Hannah Clipp, PhD

Cropped close-up photograph of an adult Barred Owl. It is mostly facing the camera, with its round head slight angled towards the right. Its eyes are black, its short pointed beak is orange-yellow, and its intricate feathers are a mix of frosted white and warm brown. The background is a blur of white and yellow-green on the left and mostly gray-brown on the right.

Happy Owl-O-Ween! 🪶 🎃 🦇

(This is one of the Barred Owls that lives in the WVU Core Arboretum in Morgantown, WV.)

Photograph of a distant wolf walking through short golden grass at the edge of a coniferous forest. The wolf is in profile, facing to the left, with its head lowered. It is mostly gray, with pale brown legs and dark markings on its pelt. Scattered brown shrubs are in the foreground, with a line of conifer trees in the background.

My final good-ish wolf photo from earlier this month is very autumnal.

I enjoyed the fall foliage in Jasper National Park, and even more so the wildlife! In addition to wolves, there was a family of moose and a handful of elk and mule deer.

#wildlife #mammals #nature #autumn

Highly cropped photograph of a distant wolf walking in short browning grass, with a rocky hillside in the background. The wolf is in profile, heading to the left. It is mostly gray, with pale brown legs and dark markings on its pelt.

Highly cropped photograph of a distant wolf lying in a patch of short grass, with a rocky hillside in the background. The wolf is looking in the direction of the camera. It is mostly gray and pale brown, with a notable white face and dark markings on its pelt.

About 2 weeks ago, I was lucky to spot at least 2 wolves from a somewhat random stop along Maligne Lake Road in Jasper National Park.

I was looking for birds, so it was pretty unexpected to see my first ever wolves!

#wildlife #mammals

A highly cropped photograph of a distant wolf walking through chest-high pale yellow grass. The wolf is dark gray overall, with a pale gray muzzle. It is mostly in profile, facing to the left, with its head tilted toward the camera. In the background is a rocky hill interspersed with tufts of browning grass.

Recently, I attended The Wildlife Society conference in Edmonton, Canada, and then ventured to Jasper National Park.

One of the best highlights of that trip was seeing WOLVES in the wild for the first time!

Sure, they were ~0.5 miles (~800 m) away, but still so cool.

#TWS2025 #wildlife #mammals

Wow!

Photo of a female Lesser Nighthawk gliding by through the air, with a distant blurred brown hill in the background. She is headed to the left, with wings outstretched. She is buff-colored overall, with brown striping on her belly and brown barring on her wings.

Female Lesser Nighthawks lack the bright white wingbars of their male counterparts (see my previous posts), but they are just as amazing to watch zip by in search of flying insect prey. I was lucky to see ~10 of these nightjars along one road in southeast Arizona. 🪶

#birding #nature #photography

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Photo of a male Lesser Nighthawk captured in midflight against a flat light gray sky. He is posed rather dramatically, with wings spread and tail partially flared. His oddly flat head is in profile, looking to the left. His body is mostly dark brown and mottled with gray and rufous highlights. He has vertical white wingbars near his wingtips and a white band along the bottom edge of his tail.

Having birds swoop around you with no concern for your presence is such a delightful experience and is a highlight of #birding for me. 🪶

I'm glad that I was able to capture one such moment with this male Lesser Nighthawk during my 1st time seeing the species.

#nature #photography #BirdsSeenIn2025

Photo of a male Lesser Nighthawk in mid-flight against a flat pale sky. His wings and tail are fully outspread in a dramatic pose, with his flat-looking head in profile facing to the left. Although he is buffy-colored overall with thick brown barring on his wing and tail feathers and thin brown horizontal striping across his belly, he also boasts a contrasting white bar along his chin, outer wingtips, and tail edge. The photo is amazingly crisp given the unpredictable flight paths of this species.

I had never seen a Lesser Nighthawk before my trip to southeast Arizona this past June, and I had such an awesome encounter with this male! 🪶

Lesser Nighthawks like to zoom around the desert scrub searching for insect swarms, usually around dusk.

#birding #nature #photography ##BirdsSeenIn2025

Indeed, I was!

Yes! The one who mated with an American Herring Gull. I believe he is currently sitting on an egg.

Hints:

I did not leave the USA.

Who is the gull?

A mystery gull lays on a messy-looking nest on the roof of a building, near the top. He has a yellow bill, unstreaked white head, and a very dark mantle. If he stood up, he would have dull greenish-gray legs.

A mystery gull lays on a messy-looking nest on the roof of a building, near the top. His head is tucked in this photo, but he has a yellow bill, unstreaked white head, and a very dark mantle. If he stood up, he would have dull greenish-gray legs. He is surrounded by four American Herring Gulls.

A mystery songbird is perched upright on the head of an old thistle plant. He has a pointy pink bill, red mask, and mostly white body with tan smudging on his breast. He is surrounded by thistle plants.

A mystery songbird is perched upright on the head of an old thistle plant. He has a pointy pink bill, red mask, and mostly white body with tan smudging on his breast. He is surrounded by thistle plants.

I interrupt my nightjar photo series to pose a challenge to my bird-aware friends + followers...

Based on the two unusual bird species in these not-so-great photos, can you deduce where I was last weekend?

#birds #birding #BirdsSeenIn2025

Photo of a Common Poorwill lying in the middle of a rock-strewn dirt hiking trail. He is in profile, facing to the right, with his small, flat-looking head raised in an alert position. The bird is a mottled gray color, with a tiny dark bill, large black eyes, and a white-tipped tail.

On a nice summer night, if you walk along a trail in Miller Canyon in southeast Arizona, you might just come across a funky little mottled gray bird sitting in your path.

This is a Common Poorwill --- the smallest nightjar species in North America! 🪶

#birding #nature #photography #BirdsSeenIn2025

Ugh

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Photo of a Mexican Whip-poor-will lying in a horizontal position along a down-curved bare branch. The bird is in profile, facing to the left. He is in the midst of singing, so his small bill is half-open. His body is long and merges into his blunt-tipped tail. Overall, he is a brindled mix of brown and gray, with black eyes, a black throat, and a white band across his upper chest. The background is dark, with some blurry green leaves dripping from the top frame.

I heard and saw my lifer Mexican Whip-poor-will this past June in the Chiricahua Mountains of southeast Arizona. 🪶

The 2 whip-poor-wills that breed in the USA were split into distinct species in 2010 based on differences in vocalizations and genetics.

#birding #nature #photography #BirdsSeenIn2025

Photograph of an Eastern Whip-poor-will that is roosting during the day on a horizontal branch near the ground. The bird is an oddball-looking fellow, with a big flat head and a tiny bill that you can barely see. Its feathers are a mix of brindled brown and gray, which creates excellent camouflage with tree bark and leaf litter. In the photo, the bird is in profile, facing to the left, with a couple of bright green plants in the foreground and a small tree trunk and various green blurs in the background.

Since the start of 2024, I have managed to photograph 8 of the 9 nightjar species that regularly occur in the USA. 🪶

Here is my 1st ever photo of an Eastern Whip-poor-will that was found day-roosting at Magee Marsh Wildlife Area this past May.

#birds #birding #nature #photography #BirdsSeenIn2025

A figure from a recently published mini review paper in the scientific journal Forest Ecology and Management. The USA is overlaid by hexagonal grid cells that are different colors based on the prevailing combination of disturbance agents that are primary drivers in the local region.

This was a mini review paper conceived by the USDA Forest Service Northern Research Station scientists with whom I have been working for the past 2 years. 🧪🌲

Although the subject matter was slightly out of my expertise, they were gracious enough to let me contribute, which was a fun experience!

Graphical abstract for a recently published mini review paper in the scientific journal Forest Ecology and Management. The title is "Workflow for integrating disturbance in range-wide models of tree species abundance and demography". There are three sections: (i) identifying relevant predictor variables, (ii) modeling approach, and (iii) mapping. Each section has corresponding graphics and brief text explanations.

This has been a pretty good publication year for me! My 3rd peer-reviewed article of 2025 was published in Forest Ecology and Management. 🧪

"Integrating disturbance to improve our understanding of range-wide patterns in tree species abundance and demography"

authors.elsevier.com/c/1lDKR1L~Gw...

I am a member of the AMC Research Team, and my duties are focused on spatial analysis and GIS applications.

As I get settled into the position, I look forward to collaborating on applied research that will be used to drive conservation and policy efforts in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions.

Professional-looking headshot of a Chinese-American woman with black-rimmed glasses and a light-colored blouse with dark green designs. The background is distant green foliage.

LIFE UPDATE!

It has been 2 years since I successfully defended my PhD dissertation, and although my planned career path with the Forest Service was upended...

I am delighted to announce that I have started a new, permanent position as a conservation scientist with the Appalachian Mountain Club.

New #ornithology 🪶 paper! 🎉 🧪

In sum, a lot of bruises, sweat, and stress went into this paper. 😅

- a custom Bayesian multi-species occupancy model integrating 3 types of surveys for game birds and 3 Bayesian hierarchical community models; and

- management recommendations for 3 game bird species, breeding songbirds within wildlife openings and in the adjacent forest, and post-breeding songbirds

This paper emerged from a massive chapter, which resulted from a highly involved research project consisting of:

8 field technicians, 3 field volunteers, and 15 data processing assistants;

12 months (mid-April to mid-August from 2019 to 2021) of fieldwork in the Monongahela National Forest;

Image of the cover of the June issue of Wildlife Monographs. The top text is the journal title: "Wildlife Monographs". The main image is a conglomerate of 9 individual photos. The three in the top row are photos of wild turkeys from game cameras. The middle row is comprised of three photos of wildlife openings, with green grass, forbs, and shrubs. The three photos in the bottom row are closeup headshots of a male indigo bunting, cedar waxing, and immature dark-eyed junco. The title text says: "Optimizing management of wildlife openings in forested landscapes for game birds and overall avian diversity".

Excited to announce that another one of my Ph.D. dissertation chapters is now published!

Research article title: "Optimizing management of wildlife openings in forested landscapes for game birds and overall avian diversity"

Link to article: wildlife.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

We do provide multiple food and water sources already! And we plant native flowers in our two garden beds.

New trees will be the tricky part, as our property boundary doesn't include much land, and light conditions will depend on the location / height of the new apartment buildings. :/

Before image of the backyard, from a couple weeks ago. The photo is filled with green leafy trees and shrubs.

After image of the backyard, with a current view. The area that was once filled with green leafy trees and shrubs is now empty, revealing sky and dirt.

And that's just the birds! Our little habitat was also frequented by red squirrels, deer, groundhogs, chipmunks, shrews, raccoons, and opossums.

The removal of those trees and shrubs portends the loss of much of our backyard wildlife, and for a wildlife biologist and birder, that is quite sad.

Before image of the backyard, from a couple weeks ago. The photo is filled with green leafy trees and shrubs.

After image of the backyard, with a current view. The area that was once filled with green leafy trees and shrubs is now empty, revealing sky and dirt.

During the winter, we hosted dozens of cardinals, a handful of white-throated sparrows and dark-eyed juncos, and sometimes an American tree sparrow or pine siskin.

We also catered to the occasional hawk, pileated woodpecker, mockingbird, brown thrasher, grackle, red-winged blackbird, and nuthatch.