Noah McNeill

IGC FELLOW GRADUATE   |   Global Change Center

Ph.D. GRADUATE August 2025  •   Biological Sciences  

Research Interests: Ornithology, animal behavior, ecology, conservation biology, anthropogenic land use

Advisor: Dr. Jeffrey Walters

nmcneill@vt.edu

Noah successfully defended his dissertation, "Nonbreeding Foraging Ecology of the Brown-headed Nuthatch (Sitta pusilla)" in June of 2025. After graduation, he began a teaching position at Faith Christian School as the Nature Studies, Library, and Journalism teacher.

Growing up as a birder and naturalist in Upstate New York, Noah McNeill developed an early passion for avian conservation and scientific research. He earned B.S. degrees in Biology and Environmental Science from Allegheny College. He studied interspecific aggression in Costa Rican Nightingale-thrushes, response to predators in Hooded Warblers, and grassland bird conservation in hayfield agriculture. He conducted bird surveys in eight states, and his seasonal field work involved avian surveys at a solar facility and proposed wind energy sites.

As a Ph.D. student in the Department of Biological Sciences, Noah worked with Dr. Jeff Walters to determine best conservation practices for bird populations. In addition to helping with the lab’s Red-cockaded Woodpecker monitoring project at Camp Lejeune, NC, Noah studied the foraging behavior of the Brown-headed Nuthatch in multi-species flocks. He hoped to determine the drivers of these behaviors, as well as document how habitat variation affects nuthatch foraging decisions. 

Last updated August 2025.