A rather simple definition of migration is; the movement of an animal from one location to a different location usually associated with a change in food supply, temperature, amount of daylight, or similar change and often undertaken for the purpose of breeding.

This definition does not even begin to tell the real story of migration; the dangers faced, perils endured, the stamina required, and the almost unbelievable physiology of animals that migrate, especially birds.

In this presentation we will look into the lives of some unique birds that migrate to or through our coastal marshes, prairies, and woodlands. Recent advances in science have made possible new discoveries in bird migration studies and we will review these astonishing revelations.

Why do birds migrate, and how do they even know when to migrate? How do they navigate across such enormous distances, and how dangerous is their journey? How and where do they eat along the way? What do birds do to prepare for migration? In this presentation we will learn of scientists’ best answers to these and other mysteries of migration.

Join us for a glimpse into the astonishing and seemingly miraculous world of bird migration.

Susan is a Texas native who grew up in Houston. After completing her bachelor’s degree in mathematics at the University of Louisiana Lafayette, she entered the U.S. Navy and served most of her four years in northern Virginia during which time she traveled around the world with a team of experts installing software on naval intelligence systems. After completing her tour of duty she continued on in the information security field at several major defense contractors in the Washington D.C. area. Looking to change her career to something more personally satisfying, she returned to school at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia where she studied wintering waterfowl for a Master’s degree in Biology and the effects of pesticides on birds that nest in agriculture for her PhD in Environmental Science. She came to the Gulf Coast Bird Observatory in June 2007 and is now the Director of Conservation Research. Her main research interests are with waterbirds and she currently heads up several research projects in this area. She has been studying American Oystercatchers on the Texas coast since 2011 and works with a cadre of Master Naturalist volunteers to monitor the birds each nesting season. She oversees GCBO’s Beach Nesting Birds and Non-breeding Shorebirds projects which focus on the conservation of beach and bay island nesting and wintering waterbird species. She has two projects in collaboration with biologists at the Texas Mid-Coast National Wildlife Refuge Complex, one studying eastern Willet migration paths and another establishing a Motus tower antenna array along the upper and central coasts to track long-distance migrants outfitted with nanotags. Finally, she manages the Smith Point Hawk Watch held each fall at Smith Point on the eastern shore of Galveston Bay.