Stephanie Coates

Coastal Ecologist

As a coastal ecologist with Point Blue’s Pacific Coast and Central Valley Group, my work surrounds snowy plovers, the sandy coastlines they inhabit, and the organizations and communities intersected with their conservation.

I got my first taste of bird research along the Salish Sea while attending Western Washington University for my BSc in Environmental Science. I followed a mostly bird-related path of seasonal field jobs after that, eventually landing at Boise State University for my MSc in Biology. There I studied long-billed curlews, examining limitations to nesting success on the breeding grounds, and spatial ecology on the non-breeding grounds. After grad school I worked for the Intermountain Bird Observatory, leading their long-billed curlew and yellow-billed cuckoo research projects until joining Point Blue in 2022.

I can usually be found with the plovers, taking long walks on the beaches of Monterey Bay. In my free time I enjoy attempting to garden, nature-centric artistic pursuits, and dabbling in my often-neglected hobbies like trail running, bicycle touring, and climbing.

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