Biology major Courtney Zimmerman ’22, of Pine Grove, and recent graduate Mercy Melo, ’21, of Lehighton, were authors (with Dr. Allison Cornell, Penn State-Altoona and Dr. J.F. Therrien, Hawk Mountain) on a research article published in Physiological and Biochemical Zoology.

The paper “Nestling physiology is independent of somatic development in a common raptor, the American kestrel (Falco sparverius)” documents individual variation in chick development, particularly for physiological traits.

Zimmerman and Melo both contributed to data collection in the field, lab work, preliminary data analysis and writing of the paper.