About the Author(s)

Thomas C. Grubb, Jr. completed a B.A. at Swarthmore College (1966) and M.A. (1968) and Ph.D. (1971) degrees at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His dissertation demonstrated olfactory navigation in Leach’s Storm-Petrel and other procellariiform birds. After a two-year stint on the faculty of Rutgers University where he began studying the winter biology of woodland birds, he moved to The Ohio State University in 1973. During subsequent years, he has continued his research on “winter birds” and developed “ptilochronology,” a new method for monitoring the nutritional condition of free-ranging birds, recently completing a book on the subject, “Ptilochronology: Feather Time and the Biology of Birds,” (Oxford University Press; 2006). He is also author of Beyond Birding: Field Projects for Inquisitive Birders (Boxwood Press; 1986), a text that introduces the scientific method to students and amateurs, Tufted Titmouse (Stackpole Books; 1998), a life-history account of the species, and The Mind of the Trout: a Cognitive Ecology for Biologists and Anglers (University of Wisconsin Press; 2003). Currently a Professor Emeritus in the Department of Evolution, Ecology and Organismal Biology at The Ohio State University, Grubb studies the winter ecology and response to habitat fragmentation and West Nile virus of arboreal birds, and the structure and causes of the Carolina Chickadee/Black-capped Chickadee hybrid zone in Ohio. Current Address: Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology, The Ohio State University, 300 Aronoff Laboratory, 318 12th Avenue, Columbus, Ohio 43210-1293. E-mail: grubb.1@osu.edu.

Vladimir V. Pravosudov completed his M.Sc. degree at the University of Leningrad in 1983. His thesis concerned the caching ecology of Willow and Siberian Tits. He then became a research associate at the Far East Division of the Institute of Biological Problems of the North, Russian Academy of Sciences, in northeastern Siberia, where he studied the ecology of resident passerines, mainly Eurasian Nuthatches and Willow Tits. In 1997, he received his Ph.D. from The Ohio State University for research on the winter ecology of Tufted Titmice, Carolina Chickadees, and White-breasted Nuthatches. Following stints as a post-doctoral fellow at Purdue University and as a post-doctoral fellow then Research Assistant Professor at the University of California at Davis, he is now an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biology, University of Nevada-Reno where he studies avian neurology, endocrinology, and behavior. Address: Department of Biology, University of Nevada-Reno, Reno, Nevada 89557. E-mail: vpravosu@unr.edu