Leila Granier ’26, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Leila Granier ’26

Major

Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Project Title

Investigating Hummingbird Behavior, Wildflower Interactions and Climate Change in the Rocky Mountains

Presentation Link

View Leila's Presentation

Minor(s): Climate Science, Environmental Studies

I studied broad-tailed hummingbird foraging behavior in a subalpine meadow ecosystem at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory (RMBL). Fieldwork consisted of placing trail cameras on hummingbird food source wildflowers and counting flowers on transects across three sites in the valley. Through this, we captured hummingbird foraging visits and measured floral abundance throughout the season. The time-lapse footage from our cameras was sent through a deep machine learning algorithm that filters for images containing hummingbirds, which we then manually confirmed for accuracy. The data we collected contributes to the HummerFlowerWatch project (HFW), a long-term study of broad-tailed hummingbird foraging patterns at RMBL. As part of the RMBL Education Program, I wrote a research paper on the impact of wildflower phenology on broad-tailed hummingbird visitation patterns, investigating relationships between hummingbird visitation rates, wildflower blooming times and snowmelt timing using HFW data. Through this internship, I gained valuable ecological fieldwork experience, advanced my research skills by coordinating my own project and developed my scientific writing skills. Connecting with the variety of scientists at RMBL gave me insight into my own academic and career path and motivated me for a future in ecology.

* This internship is connected to the HMEI Climate and Energy Grand Challenges project, “Investigating the Effects of Climate Change on Hummingbird Sensory Landscapes.”