Thesis Topic: Use of social information for prospecting and nest site selection by Western Bluebirds (Sialia mexicana)

Advisor: Dr. Matt Johnson

Undergraduate Degree/Institution: B.S. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

I was raised in Dearborn, Michigan, and was lucky enough to live near the local college Environmental Interpretive Center in a city with a scarcity of natural areas. I visited often to get involved with their nature, bird, and insect walks, and developed a passionate interest in wildlife. I went on to work in a wasp lab while earning my undergraduate degree at the University of Michigan and spent several summer field seasons in an outdoor vespiary, collecting behavioral data on over 70 free-flying wasps. After graduating and completing a thesis examining links between social and non-social personality in paper wasps, I transitioned to bird-focused research and assisted with a project examining magnetic orientation in migratory songbirds. I spent two field seasons in Pinckney, Michigan mist-netting and working with Yellow-bellied and Traill’s Flycatchers, Swainson’s Thrushes, Red-eyed Vireos, and White-throated Sparrows. In the summer before entering HSU as a master’s student, I traveled to California to work as a field technician on a temperature and movement study for Western Bluebirds and Tree Swallows living in Napa Valley vineyards, which led to my current involvement in vineyard-nesting Western Bluebird research. I am broadly interested in behavioral ecology and conservation, and am working on a project examining the role of inadvertently broadcasted social cues in bluebird nest selection. After earning my Master’s, I’d like to continue work contributing to avian conservation.

When I’m free, I enjoy spending time outdoors birding and hiking, painting, drawing, and challenging myself to cook Lebanese food as well as my grandmother (difficulty level: impossible).