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DOS November Meeting: “Use of a Delaware Bayshore marsh hummock by songbirds during migration” by Kitt Heckscher
November 17, 2021 @ 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm UTC+0
A citizen science project in the early 1990s identified the Delaware Bayshore marsh hummocks and barrier islands as an important stopover region for migratory songbirds. No further study of songbird stopover ecology has taken place along the Delaware Bayshore. In 2020, the Heckscher Lab at Delaware State University initiated a two-year pilot study to further investigate songbird stopover ecology along the Delaware Bayshore. DOS member Kitt Heckscher will discuss preliminary results of this ongoing investigation and will reveal the bayshore’s potential role as a critical migratory stopover region for north and southbound migrants.
Dr. Christopher (Kitt) Heckscher is Associate Professor of Environmental Science & Ecology at Delaware State University and the Institutional Project Director of the NOAA EPP Environmental Cooperative Science Center at DSU.
His lab’s research includes the effect of sea level rise and climate change on coastal stopover sites for migratory birds, as well as long-term studies of the behavioral ecology and migratory connectivity of Veerys. Dr. Heckscher is also an expert on the inventory and conservation of rare terrestrial and wetland-associated invertebrates especially Lampyridae (fireflies), Odonata (damselflies and dragonflies), and Lepidoptera (butterflies, skippers, moths [esp. Catocalaand Papaipema]). He has extensive experience in zoological assessments of Mid-Atlantic natural areas and in conducting field research specifically aimed at providing data for informed land management decisions.
Previously, he served as Delaware’s State Zoologist for 12 years for The Nature Conservancy and Delaware Division of Fish and Wildlife, where he initiated, developed, and maintained the Delaware state zoological database and conducted field inventories of rare species. Kitt also has 9 years of experience as a zoologist for The Nature Conservancy.
The meeting is held online via Zoom software.
Members will receive an email with Zoom login info prior to the meeting. If you are not a member and would like to attend, please use the button below to request login info which is available a few days before the meeting.
We look forward to ‘seeing’ you soon!