2023 Kendeigh Grant Awardees
House Wren eggs. Photo by Lauren Leischner.
Every year, CCAS offers grants in honor of S. Charles Kendeigh for ornithology research in Illinois. Thanks to the generosity of our donors who make these grants possible, this year we were able to raise the amount of each award from $1,000 to $2,000!
Congratulations to this year’s awardees: Lauren Leischner and Cullen Mackenzie! Learn more about their projects below.
If you want to help support ornithology research in Illinois, our annual Kendeigh Grant fundraiser, the Spring Bird-a-Thon occurs each May! You can also donate anytime to the Kendeigh Grant fund. Thank you for your support and congrats again to our awardees!
2023 Awardees
Lauren Leischner
Master of Science student
Illinois State University
Project Title –– Identifying the effect of individual quality on the production of a second brood in House Wrens (Troglodytes aedon)
A population’s response to a change in climate depends on its life history characteristics and which factors affect reproductive success, such as diet and the number of eggs in a nest. Double-brooded female birds that lay two clutches of eggs in a season often lay their first brood early in the season, with the frequency of double brooding decreasing as the season progresses. My objective is to determine whether differences in individual quality, in addition to timing, explain why some female House Wrens produce two broods and others do not, even if they have enough time. My hypothesis is that variation in double-brooding is affected by differences in female quality. Thus, my research addresses a long-standing question in the fields of ornithology and evolutionary biology that is particularly relevant in times of climate change.
Cullen Mackenzie
Doctoral student
Southern Illinois University
Project Title –– Impact of prescribed burns on snake predation on grassland bird nests in southern Illinois
Decreases in natural disturbances, such as fires, have contributed to a decline in tall grass prairie ecosystems and, consequently, grassland bird biodiversity. Another threat to grassland bird populations is snake predation. My project will study the impact that prescribed burns have on grassland bird nesting success as well as grassland snake biodiversity, nest predation, and habitat use at Burning Star State Management Area in southern Illinois. A combination of methods will be used, including bird point count surveys, nest monitoring, cover boards for snakes, and snake telemetry on prairie kingsnakes or black racers at recently burned and unburned sites. This project is important for the conservation management for the most rapidly declining bird guild in North America and the less studied grassland snake communities found in tall grass prairie ecosystems.