted) Davis – Tasmania: A Study in Evolution
Field problem presented: Ralph Andrews – Is the Canada Goose Canadian? Dr. William E. (Ted) Davis received his B.A. from Amherst University, his M.A. from the University of Texas and his PhD in invertebrate biology from Boston University. He developed a deep interest in birds and has over the years authored over 150 papers and notes…
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Edwin Scholes III – Courtship, evolution, and natural history of New Guinea’s Birds of Paradise
Field problem presented: David Larson – Training naturalist guides Ed Scholes III has been researching birds of paradise in New Guinea since 1999 when he made his first trip to Papua New Guinea, and he has returned for fieldwork each year since. Ed’s research interests are primarily on the evolution of the spectacular morphological and behavioral…
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Hiroyoshi “Hito” Higuchi – Ecology of bird migration in East Asia
Field problem presented: Wayne Petersen – Slaty-backed Gull: The next Lesser Black-backed Gull? Prof. Hiroyoshi “Hito” Higuchi is professor of conservation biology and ornithology at the Graduate School of Agriculture and Life Sciences at the University of Tokyo; former president and Director of Research of the Ornithological Society of Japan; and chair of the Asian Section…
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Kim Bostwick – Evolution of wing sounds in the Manakins (Pipridae)
Field problem presented: David Donsker – What’s in a name? Dr. Kimberly S. Bostwick is Curator of Birds and Mammals at the Cornell University Museum of Vertebrates and a Research Associate in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Cornell University in New York.
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John O’Neill – Recipe for peparing a guide to one of the largest avifaunas in the world: The case for Peru
Field problem presented: Tom French – Peregrine Falcon recovery in NY and NE Dr John P. O’Neill is research associate at the Louisiana State University Museum of Natural Science. He is the discoverer of more bird species (13) new to science than any other living person. He is also a wildlife painter and coauthor of the…
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Ian Nisbet – From eggs to senescence: Long-term studies of Common Terns
Field problem presented: Peter Alden – Central and South American bird field guides Ian Nisbet, NOC member since 1975, is an independent tern researcher who has been the primary monitor for the Roseate Tern and Common Tern colonies in Buzzard’s Bay, particularly at Bird Island. Dr Nisbet was born in the UK and received his PhD…
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Richard O. Prum – The evolution of feathers
Field problem presented: Brian Cassie – Does Massachusetts end? Professor Richard Prum, Curator of Ornithology in the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History and Head Curator of Vertebrate Zoology, is an evolutionary ornithologist with broad interests in diverse topics, including phylogenetics, behavior, feathers, structural color, evolution and development, sexual selection, and historical biogeography. His recent research…
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Peter Vickery – Grasslands of the Americas
Field problem presented: Ron Lockwood – Grasshopper Sparrow demographics at Fort Devens After working for Massachusetts Audubon, Peter Vickery founded the Center for Ecological Research, a non-profit organization in Maine. It is devoted to conservation and ecological research. He is also on the faculties of University of Massachusetts and University of Maine. Peter did his PhD…
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Herb Raffaele – Saving Caribbean birds
Field problem presented: Ted Davis – Reporting bird behavior Dr. Herb Raffaele, Chief of the International Division of the US Fish and Wildlife Service, received his degrees in wildlife conservation and ecology from the State University of New York in 1983. He has published often on wildlife conservation and is responsible for the creation of education…
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H. Doug Pratt – Hawaiian honeycreepers
Field problem presented: Jim Berry – Nesting birds H. Doug Pratt is currently research curator at North Carolina State Museum of Natural Sciences. He received his PhD in biology at LSU in 1969. He began studying Hawaiian honeycreepers 30 years ago and has expanded his research into endemic birds of Pacific Ocean islands.
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Tim Laman – Birds of paradise
Field problem presented: Wayne Petersen – We can’t be too careful Tim Laman has been working in New Guinea, collaborating with Edwin Scolz. Tim received his PhD in evolutionary biology at Harvard in 1994. He began working in Borneo and became a regular contributor to National Geographic. The work presented was a preview of an article…
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Dick Veit – Vagrancy
Field problem presented: Ian Nisbet – Roseate Terns Dick Veit received his undergraduate degree in biology at UMass Boston and his graduate degree at University of California at Irvine. He is currently professor of biology at College of Staten Island. He has published 44 publications and 1 book (Birds of Massachusetts with Wayne Petersen), mentors 14…
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Simon Perkins – Cape Wind
Simon Perkins is field ornithologist with Massachusetts Audubon Society. He began researching Cape Wind and its proposed wind turbines in Nantucket Sound approximately 4 years ago and presented the up-to-the minute results of his research to the Club.
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Reuven Yosef – Eilat
Reuven Yosef has worked at the Raptor Research Center in Eilat, Israel, since 1984 and has been the director since 1993. He received his PhD at Ohio State University and conducted his post-doc work on shrikes at Florida’s Archibald Research Center. He has been involved in developing educational programs on raptors, primarily in the Old…
Read MoreDr. John Kricher: The influence of the Galapagos Islands on evolutionary thinking
The influence of the Galapagos Islands on evolutionary thinking. https://vimeo.com/198576752
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