Madagascar!
December 2018
I traveled to Madagascar to study the recent House Sparrow invasion (ca. 2000) of Diego-Suarez in collaboration with Steve Goodman (FMNH and Vahatra). To my knowledge, it was the first time in history an ornithologist has travel to Madagascar to study House Sparrows rather than the incredible Malagasy avian endemism ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Iquitos, Peru
July 2018
I presented some preliminary data on blood parasites in Yellow-rumped Caciques (Cacicus cela) at the Peruvian Conference of Ornithology (El Congreso Peruano de Ornitología). I was also fortunate to receive a doctor honoris cause and docente extraordinario from the Universidad Científica del Perú.
Juan Carlos and Mary
April 2018
Juan Carlos Castro Gomez and Marianela Cobos – longtime friends and collaborators – visited the FMNH’s Pritzker Laboratory for 1 month. Our main focus was working on the population genetics of native cacao in the Loreto region of the Peruvian Amazon.