CHARLES R. BROWN, Ph.DProject DirectorCharles began studying cliff swallows in 1980, and has conducted research on them full-time since 1982. His cliff swallow research in western Nebraska is one of the longest-running field studies of birds done in North America. He received a B.A. in biology from Austin College in 1981, and a Ph.D. in biology from Princeton University in 1985. He is currently a professor of biological science at the University of Tulsa, where he has been since 1994. Charles’ research on cliff swallows was recognized by the Elliot Coues Award from the American Ornithologists’ Union in 2009 for extraordinary contributions to ornithological research, and by the Exemplar Award from the Animal Behavior Society in 2011 for major long-term contributions to the study of animal behavior. His book, Swallow Summer (University of Nebraska Press, 1998), was described by Booklist as one of the best popularizations about field research ever written. For more, see Charles' Career Inspiration Story from the Perot Museum of Nature and Science.
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MARY BOMBERGER BROWN, Ph.D.CollaboratorMary began studying Cliff Swallows in 1982 and worked on the project full-time through 2006. Her other research interests included habitat selection in Wilson’s phalaropes and conservation and management of interior least terns, piping plovers, and greater prairie-chickens. She received a Ph.D. from the University of Nebraska in 2011 and was an associate professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln at the time of her death in 2019. For her work on cliff swallows, she was co-recipient of the Elliot Coues Award from the American Ornithologists’ Union in 2009 for extraordinary contributions to ornithological research.
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STACEY L. HANNEBAUM, Ph.D.Former Postdoctoral AssociateStacey joined the cliff swallow research team in December 2016 as a postdoc at the University of Tulsa. She received a B.A. in zoology in 2012 from Miami University in Ohio, where she developed an interest in field-based research in population ecology, animal behavior, and wildlife conservation. Stacey received a Ph.D. in biological sciences from the University of Tulsa in 2016. Her dissertation focused on the effects of habitat heterogeneity and individual phenotype on the movement, survival, genetic diversity, and gene flow within and among populations of white-footed mice (Peromyscus leucopus). Now a scientist with Matson Laboratory, Stacey continues to help with data management for the cliff swallow project.
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VALERIE A. O’BRIEN, Ph.DCollaboratorValerie began studying cliff swallows in 2003, and did her Ph.D. research on how an arthropod-borne virus, Buggy Creek virus, affects cliff swallows and introduced house sparrows that occupy cliff swallow colonies. She received a B.S. in biology from Northeastern State University in 2004 and a Ph.D. in biology from the University of Tulsa in 2009,. Her research interests are in avian behavioral ecology and ecological entomology, and in 2008 she received the Research Recognition Award from the Wildlife Disease Association. Valerie is currently a collaborator on our study of cliff swallow diet and changes in the insect food base, and was part of the 2024 expedition to Argentina to see cliff swallows on the wintering grounds.
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CATHERINE E. PAGEFormer Graduate StudentCatherine joined the cliff swallow research team in 2012 as a freshman undergraduate student at the University of Tulsa. She continued to do field work on cliff swallows for four summers, collecting data for a M. S. in biology that she received from the University of Tulsa in 2016. Her thesis examined ecological correlates of ectoparasitism and reproductive success in cliff swallows, and Catherine helped collect initial data for our studies of parasite tolerance. Now a teacher at Eagle Valley High School in Gypsum, Colorado, she was part of the 2024 expedition to Argentina to see cliff swallows on their wintering grounds.
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ERIN A. ROCHE, Ph.D.CollaboratorErin has the dubious distinction of being the exact age of Charles Brown’s cliff swallow project. She received her B.A. from Northwestern University in 2005 and a Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota in 2010. Her graduate work focused on the population demography of the endangered Great Lakes piping plover. Erin served as a postdoctoral researcher with Charles’s swallow project from 2011-2013, during which she was involved in studies on cliff swallow personality, capture heterogeneity, and the evolution of colony size. She has had the privilege to continue collaborating with Charles and the cliff swallows since completing her postdoc. In her free time, she enjoys dabbling in painting, drawing, knitting, fishing, and (as much as anybody can) running.
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GIGI S. WAGNON
Former Graduate Student Gigi joined the project in 2017 as an undergraduate research assistant, and did three summers of field work. She used the project's large specimen archive for a M. S. degree at the University of Tulsa, studying brain size of cliff swallows in different colonies and changes in extent of bill overhang. She also re-examined many of the insect samples we collected in the 1980's and compared them to insects the birds are currently feeding on. Gigi prepared many of the cliff swallows that died in the weather events of 2017 and 2019 as museum specimens. |
OLIVIA M. PLETCHER
Graduate Researcher Olivia joined the project in 2019 and is participating for a sixth year in 2024 as an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship recipient. She is currently a graduate student at the University of Tulsa. In 2019 she received the Marquardt prize for best undergraduate presentation at the Rocky Mountain Conference of Parasitologists meeting for a talk on cliff swallow parasites. For her graduate research, Olivia is studying how reproductive success of cliff swallows reflects fluctuating natural selection on colony size . |
Field crews, 1982-2023
This project could not have been done without the dedicated efforts of our research assistants each summer. Mainly undergraduate students, they have come from universities across the country, and were exclusively unpaid volunteers in the early years. Each has worked hard and contributed in many ways to the success of this project. All learned how to do field biology, and most used the experience to help shape their eventual career choices.
In Memoriam
Linda Smith, 1954-2015 (summers 1993, 2000, 2001)
Christine Mirzayan, 1970-1998 (summer 1989)