UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Author and researcher Keith Bildstein will recount his study of the ecology of turkey vultures during a free public presentation at Penn State's University Park campus. Bildstein will describe how the particular characteristics of this bird have enabled it to prosper in a fast-changing world.
Part of The Arboretum at Penn State's Avian Education Program, the talk will take place from 4 to 5 p.m. on April 7 in 112 Forest Resources Building. It is sponsored jointly by the Arboretum and the College of Agricultural Sciences' Department of Ecosystem Science and Management.
For more than a decade, Bildstein studied these scavenging birds of prey using techniques such as migration monitoring, regional road surveys, wing-tagging and satellite tracking. His work started in Pennsylvania and has taken him to turkey vulture populations in central Canada, the Sonoran Desert of Arizona, the Pampas and Andean foothills of Argentina, the Patagonia Steppe of the Falkland Islands, tropical Central and South America, California, and Minnesota.
Bildstein is the Sarkis Acopian Director of Conservation Science at Hawk Mountain Sanctuary in Kempton, Pennsylvania, where he oversees conservation science and education programs and coordinates the activities of graduate students, international interns and visiting scientists.
He is the author of more than 100 peer-reviewed publications and has written several books, including "Migrating Raptors of the World: Their Ecology and Conservation" (2006). He was the 2014 recipient of the Maurice Broun Award for his contributions to raptor conservation and was elected a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2015.
Following the presentation, there will be a reception and book signing in the atrium of the Forest Resources Building. The Penn State Bookstore will have his most recent book, "Migrating Raptors of the World," available for sale.