We’re heartbroken to share the information {that a} beloved workers member, Dr. Emma Greig, handed away final month from most cancers on the age of 43. Emma grew up in Michigan, earned her PhD on the College of Chicago, and carried out fieldwork world wide. She got here to the Lab in 2010 as a postdoctoral fellow, grew to become a workers member in 2013, and led Undertaking FeederWatch within the U.S. for greater than 10 years. She was a vibrant individual, an incisive and endlessly curious scientist, a caring chief, and a peaceful, humorous, and energetic presence in every single place she went.
Throughout her time main FeederWatch, she remodeled the undertaking from a comparatively easy chook depend to a multifaceted undertaking that delved into chook habits whereas additionally exploring the connections between birds and the individuals who watch them.
She was dedicated to Undertaking FeederWatch members, personally answering 1000’s of electronic mail inquiries and always advocating for his or her needs and desires when planning the way forward for the undertaking. Throughout her tenure, annual participation in Undertaking FeederWatch roughly doubled, and Emma was typically an skilled voice on birding podcasts, webinars, and in newspaper and journal articles serving to folks join with birds and nature.
On the coronary heart of Emma’s management model was her calm perception that every one issues may be solved by them with creativity and optimism. Employees members famous that she noticed issues not as obstacles to be prevented however as puzzles to be investigated. In fixing these puzzles, she introduced a knack for specializing in the components that basically mattered and a way of real curiosity that helped her discover imaginative options.
Emma had a lifelong love of finches, and had raised Gouldian Finches in her dwelling since childhood—generally 100 or extra at a time. These brilliantly coloured purple, yellow, purple, and inexperienced songbirds are native to Australia and are extensively captive-bred and stored as pets. Each wild and captive people happen in lots of hanging coloration patterns, the idea of which continues to be poorly understood. Ever the curious scientist, Emma stored meticulous monitor of the colour morphs and lineages of her personal birds, and she or he collaborated on a significant paper concerning the genetic foundation of the phenomenon in 2019.
Her “finch fever” prolonged to different species as effectively: she joined a area expedition in Australia to check Lengthy-tailed Finches; and whereas main a scholar expedition in Kenya marveled at species equivalent to Purple-cheeked Cordonbleus and Purple Grenadiers that foraged round their base camp.
Along with her personal scientific work, Emma was a pure mentor with undergraduates. She had a particular love of the Desert Southwest, and for greater than a decade led scholar coaching expeditions to Organ Pipe Cactus Nationwide Monument. She had an incomparable ease with college students who had been taking their first steps into ornithology. Whether or not instructing them new ideas or displaying them tips on how to gently take a songbird out of a mist internet, she had an instinctive method of constructing every little thing appear possible and accessible. She was additionally a wonderful sound recordist who taught sound evaluation workshops and contributed tons of of recordings to the Macaulay Library archive.
Emma’s different analysis pursuits led her to creator or coauthor greater than 20 tutorial papers throughout her time on the Lab. She put FeederWatch information to make use of in a extensively cited paper describing the vary enlargement of Anna’s Hummingbirds. Throughout her area expeditions in Arizona she targeted on the Verdin, a captivating songbird that has no shut family in North America. Emma printed about their singing habits and mentored undergraduate scholar initiatives targeted on this species. Throughout her postdoctoral work she crisscrossed Australia to check 9 species of fairywrens. In a collaboration with former Lab researcher Eliot Miller, she launched an choice for FeederWatchers to report aggressive interactions between feeder birds. They used the ensuing information to publish a continentwide hierarchy displaying patterns of dominance amongst 136 species.
However past single accomplishments, it was Emma’s important spirit that made her such a treasured colleague. Emma had the present of listening to folks along with her full consideration, and all the time with an unflappable, encouraging spirit. She had the arrogance to embrace her passions and the passion to make them contagious to others. And irrespective of the subject, Emma approached discussions with an unassuming but eager mind that appeared all the time capable of uncover new aspects and insights.
We lengthen our deepest sympathies to these closest to Emma: her mother and father, sister, companion, younger daughter, and to her many buddies and colleagues. We miss her dearly.
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