Megan Elrod

Avian Ecologist

I began, as so many before me, as a “gridder” at our Palomarin Field Station—chasing Wrentits through coastal scrub and plenty of poison oak. More than a decade into my time at Point Blue, I still spend as much time in the field as possible. I have a particular fondness for our keystone datasets and long-term monitoring—critical data for understanding environmental change and its impacts on biodiversity in ecosystems around the globe.

I split my time between the tidal marshes of San Francisco Bay, where I monitor secretive marsh birds, and Ross Island, Antarctica, where I study Adélie Penguins. Our PenguinScience team uses tracking devices and UAVs to advance the understanding of the Ross Sea population and the drivers of its change. Our San Francisco Bay program partners with multiple agencies to survey for the endangered Ridgway’s Rail and the truly secretive California Black Rail, also using new tech like Autonomous Recording Units to spy on the Black Rails. Balancing time between one of the most urban and one of the most remote field sites is both a challenge and a rewarding experience.