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Diana Humple
Senior Avian Ecologist & Banding Coordinator
I am a Senior Avian Ecologist with Point Blue Conservation Science’s Pacific Coast and Central Valley Group. I serve as program lead for the Palomarin Field Station, where I coordinate the science, training, and outreach that our team of staff and interns conducts at our organization’s longest-running study site (née 1966) and keystone dataset. My other primary roles include: managing various landbird monitoring projects throughout the Bay Area; banding and permit coordinator; and coordinator of Point Blue’s oil spill response and preparedness efforts for the state of California and the Oiled Wildlife Care Network. Thankfully I still get out into the field with intermittent regularity.
I received an undergraduate degree in environmental science (ecology) and psychology from the University of Virginia in 1995, and subsequently came to Point Blue as an intern in 1996 studying birds in the shrubsteppe of Oregon and banding at Palomarin. In 2009 I completed a Master’s Degree in Biology at Sonoma State University studying genetics and oil spill demographics of Western and Clark’s Grebes. My primary interests include: intern training and public outreach to instill an appreciation of birds, natural history, and conservation science; bird banding and monitoring techniques; migratory ecology; phenology (the study of seasonal cycles); oil spill science, preparedness, and response; and long-term monitoring of landbird populations to identify trends and the mechanisms and consequences of change.
I am fortunate to be based out of the Palomarin Field Station in the south end of Point Reyes National Seashore.
Featured Work and Resources
Selected Publications (full list available upon request)
Seavy, N. E., Humple, D. L., Cormier, R. L., Porzig, E. L., and Gardali, T. 2018. Evidence of the effects of climate change on landbirds in western North America: A review and recommendations for future research, in Trends and traditions: Avifaunal change in western North America (W. D. Shuford, R. E. Gill Jr., and C. M. Handel, eds.), pp. 331–343. Studies of Western Birds 3. Western Field Ornithologists, Camarillo, CA; doi 10.21199/SWB3.18.
Porzig, E. L., N. E. Seavy, J. M. Eadie , T. Gardali, D. L. Humple, and G. R. Geupel. 2018. There goes the neighborhood: White-crowned Sparrow nest site selection and reproductive success as local density declines. Condor 120: 234-244. Publication brief found here.
Kellermann, J. L., C. A. F. Enquist, D. L. Humple, N. E. Seavy, A. Rosemartin, R. L. Cormier, and L. Barnett. 2015. A bird’s-eye view of the USA National Phenology Network: an off-the-shelf monitoring program. Pp. 47-60 in E. M. Wood and J. L. Kellermann (editors). Phenological synchrony and bird migration: changing climate and seasonal resources in North America. Studies in Avian Biology (no. 47), CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL. Publication found here.
Cormier, R. L., D. L. Humple, T. Gardali, and N. Seavy. 2013. Light-level geolocators reveal strong migratory connectivity and within winter movements for a coastal California Swainson’s Thrush population. The Auk 130: 283-290. Publication found here.
Humple, D.L. and E.L. Porzig. 2012. Riparian Landbird Monitoring in Golden Gate National Recreation Area and Point Reyes National Seashore. PRBO Report to the National Park Service.
Humple, D. L., H. M. Nevins, E. M. Phillips, C. Gibble, L. A. Henkel, K. Boylan, and D. J. Girman. 2011. Demographics of Aechmophorus grebes killed in three mortality events in California. Marine Ornithology 39: 235–242. Publication found here.
Gardali, T., D. Humple, M. Herzog, M. Koenen, D. Press, W. Merkle, and S. Allen. 2010. Riparian landbird monitoring protocol for Golden Gate National Recreation Area and Point Reyes National Seashore: version 4.4. Natural Resource Report NPS/SFAN/NRR—2010/207. National Park Service, Fort Collins, Colorado.
Humple, D. L. and R. D. Burnett. 2010. Nesting ecology of Yellow Warblers (Dendroica petechia) in montane chaparral habitat in the northern Sierra Nevada. Western North American Naturalist 70(3): 355-363.
Humple, D. L. 2009. Genetic structure and demographic impacts of oil spills in Western and Clark’s Grebes. Unpublished M.S. thesis. Sonoma State University, Rohnert Park, CA.
Humple, D. L. and A. L. Holmes. 2006. Effects of a fire on a breeding population of Loggerhead Shrikes in sagebrush steppe habitat. Journal of Field Ornithology 77(1):16-23. Publication found here.
Heubeck, M., K. Camphuysen, R. Bao, D. Humple, A. Sandoval Rey, B. Cadiou, S. Brager, T. Thomas. 2003. Assessing the impact of major oil spills on seabird populations. Marine Pollution Bulletin 46: 900-902.
Humple, D. L., N. Nur, G. R. Geupel, and M. P. Lynes. 2001. Female-biased sex ratio in a wintering population of Ruby-crowned Kinglets. Wilson Bulletin 113(4):419-424. Publication found here.