Ohio University

Kelly Williams

The Williams Avian Ecology Lab

I am an avian ecologist with broad interest in understanding how birds use habitats within the landscape and how habitat use and environmental conditions affect the full annual ecology of birds.

About Us

News + Updates

Female Hooded Warbler on the nest

New paper out in Journal of Avian Biology

March 05, 2025

Female birds must incubate eggs to maintain nest temperatures that facilitate embryonic development while ensuring their own self maintenance. In Sitting in the Open: How nest microclimate influences…

Hanna and Biz presenting

OU students present findings from Bird Building Collision Monitoring Project

January 17, 2025

Hanna Mielcarek and Biz Savitski presented findings from our lab’s Bird Building Collision Monitoring Project at the Ohio Wildlife Management Association meeting. Did you know that collisions with…

Olive presenting poster

Does light pollution affect sleep in birds?

January 17, 2025

Olive Stringer presented research plans to examine if light pollution leads to sleep debt in birds at the Ohio Wildlife Management Association Meeting. Stay posted for what we find!

Hanna Biz collision monitoring

Williams Avian Ecology Lab Presents Research at the Ohio Avian Research Conference

November 16, 2024

Students presented research on how supplemental feeding affects overwinter survival in dark-eyed juncos, and how juncos use habitats within the landscape during the winter. Students also presented…

team moving tower

Motus Tower updates

October 19, 2024

The Williams Avian Ecology Lab updated Motus towers and conducted maintenance.

Williams Lab at AOS 24

American Ornithological Society Meeting Estes Park, Colorado

October 12, 2024

Members of the Williams Avian Ecology Lab presented research at the American Ornithological Society Meeting in Estes Park, Colorado. October 2024

The lab group in front of the window collision poster

Ohio University Student Expo

April 11, 2024

The Williams Lab presented our research at the Ohio University Student Expo on April 11, 2024. We presented four posters, three of which were judged and won awards. 

Window Pain: A Survey of Avian…

9 people pose on glacially carved rock.

Williams’ Lab Visits Kelleys Island

November 13, 2023

The Williams Avian Ecology Lab took over songbird and owl banding at Kelleys Island this weekend! We banded 17 Northern Saw-whet Owls and 42 songbirds in 2 days and 2 nights. Thanks so much to Cheryl…

gabi and jacob

OU students earn USGS Bird Banding Permits

October 31, 2023

OU students Gabi Lindsey (HTC, Environmental Studies) and Jacob Morgan (MS, Biological Sciences) completed training to earn US  Geological Survey Bird Banding Permits under Dr. Kelly Williams.

A Slate-colored Junco being held in photographers grip.

Juncos are back!

October 28, 2023

We captured two Slate-colored Juncos during bird banding demonstrations on 21 October and 28 October. Neither of these birds were recaptures, however, we have begun to see color banded individuals…

Gabi Lindsey poses smiling in front of her poster.

Presentations at Ohio Avian Research Conference

October 14, 2023

Students Jacob Morgan (MS) and Gabi Lindsey (HTC undergraduate) presented their research from the lab at the 2023 Ohio Avian Research Conference held at the Grange Insurance Audubon Center in Columbus…

Jacob Morgan presents his poster to a guest.

Presentations at AOS and SCO-SOC 2023 Meeting

August 13, 2023

Students Jacob Morgan (MS) and Gabi Lindsey (HTC undergraduate) presented work from the lab in London, Ontario, Canada at the 2023 American Ornithological Society and Society of Canadian…