Dr. Joanna Burger – 2027 Annual Meeting

Tuesday, March 9, 2027

149th Annual Meeting

Open only to members and their guests.
Invitations will be emailed in late January.

The Liederkranz Club, 6 East 87th Street, New York City

Disability access to the Liederkranz Club: see below*

Eisenmann Medalist Lecture

Dr. Joanna Burger

Birds and Snakes: Fifty Years of Studying Ecological Sentinels

This talk will weave together life histories, behavior, and ecology of three species groups that have consumed me for decades: population dynamics and heavy metals in colonially nesting gulls, terns, and egrets in Barnegat Bay; migratory Red Knots and other shorebirds in Delaware Bay; and sedentary Pine Snakes in the NJ Pine Barrens. Their behavior has been greatly impacted by human disturbance, development, invasive species, sea level rise, and climate change.  The question is always: how can wildlife and people coexist together in an ever-changing world, how can we help them, and what do they tell us about our own health and well-being. 

Joanna Burger was raised on a farm in upstate New York, expecting to be a secretary or housewife—but once she watched Spotted Sandpiper eggs hatch beneath a squash plant and followed the young around the farm, she was hooked. After Cornell (MS) and the University of Minnesota (PhD), she did her post-doc studying gulls in Argentina, and then went to Rutgers University, where she still resides as Distinguished Professor. Her passion for behavior never wavered, and she is unable to stop wondering why animals behave as they do, whether it’s Red Knots that fly thousands of miles nonstop from South America to Delaware Bay, Black Skimmers that are losing their salt marsh habitat, or Pine Snakes that have a small territory in the Pines. She is a Fellow in several societies, has received the Brewster Medal, among other awards, and has published over 25 books and over 600 papers in refereed journals. She still teaches, has grants, and continues four long-term studies.  Find more at https://cbn.rutgers.edu/joanna-burger-home

*Access: The Liederkranz Club has an elevator, but the building is accessed by stairs from the street. If you call (212) 534-0880 the day before your visit, the Club can make an elevator available via a walkway on the building’s east side. However, the bathrooms are accessed by three steps.