Join BCAS for social time with light refreshments before this program! Doors open at 6:30.
Yellow-breasted Chat drawing by Johanna Beam.
What do art, science, and eBird sightings all have in common? Dr. Johanna Beam will dive into her personal journey from teen naturalist to research scientist and everything in between. Johanna will talk about all the various ways scientists and illustrators use eBird data in their work, including how eBird data has shed light on species’ ranges and evolutionary history with Yellow-breasted Chat and Chihuahuan Meadowlark.
Dr. Johanna Beam
Dr. Johanna Beam is a postdoctoral research fellow at Colorado State and Texas Tech universities. She studies evolutionary genomics in birds and is also a scientific illustrator.
Johanna participated in Boulder County Audubon's Teen Naturalist program, attended Audubon's teen bird camp at Hog Island, Maine, and studied bird evolution at CU Boulder. After getting a PhD in ornithology at Penn State, she returned to the Front Range as a postdoc with the Bird Genoscape Project at Colorado State.
As a high school student, Johanna's keen eye and ear led her to notice an odd-looking meadowlark. Her curiosity about this bird turned into a successful undergraduate research project on the bird's genetics and ultimately a first-author report describing a new species, the Chihuahuan Meadowlark, accepted to the official North American species list in 2022. Johanna will share more about this story and her journey as a birder, scientist, and scientific illustrator.
In-Person Gathering - BCAS welcomes everyone back to in-person programs at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Boulder. Doors open at 6:30 PM for socializing with light refreshments, and the program begins at 7:15. While the church is no longer requiring masks, we encourage you to wear your favorite high-quality mask, and we will provide free surgical masks for anyone who needs one. Please stay home if you feel sick, and watch the program on Zoom!
Online Gathering - The meeting room will open at 7:10 PM, and the program starts at 7:15 PM. Questions for the speaker will be taken from the chat feature of the Zoom session.
Online access info will be posted here by the day of the program.