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Nature Night: The Secret Lives of Bushtits
Hybrid Event
Bushtits are adorable, friendly balls of fluff that appear in flocks at bird feeders and birdbaths in backyards throughout the western US. But how much do you really know about these mysterious little birds? All is not as amicable as it appears on the surface. In fact, competition may be the name of the game. Join Dr. Sarah Sloane as she reveals some of the intriguing complexities of bushtit social structure she has uncovered during her long-term research in Arizona and, for the last six years, here in Portland.
Bushtit (male), photo by Tony Freixas
About Dr. Sloane
Dr. Sarah Sloane is currently Associate Professor of Biology at the University of Maine at Farmington. She received her PhD from the University of Michigan focusing on the apparently cooperatively breeding bushtit in southeastern Arizona. Before bushtits, she studied impaling behavior in loggerhead shrikes in Florida and was involved in baboon mother/infant interaction research in Kenya. The surprising and variable complexities she found in Arizona bushtit sociality has resulted in a life-long commitment to bushtits, eventually leading to a permanent migration of her research to the Pacific Northwest in 2014. In addition to peer-reviewed articles, she is the author of the Birds of the World chapter on bushtits and is currently writing a natural history narrative on her 36 adventuresome years of bushtit research.
Dr. Sarah Sloane
Choose In-Person or Online
We are happy to be bringing Nature Night back in-person! We have installed new technology in Heron Hall that will allow us to make this a hybrid event, available both at Bird Alliance of Oregon as well as virtually over Zoom. Please register for the option that you prefer.
This event is hybrid -- you can register to attend in-person at Bird Alliance of Oregon Wildlife Sanctuary - Heron Hall or you can register to attend online.
