Employee Spotlight: Kyra Harvey

Sources/Usage: Public Domain.

Kyra Harvey started at the USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center’s Bird Banding Laboratory in March 2020. Harvey is a Maryland native and developed a passion for birdwatching and bird science while working with non-releasable birds of prey at Clearwater Nature Center, in Clinton, Md. She earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Interpretive Biology and Natural History from Frostburg State University in 2018. After graduating college, she spent several seasons studying the elusive Sora and Virginia Rails, at Patuxent River Park, using the Motus Wildlife Tracking System to follow their migration movements. In addition, she collected and processed field data for population studies monitored by Patuxent River Park, for Ospreys, Wood Ducks, and Barn Owls. Harvey also reviewed historical banding data and assisted at the lab’s fall-migration station for several seasons as a volunteer. Now as a biologist, Kyra’s performs data management for encounter and banding data at the Bird Banding Lab.