About

Current Team

Megan Buers

Megan is a PhD student in the Quantitative Ecology Lab under the supervision of Dr. Michael Noonan and Dr. Laura Grieneisen at the University of British Columbia Okanagan. Based in Nanaimo, she is responsible for all fieldwork associated with the project. She first started working on Western Screech-owls in 2021 when she started work on her MSc on the interior subspecies of Western Screech-owls (M.K. macfarlanei) and has pivoted (although not far) to looking at impacts of landscape management and forestry on the coastal Western Screech-owls of Vancouver Island.

Isabella Perry

Isabella is a MSc student in the Quantitative Ecology Lab supervised by Dr. Michael Noonan at the University of British Columbia’s Okanagan Campus. Isabella is passionate about connecting behavioral studies to conservation action, with her core research focusing on linking health to habitat use and selection for giant anteaters (Myrmecophaga tridactyla) in the Brazilian Cerrado. Her work with the project involves evaluating how effectively ARUs model habitat occupancy for coastal western screech-owls (Megascops kennicottii) by comparing results for acoustic data against those of GPS tracking data.

Alumni

Max Bailey

Max worked as a research technician on the Coastal Western Screech-Owl Project in 2025 and 2026 supporting ARU set up and retrievals, supporting with trapping and tagging, and other field related tasks. He completed his BSc in Zoology in 2024 from the University of British Columbia Okanagan and left there with a passion for studying at- risk species and systems. Max is a lover of birds and all things nature and likes to engage with conservation regimes to help drive species protection. He can now be found birding locally around Victoria.

Reese Embree

Reese worked as a research technician on the Coastal Western Screech-Owl Project in 2026, supporting ARU set-up and retrieval, trapping and tagging, and other field-related tasks. Reese completed her BSc Honours in Biology at the University of British Columbia Okanagan and is now pursuing an MSc through the University of Northern British Columbia, looking at wolf denning ecology.