Originally from North Dakota, I received my B.S. in Wildlife Biology from the University of Montana in May 2015.
I began fieldwork in the summer of 2013, working with songbirds in the Coconino National Forest in Arizona after spending time in the Martin lab encoding behavioral videos for Dr. Tom Martin and his students. I began working with the WY Cooperative Research Unit in 2014 as a technician on the Songbirds and Energy Development project in Pinedale, Wyoming, where I realized my interest in applied research and how anthropogenic change affects wildlife and their habitats. My other field experiences include owl banding in western Montana and western Wyoming, sage grouse and sharptail grouse surveying in eastern Montana, and small mammal trapping in western Wyoming.
I am currently a M.S. student in the Zoology and Physiology department at the University of Wyoming, based in the WY Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit. I am interested in the fitness responses of wildlife to multiple forms of human-induced rapid environmental change, and the extent to which behavior can help buffer the potential effects. Specifically, my thesis research examines the effects of climatic variation and habitat loss on sagebrush-obligate songbirds on gas fields in western Wyoming.
When I’m not out finding songbird nests, I enjoy anything that gets me outdoors, from hiking and cross country skiing to fishing and hunting. I also enjoy horseback riding, reading anything and everything, and spending time with my crazy nest searching partner, my dog Quill!