Hayley Rechter

I completed my Bachelor of Science, majoring in zoology, at Monash University, Australia. During my undergraduate years, I undertook small research projects including an assessment of the behavioural ecology of aggressive noisy miners, which I later presented at the International Conference for Undergraduate Research (ICUR).

I also spent 9 months abroad at Carleton University in Canada, where I studied North American ornithology and participated in weekly bird monitoring. I spent 4 months in the summer as a research assistant, collaborating in a project that reviewed the use of ultraviolet in ecological settings, examining various animals including birds, insects and mammals. I will be presenting this research at ICUR later this year.

This year, I have joined Dr Richard Reina's lab as an honours student and will be conducting this research as my honours thesis. I am interested in the effects of weather on animal foraging as it is generally unexplored, and many people do not consider how animals shelter themselves in conditions such as storms when we simply stay indoors. I have been interested in penguins for several years, as an odd member of the bird family. Their status as flightless birds, quirky waddlers, and graceful swimmers, has intrigued me to research them this year.

August 2016