Research Associate

Loma de La Joya, San Francisco de Macoris, Dominican Republic

My interest in birdwatching began when my sister gave me a bird book as a gift and I began to go on bird walks with a local Ecology Group in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

I began to work in studies of birds in 2001 in a project monitoring the reproductive success of nesting birds in the Sierra de Bahoruco. That study lasted for three years. Later I was trained in bird banding, and worked on a project for five years to learn how birds use early-successional habitats in the Dominican Republic, and how well they survive at our study sites. At the same time I worked on a project studying the ecology of the critically endangered Bay-breasted Cuckoo. I have received training in bird banding at PRBO Conservation Science in California, and additional training through the National Aviary and Powdermill Avian Research Center in Pennsylvania.

I am currently collaborating with Steven Latta in his studies of factors affecting survival and population size of the Louisiana Waterthrush on breeding grounds in Pennsylvania, and at over-wintering sites in the Dominican Republic. My professional goals are to acquire more knowledge of bird ecology, to know how to care for our natural environment and the planet, and to pass on my knowledge to other people in my country.