Jim Tietz

Farallon Program Biologist

During the fall, I am the biologist on Southeast Farallon Island, where I study the migration and stopover ecology of songbirds, owls, sharks, cetaceans, and bats. I am actively studying the effects that climate change is having on songbird morphology, the timing of their migration, and the effects that these changes may be having on their populations. Much of my time on the island is spent supervising a crew of 3-6 biologists and ensuring that the data we collect meet the high standards set out 45 years ago so that we can track the populations of all these migrant species.

When I get off the Farallones in December, I work a few months writing reports and managing the data for upcoming publications.

In the spring and summer, I survey birds for Point Blue at some of my other favorite places in California. In early March, I survey for Le Conte’s Thrashers at the Carrizo Plain. In April, I survey oak woodland birds in the Sierra Nevada foothills, and from May to July, I survey birds in the conifer forests above the foothills. Then in August, I migrate back out to the Farallones

I first developed an interest in birding during college, when I took a field ornithology course at Iowa Lakeside Laboratory. After graduating from Humboldt State University in Arcata, California, I spent the next eight years banding birds and conducting surveys for landbirds throughout North America, Central America, and the Caribbean. I returned to HSU in 2002 and received a master’s degree in 2006 in wildlife biology studying the stopover ecology of the Swainson’s Thrush along the Northern California coast.

When not working on the Farallones, I live with my wife in Shaver Lake, California.

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