В Black Swamp Bird Observatory сменился научный директор: на пост Марка Шилдкэслала пришла доктор Кейт Уэр

OAK HARBOR – Black Swamp Bird Observatory (BSBO) today announced a leadership transition within its research program. Mark Shieldcastle, a BSBO founding member who has served as Research Director for nearly 35 years, will step down from that role and transition into a newly created position as Special Projects Director. BSBO is pleased to announce that Dr. Kathryn (“Katie”) R. Ware will succeed him as Research Director. “Mark built BSBO’s research program from the ground up, and it’s hard to overstate what nearly 35 years of his leadership have meant to this organization and to migratory bird science across the Great Lakes,” said Kimberly Kaufman, Executive Director, Black Swamp Bird Observatory. “I’m pleased that his expertise isn’t going anywhere – it’s simply taking a new shape. And in Dr. Ware, we found someone who understands BSBO in her bones. She grew up with BSBO, she’s banded birds at our station for years, assisted with many education programs, and she brings exactly the scientific rigor and vision our next chapter calls for.” As the Special Projects Director, Shieldcastle will oversee BSBO’s two current capital projects — the renovated BSBO headquarters and the new Education Center. He will also coordinate BSBO’s bird survey consulting agreements, with the potential to expand that department for the bird observatory and its partners. Drawing on his extensive background in avian research, Shieldcastle will continue to contribute key bird conservation issues and will remain a resource to BSBO’s research team, advising and assisting as needed. “When I started this research program nearly 35 years ago, I could not have imagined how far it would grow, or how much these long-term datasets would come to matter for understanding migration across the Great Lakes,” Shieldcastle said. “Stepping into the Special Projects Director role lets me keep doing the work I love without the day-to-day demands of running the department, and it gives me the chance to help Katie succeed in the ways that matter most. I’ve watched her grow from a participant of our youth camps into one of the most capable young scientists in this field, and I couldn’t be more confident handing her the reins.” Ware’s connection to BSBO began long before her appointment. She grew up in Oak Harbor along the Lake Erie marshes and first fell in love with birds as a preteen attending BSBO’s summer nature camps. She went on to become a volunteer bird bander at BSBO’s migration monitoring station in 2019, a guide for the observatory’s Biggest Week in American Birding festival, and an advisor to the Northwest Ohio Chapter of BSBO’s Ohio Young Birders Club – roles she continues to hold today. Ware earned her Ph.D. in Biological Sciences from Bowling Green State University in May, 2026, with a research focus on landscape, community, and conservation ecology. Her dissertation examined multiscale responses of migratory and nesting birds to environmental variability, applying species distribution modeling to stopover habitat – research directly aligned with BSBO’s long-term migration monitoring data. From her role as founding Executive Director of the West Central Ohio Land Conservancy, Ware brings hands-on experience in grant writing, donor relations, and organizational leadership to her new role, and she previously served as the Graduate Student Trustee on the BGSU Board of Trustees. Ware also brings a proven track record of building strategic partnerships, building on the local, regional, national, and international network of BSBO partners. “Black Swamp Bird Observatory is the reason I fell in love with birds in the first place, so stepping into this role feels less like starting a new job and more like coming home,” Ware said. “I’m honored to build on Mark’s incredible legacy and to help unlock the full scientific potential of BSBO’s decades of monitoring data. This region is extraordinarily important for migratory birds, and I’m committed to making sure the science we produce here drives real, on-the-ground conservation.” This transition represents an exciting step forward for the foundational scientific arm of BSBO. With decades of irreplaceable banding and migration monitoring data, a premier research location along the Lake Erie corridor, and a new generation of leadership, BSBO is positioned to advance habitat conservation and deepen awareness of the extraordinary importance of this region to birds throughout the Great Lakes flyway and beyond. Ware began serving as Research Director in a part-time capacity this summer and will transition to the role full-time in January 2027.