Between 2019 and 2022, the speaker completed five field trips in search of Hudsonian Godwits. Beehler traveled to stopover sites throughout the Great Plains; visited breeding habitat in western Alaska, in Churchill, Manitoba, and in the High Arctic of western Canada; and did field surveys at a famous autumn staging site in James Bay. In all, Beehler traveled solo by car more than 30,000 miles, encountering Hudsonian Godwits in 10 states and provinces. He also spent time with Marbled and Bar-tailed Godwits and with 33 additional shorebird species. In addition, he accompanied various shorebird fieldworkers as they studied godwits and other species in remote and iconic field sites. In this illustrated lecture, Beehler will recount the highlights of his more than five months in the field, from Nome and Point Barrow to Tuktoyaktuk, Moosonee, and Monomoy Island.
Bruce Beehler, Ph.D. is an ornithologist, conservationist, and naturalist. He is currently a research associate in the division of birds at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History and a scientific affiliate of the American Bird Conservancy. Beehler has spent much of his scientific career studying birds and their forest habitats and working for their conservation. After conducting doctoral fieldwork in Papua New Guinea, Beehler worked for ten years at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, followed by stints at the Wildlife Conservation Society, the U.S. Department of State, Conservation International, and the National Fish & Wildlife Foundation. He is the editor of book reviews for the Wilson Journal of Ornithology and associate editor for the Bulletin of the British Ornithologists Club. Today, Beehler carries out natural history studies and writing focused on wildlife and natural places in North America.