Category Archives: Uncategorized

New paper: successful Barred Owl removal

I’m happy to finally share the results of a massive collaborative effort: the removal of Barred Owls from the Sierra Nevada. It is not an exaggeration to say that this averted the near-certain extirpation of California Spotted Owls from the core of their range. My now-former UW-Madison labmates Danny Hofstadter and Nick Kryshak led theContinue reading “New paper: successful Barred Owl removal”

Field Report: southwestern Montana

In the early 1900s, flooding near the town of Anaconda, Montana washed toxic mine waste through over 100 miles of the headwaters of the Clark Fork, the largest river in Montana. In response, the mining company built a series of retention ponds which have since sequestered pollutants and become a major hotspot of migratory waterfowl.Continue reading “Field Report: southwestern Montana”

Two new papers on avian biodiversity monitoring

I’m excited to share two new papers related to acoustic monitoring of bird bird communities! ‘BirdNET: A deep learning solution for avian diversity monitoring‘ by Stefan Kahl, me, Maximilian Eibl, and Holger Klinck was published in Ecological Informatics. ‘Survey coverage, recording duration, and community composition affect observed species richness in passive acoustic surveys‘ by me,Continue reading “Two new papers on avian biodiversity monitoring”

Blending music and research

Our research group, the Center for Conservation Bioacoustics, recently hosted a “virtual visitors center” for the Lab of Ornithology. I presented a bit about my work in the Sierras, Daniela Hedwig and Bobbi Estabrook talked about the Elephant Listening Project, Isha Bopardikar talked about finless porpoises (yep, that’s a real thing), and Aaron Rice talkedContinue reading “Blending music and research”

Introduction to AI

My collaborator Dr. Stefan Kahl and I gave a brief presentation about the artificial intelligence tool BirdNET at a recent Lab of O. team meeting. We focus on the BirdNET app, but the underlying algorithm is what I’ll be using to study the Sierra Nevada bird community. You can watch that video HERE.

Joining the Cornell Lab of Ornithology

On April 21st I successfully defended my dissertation, and on April 23rd I left Madison for points east; in early June I’ll be joining the Cornell Lab of Ornithology as Rose Postdoctoral Fellow! The remote defense was disappointing – I would’ve liked to shake my advisor’s hand and hug my parents – but it certainlyContinue reading “Joining the Cornell Lab of Ornithology”

Field Report: owl tagging in Mendocino County, CA

Little is known about barred owl dispersal patterns in western North America, and I am a co-PI on a new project that is designed to fill that knowledge gap. The work – led by UW-Madison graduate student Whitney Watson – is taking place in California’s coastal redwood region, where barred owl densities are high relativeContinue reading “Field Report: owl tagging in Mendocino County, CA”

More coverage of the ‘barred owl growth’ paper

Gizmodo did a story on my paper showing rapid barred owl population growth in their ‘Earther’ section. Check it out HERE. There are direct quotes of my imitations of both spotted and barred owls, which makes me think I should stop hooting whenever someone asks what owls sound like. The Wildlife Society also did aContinue reading “More coverage of the ‘barred owl growth’ paper”