Cory R. Elowe, Ph.D.

Biologist, birder, and outdoor enthusiast

Skip to content

Photography
Blog
CV
About
Contact

Search for:

Contact

Want to know what I’m up to?

Follow me on ResearchGate, Instagram, Twitter, and eBird!

Or contact me below or email me at crelowe {at} umass {dot} edu

Name(required)

Email(required)

Message

Δ

Like this:

Like Loading...

Instagram

Keeping in line with the nest-building stage, these were a couple of my favorites to watch in past years: a Red-eyed Vireo and a Blue-headed Vireo.

Look at that, I skipped right over spring migration!

🚨 Today, on Earth Day 🌎, you can make a difference by contributing to this mutual aid fund for Meghadeepa Maity!! 🚨bit.ly/funds4M

Some of my PhD research was just published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS)! 🎉

Meet the nuthatches! 👋

It’s that time of year again: Happy #SuperbOwl Sunday! The football fans still seem to be misinterpreting that hashtag…🦉

Yesterday’s life bird was a gorgeous Ross’s Goose that showed up on the @umass campus pond. Its brilliant white plumage stuck out from the hordes of Canada Geese, and it happily munched on grass and paddled around for all the adoring birders who showed up to marvel at it.

A different kind of winter blues!

Winter is tough for birds—at least usually, when it’s not unseasonably warm. Chickadees can be found way up north where the climate is reliably chilly, so they have to work extra hard to stay alive. They fluff up their feathers for some extra insulation and shiver their muscles to keep warm, but that inevitably requires extra fuel. Their weight fluctuates drastically in the winter since they have to pack on the fat to fuel their overnight shivering and wake up in the morning skinny and eager for a meal. To fuel this intense feeding frenzy, these little birds hide food in preparation for winter, remembering the locations of up to half a million food items! When they’re not seeking food caches though, these fierce little predators will continue prowling for little invertebrates hidden in the bark, under rocks, or wherever they’re found…No hiding spot is safe from these voracious predators, even a dense ball of spider web!

Over the past month, we’ve been lucky to have a rare bird camped out down the road. This Smith’s Longspur, a strikingly patterned bird in breeding condition that blends in perfectly with its preferred midwestern grasslands over the winter, was expertly picked out by a local birder back in December. It proceeded to show a boldness that many though would get it picked off by a raptor or car within days. Here we are, nearly a month later, and this bird is still going strong! Good luck lil buddy!

Twitter

Follow Following
- Cory R. Elowe, Ph.D.
- Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.

Loading Comments...

Write a Comment...

Email (Required)

Name (Required)

Website

%d bloggers like this: