Ornithology

Ornithological research at NYSM focuses on historical questions concerning the biogeography and evolution birds.  Our research combines traditional museum specimen work, field work, and modern genetics laboratory work. We use DNA sequence data from living and extinct species to understand rates and patterns of bird evolution over the last few million years.  Potential graduate students who wish to pursue a masters or doctorate degree through the State University of New York at Albany should contact the curator, Dr. Jeremy Kirchman.

News Articles

DNA Research in Ornithology at the NYSM
Published December 12, 2022 | Ornithology

Museum specimens are important sources of DNA, used by researchers to discover the evolutionary relationships among species. NYSM zoology curators save small samples of muscle and other tissues from the specimens they prepare for our collections. The tissue samples from fish, bird, and mammal...

alyssafitzgerald
Published January 14, 2016 | Ornithology

Alyssa FitzGerald is a Ph.D student at SUNY Albany and works at the Museum to conduct research for her doctoral program. Alyssa's research is focused on studying three closely-related species of thrushes. She wants to know why and how these birds, which look very similar to the untrained...

bird in hand
Published July 27, 2015 | Ornithology

Two papers have been published describing ornithological research by NYSM scientists. The papers are based on Ph.D. dissertation work conducted by Dr. Joel Ralston, former University at Albany graduate student, and NYSM Graduate Fellow under the supervision of NYSM Curator of Birds, Dr. Jeremy...

Collections