Ep. 38: Wood Thrushes and Canadian Wildlife Ecology with Alex Israel

1 rich Libsyn https://www.libsyn.com 90 600 Ep. 38: Wood Thrushes and Canadian Wildlife Ecology with Alex Israel For Part Two in our wildlife ecology series, we talked with Alexandra Israel, a Master's student at York University.&nbsp; As a field biologist, Alex works long days in Canada researching species like the Wood Thrush and the worrying decline of songbird populations.&nbsp; So listen in to hear about her experience with field work, as well as issues such as nest predation and bird parasites that hurt songbird populations.&nbsp; Learn about small things people can do to help songbird populations, including keeping domestic cats indoors and using stickers to deter bird from flying into windows.&nbsp; We also talk about forest fragmentation, the process by which urbanization breaks up forests with fields and human spaces, detrimental to songbirds and other animals.&nbsp; About Alex Alexandra Israel is Master’s student from York University, Ontario. &nbsp;She studies a threatened species of songbird in Canada called the Wood Thrush (Hylocichla mustelina).&nbsp;&nbsp;Bird nests that are more hidden from predators (like foxes, hawks, raccoons, etc.) are probably more likely to survive, right? &nbsp;Actually, this isn’t always true!&nbsp; Previous studies have shown that nest concealment does not play a role in determining nest survival for some species of songbirds.&nbsp; For this reason, Alex is interested in learning more about the nesting strategies of Wood Thrushes and how they choose their nesting sites. &nbsp;Any information that she learns about the nesting strategies of Wood Thrushes could be useful for informing future conservation efforts for this declining species.&nbsp; Connect with Alex on Instagram.&nbsp; &nbsp; Listen to last week's episode, part one in our wildlife ecology series, Conservation and Rainforest Ecology with Stephanie Martin &nbsp; Any other questions?&nbsp;&nbsp;Let us know!&nbsp; We appreciate your feedback. You can now support the podcast at&nbsp;https://www.patreon.com/sfspodcast.&nbsp; Many thanks to our past and present supporters!&nbsp; Thanks to&nbsp;Plant Warrior&nbsp;for their support.&nbsp; Use discount code SFS10 at checkout for 10% off your purchase of plant-based protein. The Straight from a Scientist Podcast https://www.straightfromascientist.com <iframe title="Libsyn Player" style="border: none" src="//html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/7553114/height/90/theme/custom/thumbnail/yes/direction/forward/render-playlist/no/custom-color/1485c8/" height="90" width="600" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen oallowfullscreen msallowfullscreen></iframe> https://assets.libsyn.com/secure/content/26107280