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28
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Introduction
I work for the Intermountain Bird Observatory at Boise State University. I specialize in ecology, climate change and migration. I manage projects working with the Northern Goshawk, Short-eared Owl, Northern Hawk-owl, Belted Kingfisher, Mountain Quail, and all ten species of woodpecker that regularly occupy Idaho. Additionally, I manage most of the data for IBO and provide analysis and GIS support for other projects. I mentor students on undergraduate and sometimes graduate projects.
Current institution
Additional affiliations
June 2009 - present
Publications
Publications (28)
Migration is a significant event in the annual cycle of many avian species. During migration birds face many challenges, including unfamiliar foraging and refuge habitats, resulting in a much higher rate of mortality during migration than during other seasons of the year. Weather may significantly affect a bird’s decision to initiate migration, the...
A critical element of diet analysis is species adaptability to alternative prey sources. The breed-ing-season diet of Northern Goshawks (Accipiter gentilis) includes both mammalian and avian species, varies geographically, and is often dependent upon tree squirrels of the genera Sciurus and Tamiasciurus. We studied alternative prey sources of North...
We developed a habitat suitability model for predicting nest locations of breeding Northern Goshawks (Accipiter gentilis) in the high-eleva-tion mixed forest and shrub-steppe habitat of south-central Idaho, USA. We used elevation, slope, aspect, ruggedness, distance-to-water, canopy cover, and individual bands of Landsat imagery as predictors for k...
The Northern Goshawk (Accipiter gentilis) is currently listed as a sensitive species by the U.S.D.A. Forest Service. Previous research in our study area, the South Hills of the Minidoka Ranger District of the Sawtooth National Forest, Idaho, identified possible signs of parasite infections among the banded adult and nestling goshawks, which could i...
Pinyon-juniper woodlands are dry ecosystems defined by the presence of juniper (Juniperus spp.) and pinyon pine (Pinus spp.), which stretch over 400 000 km 2 across 10 US states. Certain areas have become unnaturally dense and have moved into former shrub and grasslands, while others have experienced widespread mortality. To properly manage these w...
The flammulated owl is a small insectivorous owl that occupies forests in western North America during the spring and summer breeding season. The species has not been extensively studied across its range but is considered sensitive or at risk by many states, provinces, and forest management agencies. We implemented the largest survey ever performed...
The short-eared owl (Asio flammeus) is a species of conservation concern in the western United States, and populations are declining throughout its range. Because of its low site fidelity, nomadic lifestyle, and irruptive breeding dynamics across large landscapes, estimating trends at regional or broader scales is difficult. To address that challen...
The Short-eared Owl (Asio flammeus) is a species of conservation concern in the western USA, with evidence for declining population sizes. Monitoring of Short-eared Owls is complicated because of their low site fidelity and nomadic movements. We recruited community-science participants to implement a multi-year survey of Short-eared Owls across eig...
Weather is thought to influence raptor reproduction through effects on prey availability, condition of adults, and survival of nests and young; however, there are few long-term studies of the effects of weather on raptor reproduction. We investigated the effects of weather on Northern Goshawk (Accipiter gentilis; henceforth goshawk) breeding rate,...
Telomere length dynamics are an established biomarker of health and aging in animals. The study of telomeres in numerous species has been facilitated by methods to measure telomere length by real‐time quantitative PCR (qPCR). In this method, telomere length is determined by quantifying the amount of telomeric DNA repeats in a sample and normalizing...
The role of telomere dynamics in health and aging has been facilitated by the development of qPCR-based telomere length measurements. However, the widespread application of this approach has been limited because of the challenge of developing appropriate reference primers in non-model organisms with genomes that have not been sequenced. Here we dev...
Raptors wintering in Nevada comprise both local breeders and migrants from long distances, making winter surveys valuable for evaluating trends within multiple regional populations. We evaluated data on Nevada's wintering rap-tors recorded over six years from two programs-the statewide road-based surveys coordinated by the Nevada Department of Wild...
Sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) steppe is one of north America's most imperiled ecosystems, as the result of many factors including grazing, development, fire, and invasion of exotic plants. threats to sagebrush steppe are expected to increase because of climate change and further human development. Many songbirds use sagebrush steppe opportunistically,...
Sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) steppe is one of North America's most imperiled ecosystems, as the result of many factors including grazing, development, fire, and invasion of exotic plants. Threats to sagebrush steppe are expected to increase because of climate change and further human development. Many songbirds use sagebrush steppe opportunistically,...
Population regulation within an area is driven by many intrinsic and extrinsic factors. Understanding the effects and relative importance of these factors is essential to either prioritize management actions or to use population metrics of a given species as an indicator of ecosystem health. As populations become smaller or rarer on the landscape,...
The USDA Forest Service identifies management indicator species (MIS) as indicators of forest health. These species are often chosen to represent specific habitat types within the forest and, to be most effective as indicators, tend to be sensitive to changes within the forest. In 2016, we surveyed for three management indicator species – Northern...
I gazed in wonder as I watched a pre-historic creature the size of a small car emerge from the surf, to do what her kind has done for more than 150 million years. I was working as a citizen scientist to help save this endangered species - the Leatherback Sea Turtle. On that dark moonless night, the assault of sandflies was relentless, sharp sand mi...
The Short-eared Owl (Asio flammeus) is an open-country species breeding in the northern United States and Canada, and has likely experienced a long-term, range-wide, and substantial decline. However, the cause and magnitude of the decline is not well understood. We set forth to address the first two of six previously proposed conservation prioritie...
The most significant threat to Short-eared Owls in North America is the loss or alteration of native grasslands, shrublands, and wetlands across the species’ range. Despite evidence that Short-eared Owl populations are experiencing long-term, range-wide, substantial declines in North America, very little population monitoring has been dedicated to...
While alteration of the migratory habit of birds is widely regarded as one of the most evident ecological effects of climate change, studies reporting shifts in migration phenology for long-lived, long-distance migrants have been few. We set forth to analyze the effects of local and regional weather conditions on the migration counts and evaluate t...
The most significant threat to Short-eared Owls in North America is the loss or alteration of native grasslands, shrublands, and wetlands across the species’ range. Despite evidence that Short-eared Owl populations are experiencing long-term, range-wide, substantial declines in North America, very little population monitoring has been dedicated to...
Climate change is having a dramatic effect on many migratory species. Changes in climate may lead to changes in food availability or other proximate cues that affect migratory behavior. We used 13 years (2000–2012) of data on songbird banding and raptor migration counts and captures during autumn migration in the intermountain West to evaluate whet...
Melanism (dark coloration) is a condition resulting from a greater than normal expres-sion of the eumelanin pigments in the plumage (Gill 1990). The dark coloration can be advantageous to raptors by increasing the feathers' resistance to bacterial degradation (Goldstein et al. 2004). conversely, abnormally dark pigmentation can reduce success in pa...
Weather has a significant effect on avian migration, but whether the influence is similar across diverse geographic regions and across all species remains to be determined. We evaluated the effect of regional cold fronts and localized weather phenomena on the timing of autumn migration of multiple species of landbirds and raptors in southwest Idaho...
