U of G integrative biologist Ryan Norris was on CBC Radio’s Fresh Air on March 30 to discuss his latest findings about the migration pattern of a tiny songbird.

(Listen to the interview here)

Norris recently published research showing that the 12-gram blackpoll warbler makes a migration every year that spans as far as 20,000 kilometres. The study confirmed a migration journey that scientists had long suspected but had not yet proved.

Understanding the gird’s migration may help to explain why the blackpoll is one of the fastest declining songbirds in North America.

Norris is an ecologist who is interested in the behaviour and conservation of migratory animals. His research seeks to understand how events within and between seasons interact with habitat quality to influence the population abundance of migratory species, as well as to predict their population dynamics.