Category: Meetings

Dr. Than Boves, Professor of Ecology, ASU

Dr. Boves will talk about a research project his entire lab has helped out with, a now 8-year study on the super-charismatic, but sadly disappearing, Loggerhead Shrike. This includes studies of diet, time and energy budget, movements, pesticides, non-breeding, and breeding ecology.

Dr. Than Boves received a B.S. in Biology from the University of Illinois, an M.S in Raptor Biology from Boise State University, and a Ph.D. in Wildlife Ecology from the University of Tennessee. He has now been studying birds as a professional ornithologist for about 18 years (and much longer as an amateur). He has spent the last 10 years mostly studying birds as a professor at Arkansas State University, where he has examined everything from feather mites to forest management. He has trained 13 Master’s students, and currently has 3 Ph.D. students and 5 Master’s students in his lab, along with numerous undergraduates. From this work, he and his students have co-authored >50 scientific articles.

7PM via Zoom

Matthew Young, President and Founder, Finch Research Network

Many birders love to see the invasion of northern finches, whether Evening Grosbeaks, Siskins, Purple Finches or Crossbills; colorful visitors from the North. In this program Matt will cover all things finch, from finch irruptions, to winter finch forecasts, to finch research projects, including projects like the Evening Grosbeak Road to Recovery Project, and the distribution and ecology of Red Crossbill flight calls.

Matthew A. Young is President and Founder of the Finch Research Network. He has a B.S. in Water Resources with a minor in Meteorology from SUNY-Oneonta and an M.S. in Ornithology from the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry/Syracuse University. He was a Regional Editor of the Kingbird for 10 years, the state ornithological journal in New York, was an Adjunct Professor in Environmental Studies at SUNY-Cortland, and currently teaches an Intro to Birding class for Cornell University and is the Board Chair at The Wetland Trust. For over 25 years he’s been a social worker. He’s also worked at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology for 15 years where he’s done extensive field work including leading the Lab’s first Finch Irruptive Bird Survey for Bird Source in 1999. He was the Collections Management Leader/Audio Engineer at the Macaulay Library 12 years where he edited and engineered sounds for Merlin, Songs of the Warblers of North America, Audubon Society Voices of Hawaii’s Birds, and more. He’s been guide for Victor Emanuel Nature Tours, written finch species accounts for Birds of the World, and published papers about the Red Crossbill vocal complex. He’s currently working on Finches of North America with Lillian Stokes.

7PM via Zoom