Current Lab Members

Doctorate

Francis has a B.Sc. in biology from Universidad Nacional Agraria and a M.Sc. from California State University. Francis's PhD focused on endemic seabirds in Peru (cormorants, diving boobies) trying to understand their foraging patterns, physiology and diet composition changes associated to environmental disturbances along the Upwelling Humboldt Current System. He was co-supervised by Jorge Tam (Peru). He is now embarking on a PostDoc in the biology department at McGill University.

DOCTORATE

Don-Jean did his B.Sc. here at Laval University and a M.Sc. degree at UQAR. His PhD research brought him to Svalbard (Norway) to study seasonal interactions between non-breeding behaviours and breeding success mediated by stress-induced carry-over effects in a long-term monitored kittiwake colony. Co-supervisod by Olivier Chastel (CNRS-France). Check out his most recent research here.

HONOUR’S PROJECT

Sofia looked at plastic pollution in the St. Lawrence System using herring gull pellets that were collected in summer 2023. She identified the presence of plastics and anthropogenic debris within this species, gaining insight into the impact of pollution within the St. Lawrence. She was co-supervised by Christina Petalas, PhD student, and Dr. Raphael Lavoie (ECCC), and will be starting a MSc on cetaceans in the St. Lawrence.

HONOUR’S PROECT

Lauren compared two different methods of conducting acoustic surveys on bats: a traditional method using a handheld device, and a new method using a recording device suspended from a drone. The goal of the project is to optimize the drone method of sampling and to determine which method is more efficient in different habitat types. She will be starting her MSc at Univesity of Carelton in September 2024

HONOUR’S PROJECT

Nathanya completed her honour’s project using historical banding data from the McGill Bird Observatory and the Tadoussac Bird Observatory, investigating wing length and body mass trends of migratory and non-migratory passerines. She was supervised by Dr. Barbara Frei and Émile Brisson-Curadeau, and will be starting a MSc with Drs. Kyle Elliott and Barbara Frei in January 2025.

INDEPENDENT RESEARCH PROJECT

Maya completed her independent research project on the timing of spring migration and breeding success of Eastern Bluebirds and Tree Swallows using data from long-term nest box monitoring efforts.

HONOUR’S PROJECT

Rebecka completed her Honour’s project where she compared the effects on capsaicin treated seeds on black-capped chickees.

HONOUR’S PROJECT

Nayla mapped out the migratory movements of Atlantic puffins outside of the breeding season and investigating energy expenditure for this species across its wintering range. This was done to identify the mechanism behind the spatial distribution of this red-listed seabird and test the Abundant-Centre Hypothesis, which states that resources tend to be more abundant at the centre of a species’ range.

HONOUR’S PROJECT

Jamie completed his Honours thesis where he used spatial analysis tools to determine the factors shaping the biodiversity of birds breeding in urban forests of the island of Montreal. He was co-supervised by Dr. Barbara Frei (ECCC).

MASTERS

Jade completed her B.Sc. in ecology at the University of Sherbrooke. Her master's thesis focused on bat habitats selection over their annual cycle in Quebec. Co-supervised by Dr. Anouk Simard (MFFP) and Dr. Liam McGuire (University of Waterloo).

MASTERS

Rose graduated from McGill as an Honours student in Environmental Biology. Her Master’s thesis investigated the trophic movement of mercury in the Northern gannet food web and spatial distribution in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Co-supervised by Dr. Raphaël Lavoie (ECCC).

MASTERS

Vanessa completed her Bsc in Honours Environmental Biology at McGill. Her M.Sc. focused on the habitat use of molt migrating Swainson’s thrushes and Tennessee warblers during their stopover in Montreal. Co-supervised by Dr. Barbara Frei (ECCC) at the McGill Bird Observatory.

POSTDOCTORAL FELLOW

Emily completed her PhD at the University of Manitoba (supervised by Lisa Loseto (DFO) and Jim Roth) and MSc (supervised by Jules Blais) at the University of Ottawa. Emily was a Weston Scientist on the 2014 Victoria Strait Expedition. She was supported via W. Garfield Weston and FRQNT postdoctoral fellowships and her research (co-supervised by Dr. Grant Gilchrist) examined relationships between physiological strategies and foraging movements in thick-billed murres to provide an energetics framework for understanding the movement patterns of marine predators in relation to shipping routes in Hudson Bay.​

MASTERS

Fred completed her undergrad in Wildlife Biology at McGill University through which she did an Honours thesis, from 2019-2020. Fred M.Sc. research focused on the field of energetics. More specifically, studied the effects of thermal stress on arctic seabirds, such as in murres and kittiwakes. Read the paper here.

DOCTORATE

Shannon completed her MSc at uOttawa. Her PhD work examined individual variation in foraging behaviour in two Arctic seabirds: black-legged kittiwakes and thick-billed murres. She used GPS-accelerometers to “spy” on the daily activities of these birds in order to see how they respond to environmental change. Check out the papers here, here, here and here.

DOCTORATE

Thomas joined us from Alsace, France. He was funded via MITACS and CREATE scholarships and his dissertation (co-supervisor: Grant Gilchrist) involved deciphering why and how breeding murres move in the Canadian Arctic, and how that might intersect with shipping of iron ore from the Baffinlands mine.

MASTERS

​Christina graduated as a Biology Honours student at McGill. Specifically, her interest is in how sympatric species sufficiently differentiate their ecological niches in order to co-exist. Her MSc thesis tried to understand whether foraging partitioning occurs in these seabird species that breed sympatrically in the Mingan Archipelago within the Gulf of St-Lawrence. She is now doing a PhD in the lab.​ Read her work here.

MASTERS

Jenna completed her Bachelor’s degree at College of the Atlantic where she majored in Human Ecology. Her MSc thesis (co-supervised by Dr. Mélanie Guigueno) explored the connections between foraging repeatability and reproductive success. She now works as science coordinator at the Sea Life Centre in Seward, Alaska.

MASTERS

Ilse joined us from México, where she completed her undergrad at Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. Next, for two years, she worked on restoration and conservation of islands in the Mexican Pacific. Her MSc thesis was co-supervised by Héctor Guzmán from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. Her project examined examine aspects of demography, reproductive success, and ecotoxicology on seabird species in the Panama Canal and the Arctic.​ Read her Masters work here.

MASTERS

Kristen completed her undergrad at McGill in the School of Environment. For her MSc (co-supervised by Kevin Fraser), Kristen studied purple martin populations around Montreal. 90% of martins have disappeared with Quebec, with the final remnants left near Montreal, and Kristen will help find out why. Previously, Kristen was an Environment (Biodiversity and Conservation) Honours student with a lifelong passion for birds. Kristen now works as a biologist at Environment Canada. Read her Masters work here.

MASTERS

Ana completed her undergrad at McGill with a Major in Environmental Biology. Her MSc thesis was co-supervised by Barbara Frei from the McGill Bird Observatory and she studied the migration and stopover ecology of moult migrant Swainson’s thrushes in Montreal using the Motus Wildlife Tracking System. Ana worked as lab research coordinator for two years (2020-22) before migrating to Environment Canada (S&T) where she is now a technician. Read her Masters work here and here.

MASTERS

Emile completed a MSc on coloniality in murres. Coats Island was his study area for two years, where he used cutting-edge technologies to record all the facets of those fascinating diving birds. Emile is now doing his PhD on king penguins having received a Vanier scholarship and a BOU John & Pat Warham Studentship on Penguins and Procellariformes. Read his Masters work here, here, and here.

MASTERS

Esteban joined us from Bogotá, Colombia after completing his undergrad at Universidad de los Andes with a double major in biology and microbiology. Co-supervised by Lyle Whyte (McGill), he worked on various aspects of the relationships occurring between birds and their microbiome with a special focus to bird’s diet preferences and differential levels of mercury present on bird tissues. He is now doing a PhD with Dr. Whyte on bacterial degradation of oil in the Arctic. Read his Masters work here and here.

MASTERS

Natalie joined us from Nova Scotia, after doing her undergrad at Universite Sainte-Anne and Dalhousie. She was co-supervised by Rodger Titman (McGill) and Shawn Craik (Universite Sainte-Anne), and examined correlates of conspecific brood parasitism in red-breasted mergansers in New Brunswick. Check her work out here and here.

DOCTORATE

Allison did her BSc at UVic and MSc at the Roby lab. She was funded via MITACS and CREATE scholarships and her dissertation (co-supervisor: Grant Gilchrist) examined carry-over effects and linkages throughout the annual cycle in thick-billed murres equipped with year-round depth, light and acceleration loggers. Check out the papers here, here, here, and here.

DOCTORATE

Amélie did her MSc at UQAM. Co-supervised by Anouk Simard (Minister of Forests, Wildlife and Parks), her PhD examined aspects related to demography, reproductive success, and reproductive energetic constraints facing Myotis species in Quebec with a pinch of participatory science. Amelie now works as a biologists for the provincial wildlife ministry, MFFP. Check out the papers here, and here.

DOCTORATE

Rebecca joined us from Pennsylvania, where she completed her MSc in Biology at East Stroudsburg University. Rebecca was funded via the CREATE scholarship and was co-supervised by Karen Weibe (University of Saskatchewan) with a close collaboration with JF Therrien (Hawk Mountain Sanctuary). Her PhD work assessed the movements, habitat use, and habitat selection of irruptive snowy owls. She now works as a Research Biologist at Hawk Mountain Sanctuary. Check out the papers here, here, and here.

UNDERGRADUATE HONOURS (2023)

Lauren completed an undergraduate research project on the nutrition of Black-legged kittiwakes on Middleton Island, Alaska. She used point-of-care devices to quantify metabolite concentrations in the blood, delivering rapid assessment of nutritional state for wild populations. Read her Honours here.

UNDERGRADUATE HONOURS (2023)

Ana’s undergraduate research project aimed to explore the diet preference of moulting Swainson’s Thrushes and Tennessee Warblers during their stopover in Montreal, to try to elucidate critical requirements for moult-migration stopover sites.

UNDERGRADUATE HONOURS

Jamie studied abundance and diversity of canopy insect populations in different ecosystems at Kenauk Nature Reserve. She collected data by rigging a drone to fly with a net, and collected any aerial insects unfortunate enough to get caught in her net. She even finished insect identifications before dying of old age. Jamie is starting a MSc at Carleton with Steve Cooke. Read her Honours here.

UNDERGRADUATE HONOURS

Elena helped track Swainson's Thrush and Tennessee Warblers at the McGill Bird Observatory while completing her Honours project. For her project, she used the VetScan to analyze the differences in Swainson’s Thrush blood metabolites between molting and non-molting birds. She now works as the research coordinator at the Arctic Ecology Lab.

UNDERGRADUATE HONOURS (2022)

Théo studied the diet and contaminants in seabirds from the Gulf of St Lawrence. Specifically, he evaluated the differences in stable isotope niches and mercury contents between atlantic puffins, common murres, black-legged kittiwakes, and razorbills along their breeding season.

HONOURS THESIS (2022)

She first became interested in bats through her internship at the Kenauk Institute and the research she assisted with at the MFFP on bat maternity colonies. Her honours research project used citizen science data obtained from Batwatch to see if bat maternity colonies in more favorable habitats are more successful than those in less successful habitats.

HONOURS THESIS (2022)

Mathilde grew up in the Swedish archipelago fascinated by wildlife of all kinds. She first became interested in birds through an internship at the Nichoir center for wild bird care a few years ago. Her honours examined warbler movements and activity levels at molting sites using radio telemetry data collected at the McGill Bird Observatory and using the Motus Wildlife Tracking System. Hopefully, this project will bring some much-needed improvement to her bird ID'ing skills.

HONOURS THESIS (2021)

He has always been interested in the outdoors, inspired by his grandmother and her work for the Nature Conservancy. He took an interest in birds as he grew older and realized that wherever you go, there are always birds if nothing else. His trip to India in 2016 further grew his passion, culminating in his Honors work that focuses on the Black Guillemot, an Arctic species that he studied back in 2018 and the summer of 2020 on Cooper Island, AK.

UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH PROJECT (2021)

Capucine was a third-year undergrad student in the MSE specializing in Biodiversity and Conservation. She is passionate about wildlife conservation and believe that the best way to ensure the longevity of species is to understand the mechanisms underlying populations’ behaviour and interactions with their environment. She did a research project stemming from Christina’s research in the Mingan archipelago.

HONOURS THESIS (2021)

Emily completed an honours thesis project studying carry-over effects in thick-billed murres with Allison Patterson. Specifically, she is analyzing their primary feather quality to help determine if a delayed breeding season affects their plumage quality the following moult. Emily has always had a passion for wildlife and conservation and in more recent years she has become fascinated (obsessed) with birds. She is now doing a Master's at the University of Windsor.

HONOURS THESIS (2021)

Kate's honours project was on snowy owl populations and management in airports, with co-supervisor Rebecca McCabe. Specifically, she looked at the factors of snowy owl relocation and why they return to airport habitats after being removed. Kate has always had an interest and curiosity with birds and birds of prey are among her favorites.

HONOURS THESIS (2021)

Kayla has always been passionate about nature and animals after growing up exploring the wild areas of Texas. She was fortunate to spend the summer at the Kenauk Institute where she studied bats. Her research tests the effect of drones on bat detection to help determine if this technology might be a useful tool in wildlife research.

HONOURS THESIS (2021)

Julia completed an honours thesis on purple martins. She is studying their foraging habits and diet to help Kristen Lalla figure out why martins are disappearing in Quebec. From a young age, Julia loves observing wildlife and is now enjoying studying it just as much! ​

HONOURS THESIS (2020)

Éliane studied black-legged kittiwakes for her honours thesis. Eliane is especially interested in behavioural ecology as well as conservation. While she is passionate about all wildlife, she feels a special affinity with seabirds. This has led her to completing her honours thesis on how personality in black-legged kittiwakes can have an impact on foraging, chick rearing and reproductive success. She is now doing a Master's in the lab.

HONURS PROJECT (2020)

Fred went on to complete a MSc in the lab

HONOURS THESISI (2020)

For as long as she could remember, Gabrielle has wanted to work with the environment. She completed her degree in Environmental Biology (Applied Ecology). She recently stumbled into the world of bat research and has been studying the taxa for the past two summers. Since then, her passion for them has grown. She spent a summer collecting data for her Honours thesis on the possibility of using drones to study the elusive creatures. She is now doing a MSc with Jeremy Kerr at the University of Ottawa.

HONOURS THESIS (2019)

Emma was thrown headfirst into the world of ornithology during the summer of 2018, when she headed to Cambridge Bay, Nunavut to work with Polar Knowledge Canada. She is currently completing her undergraduate degree in Environment with a specialization in Biodiversity and Conservation and a minor in GIS and Remote Sensing. Her honours thesis (co-supervised by Jean-François Lamarre of Polar Knowledge Canada) explores the migratory behavior of American Golden-Plovers in relation to weather patterns. Emma is now doing a MSc with Lisa Loseto at the University of Manitoba.

HONOURS THESIS (2019)

An Environment student specialized in water ecosystems, Philippe is passionate for everything related to aquatic ecosystems! For his Honours thesis, Philippe examined the exposure to mercury and other contaminants of ospreys in the Canadian Northwest. His thesis was published in the Science of the Total Environment. Philippe is now doing environmental law at McGill.

HONOURS THESIS (2019)

Andrea has always had a great love for the outdoors and especially for observing and studying wildlife. For her Honours thesis, co-supervised by Rebecca McCabe, Andrea studied the spring migratory behaviour of Snowy Owls using GPS data provided by Project SNOWstorm. She is now doing a MSc with Laura Pollock in Biology, on how Canadian bird species' distributions will change in response to a changing climate.

UNDERGRADUATE PROJECT (2019)

Catherine has a passion for nature and outdoor activity. She is really interested in ecosystem connection which she had the chance to study in the Arctic during the summer of 2018 on Igloolik Island. Her research project focussed on the identification of the information available on allochthonous input of marine resources in the Arctic terrestrial ecosystems, under the supervision of Kyle Elliott and Marie-Andrée Giroux from Moncton University. She is now doing a MSc with Elena Bennett in NRS on ecosystem services in the Monteregie.

HONOURS THESIS (2019)

At a young age, Alice discovered the world of birds through the lens of a camera. Since then, she has dedicated all her time to pursuing a career in ornithology and conservation. Alice is currently completing her undergraduate degree in environmental biology at McGill. She spent the summer of 2018 on Middleton Island, living in the salmonberries so she could study rhinoceros auklets for her honours thesis. Her project focuses on differences in foraging behaviour between breeding stages and the effects of researcher disturbance on reproductive success. ​Alice is now working at Impact Media Lab doing science communication.

HONOURS THESIS (2018)

Eric was an undergraduate student in Environmental Biology (Wildlife specialization). After having spent July 2017 doing fieldwork in East Greenland, he completed doing his Honour's thesis in our lab on the topic of seabird energetics. His project involved combining accelerometer data and estimates of daily energy expenditure to determine the costs of diving and flying in dovekies. He is now doing a PhD with Nigel Hussey (University of Windsor) studying Greenland sharks.

UNDERGRADUATE PROJECT (2018)

Passionate about birds since June 2013, I am particularly interested in how birds interact with their environment when feeding and how this affects reproduction and survival. Working with a community-based conservation NGO called QLF in Newfoundland and Labrador last summer, I fell in love with seabirds. In the fall 2018, I did an independent research project as a part of my biology major looking at Thick-billed Murre’s association with sea ice in the Canadian Arctic using telemetry data. I will be doing my MSc with Pierre Legagneux at Université Laval working with Bylot Island’s Snow Geese to examine the effect of climate change on reproductive success. Thierry is now doing a MSc with Pierre Legagneux at Laval.

HONOURS STUDENT (2018)

Mathilde first discovered birdwatching as a young child in France, when she was bored one summer and decided to borrow her grandpa's binoculars and explore her backyard. Several years later she rediscovered this passion when interning at the McGill Bird Observatory. Mathilde studies in the McGill School of Environment with a specialization in biodiversity and conservation and a minor in geography. She completed an Honours thesis at the McGill Bird Observatory building on Megan's work, and working closely with Ana, examining the factors influencing the detectability of transmitters within the automated radio network. Mathilde is now doing a Master's in Integrated Water Resource Management at McGill.

UNDERGRAD RESEARCH PROJECT (2018)

Katelyn completed her undergraduate degree in Environmental Biology (Wildlife Biology Specialization) at McGill. She spent part of the summer of 2017 working with seabirds in Maine as a research assistant for the National Audubon Society's Project Puffin. For her senior research project, she used data collected by Project Puffin to look for relationships between puffin diet composition and changing fish communities in the Gulf of Maine.

HONOURS THESIS (2017)

Megan completed her undergraduate degree in environmental biology, specializing in wildlife biology at McGill. Her honours thesis was co-supervised by Barbara Frei of the McGill Bird Observatory and aimed to optimize the placement of the MOTUS tower to detect bird migration of passerine species. This experience helped her spread her wings so that she can migrate to her next destination, which is currently working at the Ecomuseum. Megan is now doing a Master's in Science Communication.

HONURS THESIS (2017)

Erin completed an undergraduate degree in environmental biology with a specialization in wildlife. After having spent the last two summers tree planting, she was happy to be out of the woods and learning about a new environment, including traveling to Alaska for field work. For her honours thesis she used multiple data sets provided by Dr. George Divoky of Cooper's Island, Alaska. She studied the energetics of prey switching by black guillemots, hoping to quantify the depth and time at which this event occurs. Erin completed a Master's in Environmental Impact Assessment at Concordia and is now working for Health Canada.

HONOURS THESIS (2017)

Casey is an aspiring vet whose thesis was co-supervised by Barbara Frei (Director, McGill Bird Observatory). She tested the utility of point-of-care devices to measure the health of wild songbirds, especially wintering/late migrating juncos, American Tree Sparrows, goldfinches, chickadees, House Finches and robins.

UNDERGRAD PROJECT (2017)

​After completing an internship volunteering with a sea turtle conservation organisation in Greece this past summer, Amanda realised that she needed more a hands-on experience with field work data analysis. She evaluated the massive data set on at-sea behaviours of black-legged kittiwakes from the Middleton, Alaska field site to examine the fascinating relationship between environmental change and animal behaviour. Amanda is now working for Charles River Labs.

HONOURS PROJECT (2016)

Catherine used her ninja karate skills to attack a mound of data collected on thick-billed murres at Coats Island. She examined different ways of automatically converting accelerometer data into ethograms based on validated (videotaped) data. She completed a MSc at SFU studying tree swallows with Dave Green and Ron Ydenberg, and is now working as an Environmental Technician for Organisme de bassin versant du Saguenay.

UNDERGRADUATE PROJECT (2016)

Emma completed an undergraduate research project on mass variation in black-capped chickadees at the McGill Bird Observatory. She completed a MSc in Animal BioSciences at Guelph studying animal welfare with Georgia Mason, and works now at the Guelph Humane Society.

HONOURS PROJECT (2016)

Catherine cured her Irritable Owl Syndrome by completing an Honours thesis on temporal trends in bird abundance at the McGill Bird Observatory.​ She completed a MSc thesis at UOttawa with Jule Marond-Ferron, and is now working for the bird-banding lab in Ottawa.

UNDERGRADUATE PROJECT (2015)

Juliana completed an undergraduate research project on the diversity of birds at Kenauk Nature Reserve, along the Ottawa River north of Montreal. Following a field semester in Panama. She completed an Honours thesis looking at mammal diversity at Kenauk and is now working on a MSc at MUN with Eric Vander Wal studying plant-lynx-hare stochiometry (Does this involve placing varying ratios of each in beakers? We'd love to know.).