2026 Kendeigh Grant Awardees
Screech Owl at Anita Purves Center. Photo by Jeff Bryant.
The Champaign County Audubon Society (CCAS) has awarded grants of $2,000 each to three researchers who will be engaging in projects that study biology, ecology, or conservation of Illinois birds. The awardees and their projects are as follows:
Michael Avara, University of Illinois, Site selection and occurrence of Eastern Screech Owls across an urban rural gradient in Champaign County;
Holly Coates, PhD student, University of Illinois, From Illinois to Oaxaca: using integrated models and community partnerships to illuminate the conservation threats facing cryptic migratory birds; and
Alex Smilor, MS student, University of Illinois, Evaluating migratory shorebird (Charadriiformes) use of flooded agricultural fields in Illinois.
Ten individuals submitted applications this year, more than ever before, including students from Illinois State University and Southern Illinois University. All proposals were excellent and deserving of a Kendeigh Grant, but our budget allows us to award only three. Our committee (Roger Digges, Zach Sutton, Beth Chato, and Sally Southwick) had a difficult time choosing which researchers should become awardees.
The Kendeigh Grants for Ornithological Research were established in 1982 in honor of S. Charles Kendeigh, charter member and former president of CCAS, an ornithologist who was on the board of several national ornithological societies and co-founder of the Nature Conservancy. In awarding these grants CCAS gives preference to “applied projects or those that advance bird conservation, habitat management, or education.”
The grants are funded by members of the Society, proceeds from the annual Bird-a-thon, and donors. If you would like to help support this important research, visit our website (https://www.champaigncountyaudubon.org/donate) to make a donation.
