Chickadee News

We just got the official word of some new funding from NSF! The newly funded work is a collaborative grant with Valdimir Pravosudov at the University of Nevada Ren o. We'll examine the genetic basis of spatial cognition in food-caching mountain chickadees and link genetic variation to natural selection using...

2021 has been a busy and exciting year for the Boulder Chickadee Study! With COVID subsiding and vaccinations completed we've been able to operate at our normal capacity. Joining the team this summer are Mia Larrieu (PhD student), Olivia Taylor and Will Anderson (undergraduate students supported by UROP and BSI)...

Congratulations to Katherine Feldmann on the publication of her honors thesis in the Journal of Field Ornithology! Her paper quantifies plumage differences between and within black-capped and mountain chickadees and sets the stage for furthering our understanding of the role that plumage might play in hybridization between the two species...

As of June 1, 2021 Scott will be the Director of the CU Boulder Mountain Research Station (MRS) as well as a Fellow of the Institute for Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR). Scott will be taking over from Dr. Bill Bowman who has been station Director for 31 years. Leading...

In December 2020, Katherine defended her Master’s Thesis, a project focused on identifying the genomic signatures underlying reproductive isolation in two hybridizing songbirds. Black-capped and Carolina chickadees form a well-studied hybrid zone that spans from New Jersey to Kansas. Katherine’s research, in support of previous studies, identified continued northward movement...