In addition to the broad and exciting field of avian migration,
I am also interested in a variety of other subjects. These
interests revolve around questions such as:
How
do birds find / choose suitable habitat in a fragmented
environment,
especially those that exhibit site-fidelity? How
is breeding success compromised when site-fidelity isn’t
fulfilled?
What
are the factors involved in habitat selection by grassland
birds
in “restored” environments? This intrigues
me as a result of an independent study I completed. A
state park I worked at in northern Illinois, Glacial
Park, contained much “restored” prairie and
savannah (previously agricultural and pasture land).
Here, I observed that the grassland birds (Ammodramussavannarum , Passerculussandwichensis,
Sturnellamagna, Dolichonyxoryzivorus) did
not appear to use the native, replanted vegetation (e.g.,
Andropoganspp., Pannicumspp.,
Silphiumspp.)
for nesting whereas they did use the non-native vegetation
(e.g., Agropyronsp., Bromussp.) Other
studies with grassland birds have found similar results
as well.
Many
Nearctic-Neotropical migrants are dependent to some
extent on winter flocks. Given
the extent of habitat alteration / fragmentation in the
Neotropics, I question how habitat alteration and fragmentation
influence flocking ecology and to what extent does this
anthropogenic change contribute to population limitation?
