Our Team

 

Katie Harrington, MSc

Katie is a Ph.D. student with the Messerli Research Institute. She began working with striated caracara in 2015 and now leads an international conservation research program focused on their long-term monitoring, understanding the species’ basic needs, and positively changing global perceptions of this unusual and rare bird of prey. Katie joined forces with Megan at Messerli to look more closely at what makes striated caracara so different than other falcons and to better understand how their curious nature might help them thrive in changing environmental conditions.

 

Dr. Megan Lambert

Megan is an Elise Richter Senior Fellow within the Messerli Research Institute at the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna. Her primary line of research is with kea parrots – a notoriously curious species from New Zealand – and understanding how their curiosity enables them to flexibly solve new problems. After learning about the striking behavioral similarities between kea and Johnny Rooks she was fascinated, and teamed up with Katie to find out more!  

University webpage

Collaborators

  • Dr. Laura Biondi

    Laura is a senior researcher at the Institute of Marine and Coastal Research (National University of Mar del Plata, National Scientific and Technical Research Council, Argentina). She studies cognition, personality and physiology in chimango caracaras and gulls to better understand how predatory birds exploit and prosper in highly anthropized habitats.

  • Prof. Alice Auersperg

    Founder of the Goffin Lab (Messerli Research Institute, VetMedUni Wien), Alice’s background is in biology and her interests include the evolution of play behaviour, innovation, physical cognition and tool use. Alice has devised several paradigms for investigating innovation and exploration across species, which we aim to use with the striated caracara.

  • Ulises Balza

    Ulises is based in the Austral Scientific Research Center in Ushuaia Argentina. He has studied the Fuegian populations of Striated Caracara since 2014. His PhD dissertation covered several aspects of their ecology and conservation, including breeding biology, trophic ecology, seasonal movements, genetic diversity and exposure to heavy metals.