With the recent publication of our paper in Functional Ecology, I was approached to write a post for the journal's companion blog, Functional Ecologists! This presents an overview of the paper, a little bit about how we did the work, and most of all how I grew as a scientist. The research paper itself took many years. As a result, the blog post provided space for a reflection on those years and the ways I've grown as a scientist. I return time and time again to how grateful I

Recent feature in the UM Research magazine

Wow, this post has been a long time coming! I started this project as an undergraduate working with Dr. Don Powers, where I measured feeding rates of hummingbirds while eating dilute nectars. This started with four species, working at Southwestern Research Station in 2015. I continued working with some pretty charismatic species in Ecuador after that, such as this White-booted Racketttail ( Ocreatus underwoodii) . I continued the project for many years, as I applied to gradu

In July of 2025 I was pleased to present some results of our hummingbird agonism project to community members in the Centennial Valley at the Taft-Nicolson Center . Knowledge on Wednesdays is an event series organized by the Centennial Valley Association to gather scientists, naturalists, ranchers, federal and NGO employees. It was a great time sharing science, sharing a meal, and winding down while watching the sun set on the valley!

At the end of 2024 I graciously received a dissertation improvement grant (DIG) from the University Montana branch of the Montana Institute on Ecosystems . This grant will be instrumental in helping me travel to study museum specimens, for which I am very grateful and excited!

Published Nov. 26, 2024 | Updated Dec. 3, 2024 Our work investigating male-male fighting of hummingbirds has recently gotten some...

Photogrammetry is the process of obtaining reliable measurements and creating models from photographs. It captures the surface details...

Recently, I had the privilege to present my research on male-male fighting in hummingbirds at two major events: the American...

Interview with collaborator Alyssa Sargent about my talk at SICB.

I am excited to be attending the Society of Integrative and Comparative Biology Conference in Seattle Washington next week! At SICB this...

In 2023 I have been awarded grants from both Montana Audubon Society and the American Ornithological Society. I am grateful for their...

Over the summer, the University of Montana flight lab was busy hosting participants from Sentinel High school and Wings Over Water-- a...

While this post ay be delayed, I am currently in my first year of my fellowship funded by the National Science Foundation's Graduate...

In August of 2022, I presented on the maximal feeding rate of compensatory feeding in hummingbirds across north and south America. To...

I am flattered to have received an Honorable Mention in the 2022 National Science Foundation's Graduate Student Fellowship Program. This...

After careful deliberation, I have accepted an offer from University of Montana to pursue my PhD in Ecology and Evolution beginning the...

Dr. Rico-Guevara and myself had the privilege to highlight some of our work with the Burke Museum last month, and they made a beautiful...

After navigation of IACUC, state permits, housing plans, experimental setup shake-out and so many other tasks this past year has held, we...

I'm grateful and flattered to have been recently promoted to the title of Lab Manager of the Behavioral Ecophysics Lab. It's been an...

Title: Bene‘fit’ assessment in pollination coevolution: mechanistic perspectives on hummingbird bill-flower matching Written with...