Where are shrikes spending their winter holidays?
As 2020 comes to a close, the Eastern Loggerhead Shrike recovery team is looking back at a year filled with exciting developments, despite several unexpected complications. One development in particular was especially notable: results from last season’s radio...
Checking on hibernating snakes
In this video, Kelly Antaya, field technician for the Ojibway Prairie Reptile Recovery program in the Windsor-Chatham area of Ontario, uses a borescope camera to check on the eastern garter snakes hibernating in one of our artificial hibernaculum. WPC's hibernation...
Hogan “the Hulk” turtle doesn’t settle for average!
We weigh in our western painted turtles from our head starting program at the Greater Vancouver Zoo monthly. This allows us to check their body condition and health closely as well as sort them for size. By identifying each individual turtle to its ID sheet via...
Soaking it in
This has been an unprecedented year for many reasons. More than ever, it has been important to slow down, breathe deeply, and find small things that bring us joy. Here at the BC Wetlands project, we continue to raise endangered species all year round, and are taking...
Where are shrikes spending their winter holidays – ORIGINAL?
Have you heard?
We have some exciting news! You may have read in our latest blog or seen a few hints in recent posts that WPC has partnered with African Lion Safari to create the Canadian Species Initiative or CSI. Given the biodiversity crisis that is currently being faced...
Stay in touch!
Jonathan Choquette
Lead Biologist – Ojibway Prairie Reptile Recovery Program
Jonathan manages the recovery program for the Ojibway population of the massasauga rattlesnake in Southern Ontario. Jonathan is a habitat expert, studying both biology and landscape architecture at the University of Guelph. As an academic for many years, Jonathan has published numerous articles about the importance of habitat for reptiles and amphibians.
Hannah McCurdy-Adams (she/her)*
Reptile and Amphibian Program Development Coordinator
Hannah is developing the national reptile and amphibian initiative for Wildife Preservation Canada. She has worked with experts in the fields of road ecology, physiology, and genetics. Hannah has been involved in conservation projects for at-risk reptiles and amphibians in Canada for almost a decade.
*Why is this here? Click.
Hayley Tompkins
Ontario Program Coordinator – Native Pollinator Initiative
Hayley has worked for the Native Pollinator Initiative in a variety of roles since 2016, and has had a passion for bumble bees ever since. Currently, she is completing a Master of Science degree at the University of Guelph, and is excited to be working as the Ontario Program Coordinator for the Native Pollinator Initiative.
Andrea Gielens
Lead Biologist – Fraser Valley Wetland Recovery Program
Andrea manages our captive breeding and release programs for the Oregon spotted frog and the coastal western painted turtle. Andrea has studied at-risk reptiles and amphibians in Canada and abroad, including a term at the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust in Jersey. Andrea also manages the Taylor’s checkerspot butterfly recovery program on Denman Island in BC.
Jane Hudecki
Conservation Breeding Coordinator – Eastern Loggerhead Shrike Program
Eliza-Jane Morin
Napanee Field Biologist – Eastern Loggerhead Shrike Program
Eliza has been working in the field of avian conservation for over 5 years. Her work experiences have brought her from the Peruvian Amazon to the prairies of Southern Alberta. Most recently, she completed a Master’s degree in Coastal and Marine Resource Management in Iceland.
Genevieve Rowe
Lead Biologist – Native Pollinator Initiative
Genevieve manages the native pollinator recovery programs across Canada. She has worked with renowned experts in the fields of pollinator ecology, taxonomy and systematics, and has taken part in various species at-risk monitoring and recovery programs, both nationally and internationally.
Stephanie Winton
ECanada’s New Noah and Species Conservation Planning Assistant – Canadian Species Initiative
Stephanie is the 31st Canada’s New Noah and is currently assisting the Canadian Species Initiative to build capacity for species conservation planning in Canada. Stephanie holds a master’s degree in conservation biology from Thompson Rivers University where she studied the impacts of road mortality on a threatened rattlesnake species. She has extensive experience working in conservation and research for species at risk reptiles, amphibians, mammals and birds in Western Canada.
Michelle Polley
Endangered Species Techician – Taylor’s Checkerspot Butterfly
Michelle is a Conservation Biologist and Field Naturalist with a special interest in Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths) and Herpetiles (reptiles and amphibians). Currently, she is the technician of WPC’s Taylor’s Checkerspot Butterfly program in Abbotsford, BC. She has worked with conservation projects for species at risk such as monarch butterflies and the turtles of Ontario.
Hazel Wheeler (she/her)*
Lead Biologist – Eastern Loggerhead Shrike Recovery Program
Hazel manages all aspects of our shrike recovery program, from captive breeding and release, field surveys, and landowner relationships in Ontario, to building partnerships with shrike researchers in the US to work towards species recovery throughout North America. Hazel has been working with at-risk birds for over a decade, including a Master’s degree studying the habitat of the chimney swift.
*Why is this here? Click.
Matt Macpherson
Lead Field Technician, Ojibway Prairie Reptile Recovery Project
Matt is currently finishing up his Master’s degree in Biology at Queen’s University where he has been working on developing and improving conservation strategies for gray ratsnakes. Over the years he has worked on several different conservation projects primarily focusing on reptile, bird, and insect species-at-risk both in Canada and abroad.
Alisa Samuelson
Carden BIologist - Eastern Loggerhead Shrike Program
Alisa is a conservation ornithologist specializing in loggerhead shrike and has returned to Carden after a season with WPC in 2017. She has worked with endangered avian species across North America from James Bay to Southern California, where she spent most of 2019 working with the island endemic San Clemente loggerhead shrike. Alisa is a PhD candidate at Queen’s University researching the genetics of migratory urge in loggerhead shrike under the supervision of Dr. Amy Chabot and Prof. Vicki Friesen.