Elizabeth Serrano

Elizabeth Serrano earned her Bachelor of Science in Animal Science from Cornell University's School of Life and Agricultural Sciences and her Master of Science in Environmental Sciences & Policy from Johns Hopkins University's Krieger School of Arts and Sciences. Today, her interests lie at the intersection of wildlife conservation, science communication, and community outreach. She is a personable, analytical, and reliable team member with broad experience in environmental research and science communication. She is actively seeking full-time job opportunities.

Cornell Lab of Ornithology Articles

Summer 2019

All About Birds •

Irruption Takes a Short-Term Toll, But Doesn’t Have Long-Term Consequences

From the Winter 2020 issue of Living Bird magazine. Subscribe now. This article originally appeared in print as a sidebar to How Ron Pittaway Developed His Acclaimed Winter Finch Forecast. Every two to three years, winter finches, along with Red-breasted Nuthatches (an “honorary” winter finch), are put to the test in an irruption—a forced migration of sorts due to fluctuations in their food supply. For birders, irruptions can be a special treat, because they get to see uncommon birds from the
All About Birds •

Vital Shorebird Habitat on China's Yellow Sea Gains World Heritage Site Status

From the Autumn 2019 issue of Living Bird magazine. Subscribe now. The intertidal mudflat areas of China’s Yellow Sea Coast—vital stopover habitat for more than 50 species of shorebirds that migrate along the East Asian–Australasian Flyway—gained another layer of protection against development, thanks to a new declara­tion of World Heritage Site status. The declaration came out of the 2019 United Nations World Heritage Com­mittee meeting in Azerbaijan in early June. The nonprofit conservation
All About Birds •

The People Behind the Birds Named for People: John Cassin

From the Winter 2020 issue of Living Bird magazine. Subscribe now. In the dry, open country, of the Southwest lives a lemon-yellow, storm-cloud gray flycatcher known as Cassin’s Kingbird. A prolific songster, it’s a species as prominent as the ornithologist it was named after, John Cassin. Though his name isn’t as familiar today as Audubon’s or Peterson’s, Cassin was a major figure of nineteenth-century ornithology. With five American birds named after him (and four more from elsewhere in the w
All About Birds •

GPS Tracking of Endangered Black-capped Petrels Could Reveal New Nesting Sites

From the Autumn 2019 issue of Living Bird magazine. Subscribe now. In May 2019, five scientists accomplished a long-held goal: to catch at sea and track one of the rarest seabirds of the Atlantic, the Black-capped Petrel. Now, after placing GPS transmitters on 10 birds they caught off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, they’re hoping the birds will lead them back to an undiscovered nest site. “That’s sort of what the dream is, that they’re going to take you to a whole new island that no one knew a