Prairie songbirds are a major conservation concern because of historic and recent population declines. I am especially interested in how this group is affected by severe droughts, which are expected to get longer and occur more often due to global climate change. Much is known, but there are still many questions to be addressed through field work and by gleaning information from historic nest cards.

I am at the early stages of new research that will examine historic patterns of agriculture and urban pesticide use, and the current impacts of these chemicals on breeding birds. Specifically, I will be looking for pesticide residues in preserved feathers and other tissues that date back to the early 1900s and comparing organic farms to conventional operations, protected areas, and urban settings. Predatory birds are of particular interest since they are well-studied and some species will use strategically located nest boxes.