Raptor Fest 2020

Neil Paprocki - Phd student at university of idaho

Neil received his Master’s of Science degree in Raptor Biology from Boise State University in 2013 studying the effects of climate and land use change on wintering raptors in the Morley Nelson Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area. Neil also co-directed the film Bluebird Man, the inspirational story of Al Larson’s work with bluebirds. Neil then spent 4 years as the Conservation Biologist for the raptor-centric NGO HawkWatch International in Salt Lake City, Utah before returning to Idaho in 2019. Neil is currently a PhD student at the University of Idaho in Moscow studying Rough-legged Hawk migration.

Tuesday, June 2nd at 12pm - Rough-legged Hawk Identification, Movement, and Population Trends - The Rough-legged Hawk ( Buteo lagopus ) breeds throughout arctic and subarctic regions of North America and winters throughout the coterminous United States, with no spatial overlap between breeding and wintering areas. Over 10 years of research has provided valuable insights into Rough-legged Hawk trends, movements, and identification. In this talk, we will focus on key advancements in our understanding of age and sex identification, year-round movements from 7 years of GPS tracking data, and insights into the population status of this until-recently understudied raptor.