On behalf of the AFO – August 8th

Pervasive impacts of climate change on Amazonian rainforest birds

by Dr. Phil C Stouffer

For decades we’ve been following how Amazonian birds respond to landscape change.  Only recently have we found a parallel story emerging from undisturbed forest.  Many understory resident birds show declining abundance and increased mortality since the 1980s, associated with hotter and drier dry seasons.  More surprisingly, most species have changed shape and are now lighter with longer wings.  Birds are also behaving in ways that suggest avoidance of thermal stress.  Collectively, these results and similar patterns from other Neotropical sites show the reach of anthropogenic consequences even in the absence of direct forest alteration.

On behalf of the WOS – August 9th

Three decades of applied ornithological research on non-breeding migrants

by Dr. David King

Dr. David King is an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Environmental Conservation at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Both at UMass Amherst and in his parallel career as a Research Wildlife Biologist US Forest Service Northern Research Station, David has studied habitat and land management practices to support migratory birds across their full annual cycle. 

Dr. King will be awarded the Margaret Morse Nice Medal, the premiere ornithological award bestowed by the Wilson Ornithological Society. The medal, established in 1997, honors a lifetime of contributions to ornithology.