Kevin Omland and Michael Ocasio Conservation Biology of the Endemic Puerto Rican Oriole

Although Puerto Rican Orioles use a wide range of habitats, they can be surprisingly difficult to find, and locals feel that their numbers have been declining. Kevin Omland and his PhD student  Michael Ocasio will present evidence of the dramatic impact that invasive Shiney Cowbirds are having on the Rican Oriole.

Kevin is a Professor in the UMBC Department of Biological Sciences, where he has worked for 25 years. He and his PhD students have focused much of their research on orioles, including species  in Maryland, Mexico, The Bahamas and Puerto Rico. He has just completed his first book entitled: “Understanding the Tree of Life”, which will be published by Cambridge University Press in  October 2025. Michael is a 4th-year PhD student in Biological Sciences at UMBC. Michael obtained his BS in Wildlife Biology at the University of Minnesota. He spent two years in the Peace  Corps in Paraguay. Among the wide range of conservation projects he has worked on are endangered sea turtles in Texas, wildlife surveys in Iowa, and helping with tiger camera trapping in Thailand.

• For Zoom, on the Monday before the meeting, members will get an email with the link and non-members should email doctorfx_99@yahoo.com