The Burns lab had a great time at last month’s meeting of the American Ornithological Society. Four presentations had Burns lab members as authors. Amelia and Rosalyn presented parts of their MS theses, and Nick presented work he performed in John McCormack’s lab. Plus, we got to hang out with past Burns lab students Nick Mason and Erik Funk and future Burns lab student Ben Scott. In addition to all the science, we enjoyed many excellent birds both during and after the meeting. Amelia and Rosalyn both received travel awards to attend the meeting. Amelia, who is chair of the student affairs committee, did a great job as MC of the student quiz bowl. Former Burns lab student Nick Mason received the Marion Jenkinson Service Award. Lastly, Kevin Burns was part of team that received the Brina Kessel Award given to the best paper in the Auk in the last 4 years. They received the award for their paper on 9-primaried oscines relationships:

Barker, F. K., K. J. Burns, J. Klicka, S. M. Lanyon, and I. J. Lovette. 2015. New insights into New World biogeography: An integrated view from the phylogeny of blackbirds, cardinals, sparrows, tanagers, warblers, and allies. Auk 132:333-348.

Burns lab past, present, and future at 2018 AOS Meeting: Erik Funk, Nick Maon, Nick Vinciguerra, Rosalyn Price-Waldman, Amelia Demery, Kevin Burns, and Ben Scott

Vermilion Flycatcher