Current Team Members
Anje Kidd joined the White Ibis project in August 2015 as a Master’s student following her completion of a Bachelor of Science at Mars Hill University. She developed an interest in studying bird movement behaviors while working at a fall migration bird banding station in Western North Carolina during her undergraduate years. Moving from tiny warblers to larger wetland waders, her graduate research involves working with the data received from GPS transmitters. Anje will use this data to understand the amount of time Ibis spend in various land use types and the movement behaviors exhibited by tagged birds throughout the year. This information will contribute to the larger project by giving us more insight into how and where Ibis live and the implications those strategies have on their health. If you have any questions about her project, she can be contacted at adk42123@uga.edu.
Shannon Curry's educational background is in ecological anthropology and archaeology. She worked in the field with conservation organizations including the National Park Service before returning to school to pursue a career in wildlife ecology and conservation. Shannon is interested in how human activity and anthropogenic habitat change affects wildlife health and overall ecological balance.
Shannon seeks to contribute to improved resolution of conservation issues through a better understanding of human and wildlife interactions. Shannon’s research investigates White Ibis health. She is examining ibis stress response, immune function, and pathogen prevalence based on ibis use of urban habitats and access to anthropogenic food. Through the ibis banding project, Shannon hopes to learn how many ibis visit urban sites, what other species and stressors ibis encounter in urban areas, and how often ibis consume anthropogenic versus natural foods. By addressing these questions she hopes to elucidate the relationship between urban habitat use and ibis health. Shannon also researches public perceptions of wildlife in hopes of better understanding how and why people connect to and interact with wild birds. If you have any questions or comments about Shannon's project email her
at securry@uga.edu.
Anjelika Kidd, Graduate Student
Shannon Curry, Graduate Student
Taylor graduated from the University of Georgia with her Bachelor’s in Biology and worked as a student researcher in a genetics lab which focused on the genetics of plant life such as kudzu and passionflowers. As a research technician for the White Ibis Project, she hopes to broaden her skills and experiences in order to pursue her interests in animal behavior.
Taylor Ellison, Research Technician
Caroline Cummings, Graduate Student
Caroline joined the project in August 2016 and is a current Master's student. She received her BS from University of Georgia where she worked as an undergraduate researcher studying differences in personality in different strains of chickens and how they relate to stress levels and immunological measures. The bulk of her research and contributions to the project focus on white ibis immunity, stress levels, and behavior in the field as well as with the nestlings. She hopes to help uncover how urbanization, specifically changes in diet associated with urban environments, affects these different aspects of white ibis health. She is also working to identify and classify behavioral differences in birds resulting in ibis "personalities" and determine whether these personalities relate to their physiology. She can be contacted at crcummin@uga.edu with any questions or supplemental information.