How Dr. Andre Moncrieff’s Love for Music Tunes Into His Amazonian Bird Research

LSU postdoc Dr. Andre Moncrieff's lifelong passion for birds has taken him from childhood birdwatching to exciting research in the Amazon rainforest, all while nurturing his love for music.

Recently, Moncrieff was awarded the prestigious American Ornithological Society (AOS) Kessel Fellowship, a $15,000 grant that supports early-career scientists in advancing their research. Moncrieff's research project, 'How do river rearrangements impact Amazonian biodiversity?', will involve fieldwork in Brazil and genetic analyses to investigate speciation in Amazonian birds. Congratulations, Andre!

We asked Andre to share his journey into ornithology and how this fellowship will support his research goals.

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By Andre Moncrieff

My story as an ornithologist began when my parents gave me a bird book for Christmas when I was 10 years old. That book, Kenn Kaufman’s Birds of North America, transformed my mild interest in birds into an obsession. I soon connected with my local birding club (the Berrien Birding Club in southwest Michigan), a birdwatching neighbor who frequently invited me on outings, and several similarly bird-obsessed and competitive kids. During these early years, my interest in birds revolved around seeing as many species as possible so I could add them to my county, state, and life lists.

After my junior year of high school, I worked as a field technician studying the ecology of Glaucous-winged Gulls on Protection Island National Wildlife Refuge in Washington State—an experience that helped expand my appreciation for birds beyond “listing”. I worked on Protection Island (or “P.I.”, as we called it) the next three summers as well, learning about the scientific process from my incredible mentors Dr. James Hayward and Dr. Shandelle Henson from Andrews University. Thanks to Jim and Shandelle, I saw how fun and exciting research could be.

However, as I began my undergraduate studies at Andrews University, I found it challenging to decide what I wanted to do for a career. I also love music, and I had been playing violin since I was six years old. I wasn’t ready to narrow in on just biology or music, so I decided to study both! I completed both degrees in 2014, and finally committed to continue with research as a graduate student at Louisiana State University. Even though I don’t play violin nearly as much as I’d like, my research on birds provides me with opportunities to record and analyze their incredible songs. I consider this auditory work as one way I can help keep my “musician self” alive and well.

Now that I have finished graduate school, I’m thrilled to be continuing my work on the speciation of tropical birds here as a postdoc at LSU. Thanks to the AOS Kessel Fellowship, I have funding to carry out a dream research project studying speciation processes in Amazonian birds, which will involve fieldwork in Brazil (including recording bird songs!) and cutting-edge genomic analyses. This support from AOS will help me continue building the research program that I plan to pursue long-term as a curator of birds or professor. Thank you, AOS!