Monthly Club Meeting – “Ears in the Sky: Using Drones to Study Songbirds”

Uncrewed Aircraft Systems (UAS), or drones, have now been widely used in ecology and environmental monitoring for several years. Andy’s research program with undergraduate students at Gettysburg College aims to develop methods for monitoring bird sounds by UAS. His research shows that UASs can be a highly efficient way of counting songbirds and other vocal species, and they can be quickly deployed to difficult to access places.

Andy has been a birder since age nine, encouraged by his parents and an elementary school teacher in his hometown of Sheffield England. After working with the British Trust for Ornithology for 10 years, Andy came to the US to attend graduate school at Penn State, where he earned a PhD in Ecology. He was data analyst and lead editor of the 2nd Atlas of Breeding Birds in Pennsylvania, chairs the steering Committee for the 3rd PA Bird Atlas, and currently serves on the Maryland/DC Bird Records Committee. He is chair of the Environmental Studies department at Gettysburg College and lives in Frederick, Maryland, with his wife and 11-year-old twins.