Avian migration ecology

We are focused on questions related to understanding how birds migrate through the city of Los Angeles as well as the surrounding natural areas. Further, we focus much of our study of birds in L.A. on migratory birds that utilize the city as wintering habitat.

Here, students are documenting foraging behavior by wintering migratory birds on street trees in Pasadena, California

Wintering migratory birds

A large portion of our work focuses on how migratory birds utilize Los Angeles during the winter months. Much of this work integrates with our desire to better understand the biodiversity of the city and region. For birds, the wintering period is exceptional in the region as many millions of individuals move to the California southland for refuge during the winter months and subsequent spring migration. We are currently studying the ecology of birds in various urban habitats. Most of our work is observational in documenting feeding behavior. We plan to use experimental approaches (see urban food webs) to better gauge the value of urban habitat features to migratory birds.

This Black-throated Gray Warbler (Setophaga nigrescens) is fairly common nonbreeding bird of L.A. that is searching for prey items on a mesquite. We spend a good amount of our time in the field observing birds and documenting their foraging ecology in relation to plant species and food resources. These data help in understanding ‘habitat selection’ of wintering migratory birds throughout the city. While we have a good idea about species distributions in relation to urbanization, focuses on ecological patterns and behaviors and working to understand habitat selection and quality can help us in improving the city to benefit birds and other wildlife.

migration ecology, phenology, and climate change

During my PhD, I studied how spring migratory wood-warblers, and their prey items, shifted their phenology from year to year based on variations in climate. We are continuing this work here in L.A. with a focus on spring migrants passing through Bear Divide and north through the Pacific Flyway. Please see Tania Romero’s page for more details.

Yellow Warblers (Setophaga petechia) are one of our focal species for understanding how variations in seasonal weather patterns potentially affect bird migration in California during spring.