Finch Superflight: Tracking Winter Movements of Evening Grosbeaks

Join David Yeany, avian ecologist at the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, for a free webinar to learn about this year’s finch superflight and how we are using new technology to track winter movements of evening grosbeaks and inform the conservation strategies to help protect this species.

In the past 50 years, we have lost three billion birds across North America, with the steepest decline in the evening grosbeak population. Scientists began studying wintering evening grosbeaks in Western Pennsylvania in 2017 to learn more about their natural history, ecology and migration movements. They are a species that follows irruptive migration – sudden, but regular mass movements in response to changes in their environment. This winter, we have seen a widespread irruptive migration of boreal finches, including grosbeaks, in numbers we haven’t seen in decades.

About David Yeany II:
David Yeany II has served as avian ecologist in the Pennsylvania Natural Heritage Program at the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy since 2011 and has 16 years of professional experience in conservation biology and ornithological studies. He was born and raised in Western PA, having grown up in Forest County. His current work includes avian ecology and monitoring, wildlife-habitat relationship studies, mapping important habitats for rare species, spatial analysis in GIS and various conservation planning projects. David also represents the Natural Heritage Program on the Pennsylvania Biological Survey Ornithological Technical Committee and serves on the board of directors for the PA Society for Ornithology and the PA Ornithological Records Committee. He holds a M.S. degree in Applied Ecology and Conservation Biology from Frostburg State University and B.S. in Biology from Messiah College. Prior to joining WPC, David was an important bird areas coordinator for Audubon Maryland-DC.