The Fascinating World of Forensic Ornithology

Presented by Ariel Gaffney

Ariel Gaffney will explain how she got into forensic ornithology and will discuss some of the work she has been doing at the lab on identification of Bald and Golden Eagles. The lab is developing a new tool for identifying some of their more difficult feathers.

About Ariel

She is a forensic ornithologist at the U.S. National Fish & Wildlife Forensic Laboratory in Ashland Oregon. She earned her Bachelor of Science degree in 2013 in Integrative Biology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. It was there that she fell in love with birds, research and fieldwork while working on a chickadee hybridization project. She earned her Master of Science degree studying the behavior, physiology and genetic adaptation of hummingbirds from the University of New Mexico. In 2017, she moved up here to Ashland, Oregon to accept the position at the forensics lab! She is a certified Wildlife Forensic Scientist, through the Society for Wildlife Forensic Science (SWFS) and in her free time, you can find her hiking, camping, kayaking or birding.

Zoom instructions
The January chapter meeting will be live on Zoom on January 26. If you already signed up, you won’t need to sign up again. To sign up for the first time, attendees will need to register by January 24 via a new mailing list created just for RVAS Zoom events. Click on this link (https://www.blah.com–dry-runzoom-signup/) to register. After you register, you will be sent an email with the Zoom link on Nov. 23 and again on the day of the event.
Please check your junk mail as the messages can end up there. Contact RVAS via the website if you don’t receive the link on the stated dates.
If you are new to using Zoom, OLLI has helpful information about using Zoom at https://inside.sou.edu/olli/courses/zoom-for-students.html.