new year, new project, new bird!

New year, new project, new bird, new region of the world to explore... my Smithsonian Bond grant was funded! I will be examining genetic and song divergence between migratory and sedentary populations of the grasshopper sparrow in the Caribbean Islands.

What is the connection between James Bond the ornithologist and 007? - Author Ian Fleming was an avid bird watcher and regularly used the field guide, "Birds of the West Indies", written by ornithologist James Bond to identify Caribbean birds. Fleming thought James Bond would be a great name for a spy in his novel and the rest is history.