Our Presenter:

Alex Sutton, a Ph.D. candidate with the Department of Integrative Biology, University of Guelph, has always been interested in wildlife. He has focused his attention on studying population dynamics of bird populations by conducting research across North and Central America.

The Presentation:

Gray jays are an enigmatic bird of the Canadian boreal forest that is well adapted to not only survive, but thrive in harsh winter conditions. Since 1964, gray jays have been studied in Algonquin Provincial Park and this research has provided insight into their life history, behaviour and more recently about how their populations respond to climate change. This presentation will provide an overview of what we have learned from over 50 years of research studying gray jays living on the edge.

Biography:

Alex has always been interested in wildlife and the outdoors, but became especially interested in birds after beginning his B.Sc. in Zoology at the University of Guelph. This interest developed into a focus on studying population dynamics of wild populations by working on many research projects across North and Central America. He is currently a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Guelph interested in understanding climatic and demographic drivers of population dynamics of Gray Jays in Algonquin Provincial Park.