I have always been enthralled with the natural world, birds in particular. This fascination with birds came organically after a childhood spent in nature with an extended family who fostered that interest. After watching American Crows, my ‘spark bird’, more closely in my teens, I was bitten by the birding bug and have never looked back. My passion for birding has paired with travel and I have now had the privilege to visit over 20 countries across North America, Africa, the Middle East, South America, Asia, and Europe.

 

I was completely overtaken by the spectacular diversity of wildlife in Africa as well as by the immense cultural diversity and rich history of the continent even before I started birding; there’s just something about Okapis, Congo Peafowl, and crimsonwings that could captivate even the most impartial person. Now I am resolutely committed to pursuing research questions rooted in the Afrotropics — especially the Congo Basin and Afromontane sky islands — that will help propel the region toward achieving dynamic and innovative solutions to multifaceted and complex challenges identified by local and global communities alike.

 

This interest in and affection for the continent prompted me to pursue my BSc at the University of Cape Town, where part of my heart will always be. I completed my BSc and BSc Honours at the University of Cape Town’s Department of Biological Sciences. My undergraduate research on Pygmy Falcon behaviour was based at the FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology, supervised by Dr. Robert Thomson, Prof. Claire Spottiswoode, and Dr. Diana Bolopo and supported by the Tswalu Foundation.

 

I recently completed my MSc at the University of British Columbia’s Biodiversity Research Centre under Dr. Jill Jankowski where I worked in collaboration with the Wildlife Conservation Society and Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International to investigate patterns of avian diversity along elevational gradients in Nyungwe National Park and Volcanoes National Park, Rwanda. In that work, I investigated processes of community assembly in these two geographically distinct parks by unpacking patterns in taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic diversity and beta diversity.