December Meeting: “Owls at Home: Hoo’s in Your Neighborhood?”

Found in nearly every type of land habitat on the planet, owls are some of the most iconic and mysterious birds encountered by humankind. At 10:30 a.m. on Thursday, December 3, 2020, Dr. Tania Homayoun will join the monthly meeting of the Highland Lakes Birding and Wildflower Society to present “Owls at Home: Hoo’s in Your Neighborhood?”

Her presentation will introduce some basics of owl biology, the roles that owls play in our ecosystems, and the ways that owls intersect with human culture. Dr. Homayoun will focus in on a few common owl species that can be observed in Central Texas. She will discuss ways that members of the general public can support owls in their backyards and beyond, including by taking on the vital role of “citizen scientists.”

Dr. Homayoun is a Texas Nature Tracker Biologist with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. Through Texas Nature Trackers, she engages naturalists of all interests and ability levels in collecting citizen science and crowd-sourced data on Texas’ unique flora and fauna. The program places particular emphasis on species of greatest conservation need.

Dr. Homayoun previously worked for Audubon Texas, with the Dogwood Canyon Audubon Center and later the Conservation Science Team as its Urban Conservation Program Manager. In the latter capacity, she worked to develop and deliver conservation plans, educational programs/trainings, and activities supporting biodiversity and sustainable communities. Dr. Homayoun holds bachelors degrees in Ecology/Evolution/Conservation Biology and Anthropology from the University of Texas at Austin and a PhD in Conservation Biology from the University of Minnesota, where she studied the impacts of urbanization on landbird communities. She is an avid birder and always has room for one more native plant in her patio garden.