2026 Young, Gifted, and Wild About Birds: Dedicating Basic Research to Bird Conservation

Young, Gifted, and Wild About Birds
February 5, 12, 26, and March 5, 2026

The 2026 Young, Gifted, and Wild About Birds series highlights the ways that conservation research is responding to the realities of bird population declines in the modern world. 

This year’s speakers demonstrate how data—from weather radar tracking bird movements around wind turbines to genetic mapping of disease resistance—can be used to identify which habitats are most critical to save.

Young, Gifted, and Wild About Birds emphasizes that conservation is effective when it takes human needs into consideration. The presentations illustrate how protecting bird health and migration corridors often overlaps with broader goals like carbon storage and equitable land use.

By connecting rigorous field studies with real-world policy, these researchers show how science can move from the laboratory into the hands of wildlife managers and community leaders to help stabilize vulnerable species.

All of the proceeds from Young, Gifted and Wild About Birds help fund Connecticut Audubon’s conservation programs.

The cost for Connecticut Audubon members is $9 per presentation or $27 for all 4.

Emily Feng of the University of Connecticut.

Mei-Ling (Emily) Feng
University of Connecticut

Rethinking conservation “success”: Mitigating the climate crisis while benefiting biodiversity and people
Thursday, February 5, 7 p.m.

Emily Feng is a graduate student in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Connecticut. She is evaluating ways of mapping conservation priorities and monitoring progress towards conservation goals. Previously, she was a climate science coordinator at National Audubon where she integrated dimensions of climate change mitigation, biodiversity conservation, and human well-being into conservation plans.

Emily was co-author of a recent paper by the National Audubon Society that delved into the concepts of nature-based solutions for bird conservation, “green gentrification”, and their implications for birds and people. One of her co-authors, Brooke Bateman, wrote and discussed nature-based solutions in the 2021 Connecticut State of the Birds report and in a 2022 Young Gifted and Wild About Birds presentation (another co-author, Joanna Wu, has also been a Young, Gifted and Wild About Birds presenter). 

Emily will discuss the intersections of bird habitats, carbon storage, and human well-being across the U.S. Less than 3% of protected lands align with these priorities, underscoring the need for targeted conservation on over 312 million acres of unprotected high-priority land.

A significant portion of the talk will focus on Connecticut and the Northeast, a top priority region because of the carbon stored in local forests and wetlands. It’s also at high risk of “green gentrification” — an increase in property values in areas near protected green space. Almost 60% of the region’s population in priority areas faces a high risk of green gentrification and displacement. Emily will discuss how we can protect biodiversity while ensuring equitable outcomes for the people who live here.

Click HERE for tickets to Emily Feng’s February 5 presentation!

Shannon Curley, Ph.D., will make her second appearance on Young, Gifted & Wild About Birds.

Shannon Curley, Ph.D.
Stony Brook, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, NYC Bird Alliance

Bird Migration in Offshore Wind Energy Areas: Informing Collision Risk and Mitigation
Thursday, February 12, 7 p.m.

Shannon Curley, Ph.D., is a migration ecologist studying offshore bird movements using weather surveillance radar to help inform wind energy development. She is an adjunct lecturer at Stony Brook University on Long Island and a researcher for the Freshkills Park Alliance on Staten Island.

Her work on offshore bird migrations originated when she was a postdoctoral researcher at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Shannon participated in a Young, Gifted and Wild About Birds presentation in 2022, about grassland birds at Freshkills Park.

She was the lead author on a recent paper that used coastal weather surveillance radar to compare the migration of  land birds between terrestrial and offshore habitats along the U.S. Atlantic and Gulf coasts.

The findings have significant implications for offshore wind energy, and suggests that strategies such as temporary turbine curtailment during high-risk peak nightscan protect birds while minimizing operational downtime for energy providers.

Click HERE for tickets to Shannon Curley’s February 12 presentation!

Osprey researcher Michael Academia

Michael Academia and Ben Wurst (with Milan Bull and Matt Joyce)

Osprey Die-off: What We Know and What We Need to Learn
Thursday, February 26, 7 p.m.

In parts of Chesapeake Bay, 80 percent of Osprey nests failed to fledge young in 2025. The situation was not quite so dire, but still bad, in southern New Jersey. Here in Connecticut, the fledgling rate showed a small but concerning drop.

Osprey researchers Michael Academia from the William & Mary University and Ben Wurst from the Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey will join Connecticut Audubon’s Milan Bull and Matt Joyce to discuss the problems to the south and Connecticut Audubon’s upcoming Osprey research project.

Ben Wurst, Conserve Wildlife Foundation of NJ

Click HERE for the February 26 Osprey presentation!

Johanna Harvey, University of Rhode Island.

Johanna A. Harvey, Ph.D.

The Untold Toll of Avian Influenza on Bird Populations
Thursday, March 5, 7 p.m.

Johanna Harvey is an assistant Professor of Wildlife Disease Ecology at the University of Rhode Island, specializing in evolutionary ecology and conservation science. She earned her Ph.D. from Texas A&M, and then completed several prestigious fellowships and research positions at institutions including the American Museum of Natural History, the University of Connecticut, and the University of Maryland. Her research focuses on emergent threats to wildlife, such as highly pathogenic avian influenza, avian malaria, and vampire flies.

Dr. Harvey will explore the critical and often overlooked role that diseases play in the decline of bird populations. She and her lab at URI use genetics and immunology to understand how birds adapt to modern threats, from emerging viruses to climate change and urbanization. Her research specifically investigates how high-risk species, like raptors and colonial nesters, respond to the current avian influenza outbreak.

Click HERE to buy tickets for Johanna Harvey’s March 5 presentation!