For my doctoral work, I switched universities (and continents) moving from the green hills of Ireland to the rather less green and rather less hilly plains of Oklahoma. I studied at The University of Oklahoma, but did my field work at The Welder Wildlife Refuge in Sinton, Texas (near Corpus Christi).
For my doctoral research I studied the foraging and roosting behavior of Black Vultures (Coragyps atartus) and Turkey Vultures (Cathartes aura). This involved trapping and marking hundreds of vultures and carrying out experiments in which I observed the birds feeding at carrion that I provided for them.
The dissertation research resulted in a number of publications and these are listed below:
Buckley, N. J. 1999. Black Vulture (Coragyps atratus). In The Birds of North America No. 402 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds). The Birds of North America, Inc., Philadelphia, PA. 24pp.
Buckley, N. J. 1998. Interspecific competition among vultures for preferred roost positions. The Wilson Bulletin. 110: 122-125.
Buckley, N. J. 1998. Fading of numbers from patagial tags: a potential problem for long-term studies of vultures. Journal of Field Ornithology. 69: 536-539.
Buckley, N. J. 1997. Experimental tests of the information center hypothesis with black vultures (Coragyps atratus) and turkey vultures (Cathartes aura). Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 41: 267-279.
Buckley, N. J. 1997 Spatial-concentration effects and the importance of local enhancement in the evolution of colonial breeding in seabirds. The American Naturalist 149: 1091-1112.
Buckley, N. J. 1996. Food finding and the influence of information, local enhancement, and communal roosting on foraging success of North American vultures. The Auk 113: 473-488.
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This page last modified: Friday, October 06, 2000 .
© Neil Buckley 2001.
Questions? Contact Dr. Buckley at neil.buckley@plattsburgh.edu
Dr. Neil Buckley, Department of Biological Sciences, SUNY Plattsburgh, Plattsburgh, NY 12901, USA. (518) 564-5165.
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