19 October 2022: Over the past few months, we have had a lot of successes (and fewer failures)! Most recently, 6 of us from the lab attended, and presented research at, the 100th annual meeting of the Association of Field Ornithologist's in Plymouth, MA. Before that, we had several papers published that included both current and former members of the lab. First, Alex Worm led the effort that resulted in this awesome study of the population genomics of Black-throated Green Warblers, which validated Wayne's Warbler as a legitimate subspecies along the Atlantic Coast.  Second, Doug Raybuck and many others published this long-awaited research on Cerulean Warbler migratory strategies and connectivity. Third, Alix Matthews and Cody Barnett published this paper that assessed the survival and dispersal of feather mites from two hosts. And finally, we collaborated with a bunch of great conservation scientists on this paper that described a new method of integrating migratory data from various sources to better understand movements of migratory birds.
5 April 2022: A bunch of exciting news from almost every member of the lab in just the past two months! First, Kevin Krajcir successfully defended his MS thesis research which focused on the ecological and physiological relationships between feather mites and their avian hosts. Kevin has been a great lab member over his 3+ years here and he will be moving on to start work on his PhD with Dr. Christine Lattin at LSU! Congratulations all around to Kevin - we will miss you, but very excited for your future as well!

Next, Cayce Guy presented his research on alternative rice management strategies for rice residue at the Arkansas Wildlife Society Annual Meeting and despite just completing his first field season, was awarded third place in the student presentation competition!

Up next, Brandon Dunnahoo was awarded a Paul Stewart Grant from the Inland Bird Banding Association to conduct his research on the migratory behavior of Chuck-will's-widows in the Ozarks! Very excited to start work with this mysterious species this spring. 

Moving on...Alex Worm presented some of his early PhD research at the Association of Southeastern Biologists in Little Rock, AR. Alex presented the cool story of a nest that two female kingbirds shared (one a hybrid STFL-WEKI and the other pure). Both females incubated and from the nest fledged 4 young, two from the pure WEKI and two from the hybrid! All of this was confirmed genetically. Amazing stuff. 

Then, Alex Worm also received a Chapman Grant from the American Museum of Natural History to conduct genomic research on the Loggerhead Kingbird complex in the Caribbean. We will be heading to the Cayman Islands to collect samples next month!

Up next...Alix Matthews spent 3 weeks in Brazil with our collaborator Dr. Fabio Hernandes learning feather mite taxonomy and working through a number of warbler mites that we have collected over the past few years. From her time there, it looks very likely that we have 4-6 new species that will need describing! Very exciting. 

Finally, Dr. Lori Neuman-Lee and I received a grant to conduct research on the spatial variation of egg composition in Prothonotary Warblers. This research will build off the previous work completed by Joe Youtz and the PROW working group that documented interesting patterns in nestling development in relation to egg size. Will be starting this work next spring with a new graduate student (if interested, please contact me!)
15 February 2022: Neat story on Loggerhead Shrikes starring some of our collaborators with the Loggerhead Shrike Working Group. Even though this story focuses on shrikes in Tennessee, lots of the photos and videos were taken by our own Em Donahue here in Arkansas (many more shrikes on this side of the river)!

https://wildsidetv.com/loggerhead-shrike/
11 November 2021: Congratulations to PhD student Em Donahue and (soon-to-be) MS student Ty Sharrow for receiving grants from the Arkansas Audubon Society Trust to help fund their respective research projects! Em's research will focus on describing and evaluating differences in the gut microbiome of Loggerhead Shrikes living in row-crop vs. pasture systems. Ty's research will focus on evaluating the success of a nest box program for American Kestrels and Barn Owls in NE Arkansas.

In other not-so-recent news, Em Donahue (and our lab team) published this paper on the non-breeding ecology of Loggerhead Shrikes in Southeastern Naturalist and ALSO got the cover photo! This project was super collaborative across the lab and a lot of fun to work on. Congratulations to all!!!
27 April 2021: Wow. Time flies. Lots has happened since my last post. First, Alix Matthews received a coveted Margaret Morse Nice Research Award from the American Ornithological Society for her proposal to study feather mite diet and resource selection!

Second, Jacob Wessels published his thesis research in the Journal of Field Ornithology.

Third, Alex Worm published a note in the Wilson Journal of Ornithology about a bill deformity in a Western Kingbird fledgling.

Fourth, we have lots of shrike nests with eggs and nestlings that Em Donahue is monitoring!

Finally, we took a collecting trip to SW New Mexico to get feather mites from six species of warblers. We captured 50 birds and found ZERO mites. But had a great time with the amazing birds and landscape of the Gila National Forest.

Exciting times. Congratulations to All!
27 January 2021: Really excited to see our research on Prothonotary Warbler migratory connectivity being used to inform conservation of this amazing species on the wintering grounds (along with others). Would love to visit El Silencio Reserve some day!

https://abcbirds.org/article/el-silencio-reserve-expansion-benefits-critically-endangered-species-and-a-beloved-u-s-nesting-songbird/
6 January 2021: Hello Jeebus! This shrike, which once possessed three color bands and one silver band, has removed all his color bands and has now spent the last 5 winters in the same area in Craighead County, AR. He is now at least 6.5 yrs old. Welcome back buddy.
8 December 2020: A bunch of exciting developments in the Lab over the past few months! First, congratulations are in order for several Lab members. First, to Alix Matthews for receiving an AAST grant to study the diet of feather mites using metabarcoding techniques! We will be starting this research this spring using our Prothonotary Warblers.

Second, congratulations to Em Donahue for graduating with her MS in Biology AND starting her PhD in Molecular Biosciences, all during the same semester! Em will continue to study shrikes and agricultural systems for her PhD work.

Finally, we are very pleased to have been a part of this awesome research recently published in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. This paper explores the conflict in fledging age between parents and offspring songbirds and the consequences of this conflict on both groups. Big thanks to Todd Jones at the University of Illinois for leading this effort!
16 November 2020: We have a new member of our lab! Welcome Cayce Guy, who will be starting as an MS student in Environmental Sciences next semester. Cayce is going to be working with both us and Dr. Michele Reba's USDA lab to explore how variation in burning and flooding of agricultural fields in the region affect avian use (and greenhouse gas emissions). Great to have you onboard Cayce!
13 November 2020: Had a great time presenting our research to the DuPage Birding Club last night! This organization was really instrumental in my life/career by providing me with support/community as a young birdwatcher. Keep up the great work and thanks for having me!
2 September 2020: Our Prothonotary Warbler research took a new direction these past few years as we began to explore eco-biogeography by testing for Bergmann's Rule across the entire life cycle (and comparing to historical patterns for eggs) in PROW. Thanks to the leadership of Joe Youtz, and an amazing group of co-authors from the Prothonotary Warbler Working Group, that research has now been published in Ecology and Evolution! Like good science should, it has also led to new questions, e..g., regarding egg composition across space, that we hope to start looking into next spring! Check out the work here. 
24 June 2020: Congratulations to Lee Bryant for her excellent research that has culminated in this publication in The Condor! For her Master's research, Lee studied the impacts of hemlock decline (due to an invasive insect) on Louisiana Waterthrush in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Very proud of her effort and persistence!

https://academic.oup.com/condor/article/doi/10.1093/condor/duaa027/5861520
18 March 2020: This week, on the February issue of The Condor, we have our first cover image! Congratulations to Doug Raybuck and collaborators for their great work.
19 November 2019: Time flies....been a while since we've updated the lab going-ons, but we have a number of accomplishments to recognize. First, the entire lab went to the WOS-AFO meeting in Cape May, NJ; all presented and did a great job! Second, Alix Matthews and Kevin Krajcir both were awarded grants from the Arkansas Audubon Society Trust for their research. Congrats to both of you! Third, we have received to two grants over the past few months: one to study neonicotinoids in Loggerhead Shrikes (in collaboration with Drs. Brett DeGregorio at University of Arkansas and Lori Neuman-Lee at AState), and one to study genomic structure in feather mites across three warbler species (in collaboration with Dr. Asela Wijeratne at AState and various colleagues across the eastern US). We are in the process of selecting a grad student to continue our shrike work and we will be working on the mite research ASAP! 
25 August 2019: It is with great pleasure to welcome Alix Matthews back to the lab! Alix graduated with an MS in Biology with us a few years ago. After a bunch of publications (I lost count exactly) from her Master's research involving warblers and feather mites and a research position in Texas working with leaf-cutter ant/fungal systems, she has now returned to the mite-y world (and us) and is starting her PhD in Molecular Biosciences. So happy to have Alix back and I look forward to the awesome discoveries to come!
15 August 2019: Last week, our entire lab (undergrads and grads alike!) attended the annual NSF-funded SUPERB summer institute at Petit Jean Mountain in Arkansas. It was a great experience to bond and learn about SUPERB students, faculty from the other campuses (Southern Illinois and Murray State Universities) and talk about our research. Among the many highlights was the creation of this "commercial" for a biodiversity-themed game called "CAT-ASTROPHE".

In addition, congratulations to Joe Youtz, who won the best graduate student poster for his work exploring the manifestation and alteration of the Bergmann's Rule in Prothonotary Warblers!
29 June 2019: Great press coverage in the Washington Post about our new paper on Prothonotary Warbler migration. Amazing to finally see this completed (started in 2015!) and getting lots of interest. Perfect example of what scientific collaborations can accomplish! Congratulations to all involved.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/songbird-migration-study-finds-a-tiny-vulnerable-winter-range/2019/06/20/1bffa6fe-92cb-11e9-b570-6416efdc0803_story.html?utm_term=.c3ecb83e87ba
23-29 June 2019: The lab went to Anchorage for the 2019 American Ornithological Society annual conference and represented well! Em Donahue won an Honorable Mention Award for her poster on Loggerhead Shrike Non-breeding habitat selection and survival; Jacob Wessels, Kevin Krajcir, Lee Bryant (alumnus), and Doug Raybuck (alumnus) all presented work from our lab too! Great job to all. Also got to see lots of great birds, old and new friends.
23 April 2019: April and May are the busiest times of the year in the lab! First, congratulations go out to lab alumnus Morgan Slevin (and Alix Matthews and Lesley Bulluck) for publication of his second chapter of his MS thesis that documents spatial variation in color in Prothonotary Warblers across two ecologically dissimilar sites. Read it here. Also, congrats to Kevin Krajcir who successfully defended his thesis proposal and started his field work (in the swamps of the Atchafalaya basin, see photos). Jacob Wessels (Buffalo River) and Joe Youtz (in the Upper Lower Delta) have also started their final seasons of field work, and last but not least, Alix Matthews has decided to come back to our lab to work on her PhD (starting in August)! Very excited to have her back.
2 April 2019: Exciting week in the lab. Em Donahue and I (along with lab alumus Alex Worm) attended the Loggerhead Shrike Working Group meeting in Birmingham, AL, where we presented our latest research on shrikes in the LMAV; Jacob Wessels received the Bergstrom Award from AFO for his research on Cerulean Warblers; and our collaboration on Prothonotary Warblers resulted in another great publication (lead author Matt DeSaix), this time in Molecular Ecology. Read it here!
15 March 2019: Had a great trip to Little Rock last week for state Wildlife Society Meeting. Congratulations to Em Donahue, who won the award for best student presentation, and Joe Youtz, who took home 2nd place! 

Breeding field seasons just around the corner....BAWW, CERW PROW, and NOPA coming back soon!
7 December 2018: Shrike season is back in full swing! We have found some new and exciting prey items. Here are a couple of the new lunch items: a little brown skink and a shrew. Also shown is one of our new birds (Master Worm) that we caught with seminar speaker Dr. Bobby Fokidis (from Rollins College).
1 November 2018: Lots of stuff happening in the lab! First, congratulations to lab alumnus and general crazy man, Alex Worm, for his first lead-author publication. Based on his MS thesis research, this paper documents and characterizes hybridization patterns between two range-expanding species (Scissor-tailed Flycatcher and Western Kingbird) and is in production in the Ibis at this moment! Check it out here.

Second, we (Alex Worm and I) presented our research recently at the Memphis Chapter of the Tennessee Ornithological Society (on this same topic) and I went to Fayetteville to present our feather mite research at the University of Arkansas biology seminar series. Thanks to JD Willson and his lab for inviting me and showing me my first (somewhat embarrassingly) LeConte's Sparrow and Speckled Kingsnake as Woolsey Wet Prairie. Joe Youtz also presented our research on fragmented woodlots in the Mississippi Delta at The Wildlife Society meeting in Cleveland.

Finally, we will have two field projects going this winter. We will be continuing our shrike work AND we are starting a new exciting project: installing barn owl and kestrel boxes in ag fields in the area and then monitoring them for occupancy. Eventually, the goal is get farmers to use these native species as pest control (to hopefully replace at least some pesticide application). We are building boxes now and will start putting them up soon!
14 August 2018: A new publication in Avian Conservation & Ecology about Prothonotary Warblers in Arkansas based on the Master's thesis research of Morgan Slevin. Congratulations Morgan (and Alix Matthews)!

Check it out here:

http://www.ace-eco.org/vol13/iss2/art5/
9 July 2018: Super busy spring field season is drawing to an end and we have lots of news to report. Here are some highlights:

1) Congratulations to Lee Bryant for winning the Alexander Wilson best student presentation award at the WOS-AFO meeting in Chattanooga and for getting her first publication!

2) Congratulations to Alex Worm for winning the M.S. Biology student of the year award!

3) Our manuscript (with Alix Matthews and Fabio Hernandes) describing four new species of feather mites on warblers (inc. one named for Jonesboro) was published in Systematic and Applied Acarology.

4) Traveled from Louisiana to Idaho catching warblers and collecting mites. Over 300 birds (and some ridiculous number of mites) captured! 
3 May 2018: Greatly honored to become an Elective Member of the American Ornithological Society. Joining an amazing group of scientists. Couldn't have made it this far without many mentors, students, and collaborators! Thanks to all!

https://amornithnews.org/2018/05/01/the-american-ornithological-society-welcomes-the-2018-class-of-elective-members/
18 Apr 2018: We have had a busy past month and a half! Highlights include: Em Donahue and I went to the Loggerhead Shrike Working Group meeting in Nashville, TN where we shared our research and discussed future directions; Em and Lee Bryant did a great job presenting their research at the American Ornithological Society meeting in Tucson, AZ (from what I hear!); Jacob Wessels and Joe Youtz successfully defended their MS thesis research proposals (and both have started their 1st field seasons); we are starting to look for returning Cerulean Warblers carrying geolocators in the Ozarks; and finally, we have begun to catch warblers for our pilot study of geographic variation in the relationships between warblers and their feather mites! Going to be a busy couple of months as we travel from Louisiana to Idaho catching (and collecting mites from) American Redstarts, Common Yellowthroats, Prothonotary Warblers, Northern Parulas, Cerulean Warblers, Black-and-White Warblers, and Yellow Warblers!
5 Mar 2018: Our lab went to the Arkansas Chapter of The Wildlife Society meeting last week and Lee Bryant and Em Donahue presented their research. Em Donahue won second place in the student presentation competition. Congratulations Em!
20 Feb 2018: Check out the cool video of how we capture Loggerhead Shrikes. Thanks to Em Donahue for this footage.
14 Feb 2018: It's been a busy winter chasing shrikes and planning for upcoming spring projects, so haven't posted too much. BUT here is a video of a really cool encounter between a shrike and an EARLY garter snake. Of course the shrike won!
19 Dec 2017: Hot of the presses, our accepted paper exploring co-evolution between feather mites and warblers. Congratulations again to Alix Matthews and Doug Raybuck, as well as our other co-authors, for their exceptional work.

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jav.01580/full
14 Dec 2017: Check out the brand spankin new Loggerhead Shrike Working Group website:

https://loggerheadshrike.org/

24 Nov 2017: It's been an exciting month in the lab, with lots of congratulations in order. First, at beginning of the month Alex Worm defended his thesis on range expansion and hybridization of Scissor-tailed Flycatchers and Western Kingbirds successfully. Congrats, Gusanito.

Second, lab alum Alix Matthews finally had her her first thesis chapter accepted in the journal Ecology and Evolution. Congrats to her and all of our co-authors!

Finally, congrats to Jacob Wessels for receiving the Eulalia Araoz Memorial Award from the Arkansas Audubon Society for his proposal to study Cerulean Warblers (including the first to study female movements) in the Ozarks. Joe Youtz and Emily Donahue also received awards from AAS. Great work everyone!
24 Oct 2017: Our research regarding bird-window collisions on campuses across North America is receiving a lot of media attention! Here are a few of the pieces that have come out:
http://wildlife.org/birds-at-greater-risk-of-hitting-windows-in-rural-areas/

http://www.anthropocenemagazine.org/2017/08/bird-window-collisions-rural-areas/

http://www.audubon.org/news/proposed-federal-law-could-save-countless-birds-death-glass

19 Oct 2017: Congratulations to Jen Wilcox for successfully defending her thesis on forest management for birds in the LMAV! She has come a long way and we are all very proud of her accomplishments so far. Hopefully a couple of publications are coming up next!
29 Sep 2017: Congratulations to both old and new lab members. First to alum Doug Raybuck for publishing not one, but two, papers (in Journal of Field Ornithology on Golden-winged Warbler migration and in The Condor responding to a critique of our Cerulean warbler effects of geolocators paper). Second, to newbie Joe Youtz for giving his first conference talk about Dusky Grouse at the TWS meeting in Albuquerque, NM. Well done to both!

Here is the link to Doug (et al) GWWA paper: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jofo.12210/full
The Condor paper is still in production, but will post it when available.
15 Aug 2017: Had a great time at the inaugural AOS/SCO meeting in East Lansing, MI! Lab alumni, Doug Raybuck and Alix Matthews, both gave great talks about their M.S. thesis research. Good seeing old and new colleagues and friends as well. 
12 July 2017: We are excited to be a part of newly formed Arkansas Center for Biodiversity Collections. Here is the cool new logo:
21 June 2017: Very pleased to announce that the paper, "Continent-wide analysis of how urbanization affects bird-window collision mortality in North America", has been accepted for publication in Biological Conservation! This article is the fruition of many years of work by many people, both in our lab at AState (many undergraduates and graduate students helped survey campus buildings for window-kills) and many other institutions across North America. A special congratulations to Steve Hager and Brad Cosentino for leading this effort. Read the press release here.
8 June 2017: Congratulations to incoming lab members, Emily Donahue, Joe Youtz, and Jacob Wessels for receiving the Upper Delta Region Biodiversity Scholarship! Great start to your careers at AState.
29 May 2017: Prothonotary Warblers with geolocators recaptured along the Sugar River in southern Wisconsin. 
Six birds recaptured so far. Here is one; good ol' Skunk Baxter. So smooth. 
15 May 2017: Cerulean Warbler geolocator paper getting alot of media attention!
Doug Raybuck's paper concerning the effects of geolocators on Cerulean Warblers has captured quite a bit of attention from the popular press. Interesting what their take-a-ways are. Most of the stories have been relatively accurate, but not completely. Here are a few of the links:

Audubon

Science Daily

Science Friday
11 May 2017: Catching Cerulean Warblers in the Ozarks with the crew. Thanks to Ammar Taqi for the photos!
21 April 2017: Congratulations to Lee Bryant (and Hopscotch) for her first publication! 'Male Louisiana Waterthrush (Parkesia motacilla) successfully defends nest from juvenile black rat snake (Elaphe obsoleta)' in press at Wilson Journal of Ornithology.

And congratulations to Alix Matthews, who won the award for the Top M.S. Student in Biological Sciences. Well-deserved!
30 March 2017: Congratulations (again) to Alix Matthews for accepting the offer to work on the genetics of leaf-cutter ants (and their fungal gardens) with Jon Seal at UT-Tyler!
20 March 2017: In collaboration with Nick Bayly of La Selva and Gabriel Colorado of the Universidad Nacional de Colombia (along with UT-Knoxville, American Bird Conservancy, and IUP), we have deployed 25 geolocators on Cerulean Warblers at two sites in Colombia, S.A. this winter. Great work by the biologists down there this winter! Visit out the project webpage below:
http://selva.org.co/research-programs/threatened-species/cerulean-warbler
13 March 2017: Congratulations to Alix Matthews on successfully defending her M.S. thesis research on feather mite ecology and evolution! And check out these awesome Prothonotary Warbler cookies!
27 February 2017: Cerulean warblers outfitted with geolocators in Colombia!
Thanks to Nick Bayly, Gabriel Colorado, and their crews in Colombia, we have deployed three geolocators so far in S.A.! Here is one of the individuals (photo from Nick Bayly):
2 February 2017: Some cool photos of Loggerhead Shrikes heading into our traps. Thanks to Cole Harken for the GoPro images!
30 January 2017: Congratulations to Morgan Slevin on successfully presenting his M.S. thesis research. Almost done! Next stop Borneo, to find nests with Dr. Tom Martin and crew. Jealous. Great job and best of luck!
7 December 2016: Meet Elmer (Pancake), one of our Pennsylvania Cerulean Warblers, and the threats that he faces across his annual cycle.
https://abcbirds.org/warblers-help-scientists-unlock-migration-secrets/

https://abcbirds.org/meet-elmer-cerulean-warbler/
14 November 2016: Loggerhead Shrike surveys are up and running (in collaboration with Michael Collins and students at Rhodes College). Today, we found our first larder of the season (poor Ribbon Snake)! 
31 October 2016: Congratulations to Doug Raybuck for a successful defense of his Master's thesis! Good luck on your next adventure as a PhD student at the University of Tennessee!
7 October 2016: New papers from the lab accepted (female song in PROW in Ibis) and published (Feather CORT and carry-over effects in Conservation Physiology)! Congrats and great work Alix, Morgan, and Alex!
1 October 2016: Our Cerulean Warbler migration research highlighted by American Bird Conservancy
29 September 2016: The Arkansas State Bird Observatory is up and running!
Here are some images from our first days of fall migration banding
9 September 2016: Louisiana Waterthrush defends nestlings against Black Rat Snake
This past spring, while studying Lousiana Waterthrush response to hemlock decline in the Great Smoky Mountains NP, Lee Bryant captured an incredibly rare event on video. A father LOWA tossed away a young Black Rat Snake that had made its way the bird's nest, which contained ~4-d old nestlings. The nestlings eventually grew up and fledged! Check out the video below to see the action-
16-20 August 2016: Lab attends NAOC VI in DC
Another great bird meeting in the books. The entire lab attended NAOC VI in Washington, D.C. this past week (along with almost 2000 others) and we presented 8 papers! Everyone did a great job, but special congratulations to Morgan Slevin for his honorable mention for best student paper. 
9 June 2016: Update on the "singing" female saga
The singing female successfully pried the male away from his social mate (who left behind a dead nestling and an unhatched egg), and then proceeded to lay five eggs and begin incubating. I was expecting nestlings today, however, upon visiting her box, I instead found this.....
I assume she was able to get away from the bear, but I was unable to resight her. Three other nests suffered the same fate. Pretty amazing how strong those bears are; they bent that conduit like it was nothing.
4 June 2016: Geolocators deployed on Prothonotary Warblers in southern Wisconsin
Put out 22 geolocators along the beautiful Sugar River in Rock County. Looking forward to finding who comes back next spring!
13 May 2016: Female-specific Prothonotary Warbler "song" documented at White River NWR
After hearing several females "singing" an unusual, ascending, buzzy "song" over the past few years, we finally got video (not the best) and good sound recordings of a female Prothonotary Warbler vocalizing at White River National Wildlife Refuge. We also caught the female (at right). She seemed to be attempting to get the attention of a male that already had nestlings (with a different female).
23 April 2016: Merch the Cerulean Warbler, returns with a geolocator and is re-captured by Alex Worm and Doug Raybuck
10 April 2016: PROW come back to White River with geolocators!
Four male Prothonotary Warblers wearing geolocation devices returned to White River NWR this past weekend. Looking forward to seeing where they spent their winter! Here are two recaptures, Musky Toe and Papa of Dragons:
7 April 2016: Morgan Slevin and Alix Matthews present their research at Create@State Research Symposium
Morgan received a 2nd place award for best graduate oral presentation. Well done!
1 April 2016: Lee Bryant receives TWO more grants to fund her LOWA/Hemlock research!
Congratulations to Lee for receiving the Bergstrom Award from AFO and a grant from the Tennessee Ornithological Society! Her acknowledgements section is going to be unwieldy!
3-4 March 2016: Boves Lab presents research and brings home top two student presentation awards at the AR TWS meeting in Little Rock
All six grad students in the lab presented talks at the AR TWS meeting and Alix Matthews (1st place) and Lee Bryant (2nd place) won best student presentation awards. Well done guys.

Also, congratulations to fellow A-Staters Chris Thigpen, Cole Harken, Hunter Adams, and Karen Wright on their championship quiz bowl team (and to Sam Schratz for his 3rd place student presentation).
11 February 2016: Lab captures our first Arkansas Loggerhead Shrike!
With Dr. Mike Butler by our side, we captured Larry the LOSH using a bow net and mouse. Also found his larder!
6 January 2016: Lee successfully raises funds for her research using the crowd-sourcing website Experiment
Congrats again to Lee - she raised over $2000 for her research!
18 November 2015: Congrats to Lee (again) for another successful grant application!
Lee Bryant received $778 from the Arkansas Audubon Society to support her research on LOWA and hemlock decline!
2-5 November 2015: Boves lab goes to SE-PIF meeting in Lafayette, LA and Natural Areas Conference in Little Rock, AR
Had a great week in Lafayette, LA meeting with the PROW working group, presenting posters and talks, and shrike trapping at SE-PIF. Meanwhile, Doug Raybuck presented at the Natural Areas Conference in Little Rock, AR and won the best student presentation. Congratulations Doug!
9 September 2015: Congratulations to Lee Bryant on her first successful grant application!
Lee received $750 from the Knoxville Chapter of the Tennessee Ornithological Society for her research on the effects of hemlock decline on Louisiana Waterthrush in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park!
31 August 2015: Audubon Magazine highlights our research on PROW
Check it out here: https://www.audubon.org/news/new-research-details-warblers-mystery-treks
25 August 2015: Publication in PNAS by lab member Alix Matthews!
Congratulations to Alix (and her co-authors)! A very applicable topic for her Master's research too. Check out the Early View paper here:

http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2015/08/20/1515309112.full.pdf
27 July - 2 August 2015: Boves Lab goes to Oklahoma AOU/COS Meeting

Five posters presented from the lab!

60 STFL on the way down! 71 on the way back; good work guys!
13 July 2015: Deformed bill on a WEKI fledgling

Alex Worm and I caught this kiddo after a wild chase around President's Island in Memphis. Cause of deformity is currently unknown but we have collected blood to examine genetics (assessing hybridization with STFL) and possibly environmental contaminants. Other two fledgies looked fine.
8 July 2015: First student-led Boves lab paper accepted at WJO!

‘Prothonotary Warblers (Protonotaria citrea) break their beaks during attacks on wooden conspecific decoys’

Congrats to Morgan and Doug!
10 December 2014: First identified feather mite from a Cerulean Warbler


Thanks to Alix Matthews!

Family Proctophyllodidae Family Pterodectinae

Genus Amerodectes (?)

Still learning how to do this!