Dr. Lisa Tell Presents:

Diving Into Hummingbird Research: A Small Bird With A Big Story

The natural lifecycle of hummingbirds has been disrupted because of large-scale global development and ongoing changes in climate. Not only is this disruption concerning for hummingbirds but contributes to the overall decrease in avifauna biodiversity in the US and Canada. Unfortunately, multiple hummingbird species are endangered or susceptible to species-wide population decline. The migratory nature of hummingbirds and anthropogenic pressures result in disease susceptibility and exposure to environmental hazards including dense aggregation of birds at feeders, human-caused changes in insect and plant diversity and abundance, exposure to pesticides and trace elements, and mortality due to window strikes and predation. Given the substantial knowledge gaps in baseline data, the UC Davis Hummingbird Health and Conservation Program has conducted and published a multitude of scientific studies including development of methods for diagnosing pathogens, quantifying environmental toxins, and modeling demographic processes in marked hummingbird populations. These studies are critical for studying population dynamics of these charismatic birds which play a key role in ecosystem health. Such studies require one or more of the following components: welfare conscious handling and restraint techniques; proper identification of species, age, and sex; blood, feather, urine, and fecal sampling; miniaturization of analytical methods for sample analysis; and establishing marking methods for population monitoring and assessment. This presentation will detail techniques for capturing, handling, identifying, marking, and obtaining samples from hummingbirds. In addition, scientific studies that provide insight for long-range planning efforts to mitigate population decline will be highlighted.

Lisa Tell, DVM is the Director of the UC Davis Hummingbird Health and Conservation Program. She has been a full-time faculty member with the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine since 1994, has been working with birds for over 40 years and is currently a Distinguished Professor with the Department of Medicine and Epidemiology. Dr. Tell received her BS and DVM degrees from UC Davis. She did her internship and residency at the National Zoological Park in Washington, DC and is board certified with the American College of Zoological Medicine and the American Board of Veterinary Practitioners (Avian).