Katie McCollum, graduate student, received a Mewaldt-King Student Research Award from the Cooper Ornithological Society.
"I applied for this research award in order to get the last bit of funding needed for my field season this summer," McCollum said. "I'll be in Botswana from May 21 until July 31 completing my final field season for my master's thesis."
McCollum's thesis focuses on the kori bustard, the heaviest flying bird in the world. Some adult males stand three to four feet tall and weigh as much as 40 pounds.
Because of a large decline in population, the kori bustard was uplisted to "near threatened" on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List, which assesses the conservation status of species, subspecies and selected subpopulations on a global scale.
McCollum studies the population movements of kori bustards to better understand the effects that seasonality and resource utilization have on an individual bird's location.
The Mewaldt-King Student Research Awards are designated in the memory of L. Richard Mewaldt and James R. King to support master's and Ph.D.-level research that relates to the conservation of birds. Research may be in any area of ornithology, but studies that involve demographics, breeding biology or disease ecology may be particularly relevant, especially if the species is endangered, threatened or otherwise of management concern. Studies of species from threatened ecosystems (e.g. old growth forest, wetlands) or with reference to large-scale conservation issues such as climate or landscape change are also of particular interest.
McCollum is one of five award recipients. In total, 41 proposals were submitted to the award committee.
— Mekita Rivas, Natural Resources