The first bird observatory in the state of Florida, the recently (2025) created University of Florida Bird Observatory is a mobile laboratory to perform integrative and collaborative research on Florida birds and spark community engagement with environmental conservation and citizen science. ​​The UFBO travels across the state of Florida allowing biologists and students from IFAS, Biology, Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, the Florida Museum of Natural History, and the College of Veterinary Medicine to team up with Florida communities and citizen scientists to capture, tag, count birds, and collect research samples!

Support the UF Bird Observatory!

The UFBO is completely funded by research grants and donations. Currently we have funds to keep running until June 2026. We need your help to extend our activities as much as possible. With donations to the UF Bird Observatory, you are contributing to a free program of student training, environmental education and collection of scientific data. We need your help more than ever, and any contribution is much appreciated!

Donate to the UF BO!

Our team in action!

We are currently working on two banding stations! One at the Prairie Creek Preserve, in Gainesville, and one at the UF Dairy Unit, at Hague. If you are interested in joining our banding sections, please shoot and email to our manager, Charlie Muise: charles.muise@floridamuseum.ufl.edu and he will follow up with more instructions.

PhD student, Orlando Acevedo extracting a Pileated Woodpecker from a mistnet

Students Mia Keriazes and Preston Ballard banding birds and collecting data on age and feather quality

UFBO manager Charlie Muise teaches students how to set up mistnets and capture birds

PhD student Shelby Palmer bands a Painted Bunting at the UFBO

Charlie Muise, teaches trainees and volunteers how to handle birds and collect data

Charles Muise banding and checking molt patterns in a Pileated Woodpecker

Glau Del-Rio teaches students how to extract blood samples from birds

Student Mia Keriazes learning how to band and age a Gray Catbird

A Great Crested Flycatcher being banded at the UFBO

A beautiful Northern Parula being banded at the UFBO

An Eastern Towhee being extracted from a mistnet at the UFBO

Charlie Muise releases a Northern Cardinal at the UFBO

Students learning how to age and collect data on birds at the UFBO

UFBO Manager

Charlie Muise

Email: charles.muise@floridamuseum.ufl.edu

Charlie Muise brings a wealth of experience and passion to the UF Bird Observatory. With over two decades of dedicated service in bird banding and conservation, Charlie has been instrumental in managing multiple banding stations across the southeastern United States. From his early days at a MAPS banding station in the Great Smoky Mountains to initiating and mentoring at stations in Georgia, Charlie has honed his skills in various ornithological field work techniques. Charlie’s commitment to conservation is evident in the impactful data he has collected, which has influenced state-level management practices for grasslands in Georgia. His educational background includes teaching in classrooms, leading environmental education programs, and conducting numerous outreach initiatives. Charlie’s leadership extends beyond banding; he has formed strategic partnerships with local, state, and federal organizations, businesses, and conservation groups. In the UFBO, Charlie manages our banding stations and teaches a big group of students and volunteers!

Banding Assistants

Mia Keriazes

Curatorial assistant, field technician, assistant bander
Bachelor of Science University of Florida
Email: amelia.keriazes@ufl.edu

I am from Florida and really enjoy fieldwork and brown birds! I am a current Curatorial and Banding Assistant and have been in Glaucia’s Lab for over a year now. I have my bachelor’s in Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, with a minor in entomology. Most of my research has been assisting in the ongoing projects of the lab, helping with the bird observatory since its opening here at UF, and preparing specimens to be used for further research. My research interests include behavior, morphology, tropical ecology, and species conservation.

Preston Bertka-Ballard

Curatorial assistant, field technician, assistant bander
Undergraduate Student Wildlife Ecology and Conservation
Email: preston.bertkaba@ufl.edu

I am an Undergraduate Student at the University of Florida in my last semester, obtaining my degree in Wildlife Ecology and Conservation. My involvement in the Del-Rio lab has focused on working as a curatorial assistant in the Ornithology collection at the Florida Museum, working on research using museum specimens of Eastern Towhees to reassess the standing of the subspecies within this complex by implementing modern approaches of classification like metric learning tools and working to deepen our understanding of the genetics of this complex, and banding with the University of Florida Bird Observatory.

Our activities!

We have a team of nine UF professors, one manager and several students and volunteers collecting data to answer pressing questions in avian biology and conservation. The diagrams bellow summarize some of our goals.