The Pulteney St. Survey

PULTENEY STREET SURVEY - SPRING 2017

Professor of Biology Mark Deutschlander speaks to students during
the First-Year Seminar, “Bird Obsessions.”

Deutschlander Named Ornithological President

by Andrew Wickenden '09

This spring, Professor of Biology Mark Deutschlander, a nationally recognized expert on migratory birds, was named the 58th president of the Wilson Ornithological Society (WOS), the second oldest and second largest scientific ornithological society in North America. Previously, Deutschlander served two years as the organization’s second vice president and two subsequent years as first vice president. His two-year term as president will be followed by an additional two years of service as immediate past-president.

The announcement was made in March at the society’s annual meeting at Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Myers where Deutschlander also presented research exploring the orientation of white-throated sparrows during migration. During the 2017 WOS meeting, Madison Sutton ’17 delivered a poster presentation on research she completed under the guidance of Deutschlander and Assistant Professor of Biology Bradley Cosentino. Deutschlander and Sutton are the recipients of the Jed Burtt Mentoring Grant from WOS that supported their research and funded their attendance at the 2017 conference.

Deutschlander received his Ph.D. in zoology from Indiana University, where he specialized in animal behavior and minored in neuroscience. His research over the past 20 years has focused on sensory aspects of migration and navigation, particularly the use of visual cues and the earth’s magnetic field in animal orientation. His most recent research has expanded into the energetics of migration, and he will be employing new radio-tracking technology to study migratory birds at his main field site, the Braddock Bay Bird Observatory, on the south shore of Lake Ontario.