Studying social structure and the evolution of sociality
This year’s crew was led by Hobson Lab postdoc Annemarie van der Marel who was joined by awesome field assistants Chelsea Carminito, Claire O’Connell, and Alexa P. Our goal was to collect new social interaction data from parakeet groups. The plan was to conduct several “social perturbations”, each time removing an individual from the group and seeing how the group responded.… [Read full details]
I am currently recruiting 3-4 field assistants to collect data and run social experiments with Monk Parakeets. The goal of this project is to determine how social groups respond to perturbations. We will allow parakeets to interact in a group in a large semi-natural flight pen and collect observations of social interactions in order to quantify social structures like dominance hierarchies and affiliation networks.… [Read full details]
I traveled to Gainesville Florida for some of my dissertation work on monk parakeet sociality. I worked with a captive population to study how social structure emerged in novel groups when I introduced them into large semi-natural flight pens. I had assistance from two amazing field technicians, Tiffany McIntosh and Darlene John.… [Read full details]
Graduate research — Entre Ríos, Argentina
I captured and marked monk parakeets, observed behavior, recorded vocalizations, and conducted experimental manipulations as part of my dissertation research.
Map tile by Stamen Design, under CC BY 3.0. Data by OpenStreetMap, under CC BY SA.… [Read full details]
Graduate research — Connecticut
I conducted pilot work for my dissertation research. I recorded invasive monk parakeet calls, trapped birds, marked them, and observed their behavior.
Map tile by Stamen Design, under CC BY 3.0. Data by OpenStreetMap, under CC BY SA.… [Read full details]
Consultant — Guanacaste, Costa Rica
I assisted my lab-mate Alejandro Salinas-Melgoza in his PhD work on call learning in Amazona auropalliata (yellow-naped amazon). I helped develop and implement techniques to capture adult bird, and taught the team how to rig aerial mist nets, how to extract parrots from the nets, and how to handle them.… [Read full details]
Educator, HawkWatch International, Goshute Mountains, Nevada
Conducted educational outreach at field site, presented talks to visitors about raptor biology, assisted with trapping and migration counts
Map tile by Stamen Design, under CC BY 3.0. Data by OpenStreetMap, under CC BY SA.… [Read full details]
Research Assistant, University of Hawaii — Hakalau National Wildlife Refuge, Hawaii
I worked as a bird bander at the Hakalau National Wildlife Refuge on the Big Island of Hawaii from January to August 2005. I assisted on a long-term study of distribution, movements, and disease in Hawaiian honeycreepers.… [Read full details]
Research Assistant, Cornell University — Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles
From September to December 2004 I assisted Susannah Buhrman-Deever in her Ph.D. research on behavior of Aratinga pertinax, the brown-throated parakeet (locally known as the “Prikichi”). I captured parakeets in mist nets, took blood samples, observed behavior, recorded vocalizations, and conducted playback experiments.… [Read full details]
Supervising Biologist, MAPS Program, Institute for Bird Populations –Siuslaw, Willamette, & Fremont National Forests, Oregon.
I trained interns in extraction, banding, aging and sexing techniques during an intensive two-week training course, then supervised crews of interns at three banding stations.… [Read full details]