Guest Ornithologist ~ Abby Sterling

Abby Sterling works for Manomet, a non-profit based in Massachusetts that uses science and partnerships to address coastal conservation challenges throughout the hemisphere. Based in Georgia, she works on shorebird conservation in the Southeast and Gulf. She is the director of Manomet’s Georgia Bight Shorebird Conservation Initiative, which focuses on sustaining shorebird populations within the Atlantic Flyway by increasing attention to the Southeast. Abby works with stakeholders actively involved in shorebird conservation, identifying research and management objectives, building education and outreach efforts, and increasing capacity through partnerships. She hopes to achieve measurable progress for shorebird conservation along the South Carolina, Georgia and Northern Florida coasts, and with work in Louisiana’s working wetlands. Abby earned her doctorate from the University of Georgia, where she studied how habitat and landscape features influence beach nesting shorebirds and chick survival. Prior to working on her degree, she lived on Little St. Simons Island, where she worked as a naturalist guide and assisted on a variety of environmental projects.