John Gerwin

Research Curator, Ornithology
john.gerwin@naturalsciences.org

11 West Jones Street, Raleigh, NC 27601
919.707.9945

Education

  • MS, Louisiana State University, 1987
  • BS, University of Minnesota, 1985

Appointments

  • Graduate student co-adviser, "at large," North Carolina State University, University of North Carolina, Wilmington

Research Interests

John Gerwin researches the life cycles of migratory birds, with a focus on their breeding biology. He currently works on Painted Bunting projects in coastal North Carolina, in collaboration with the Cape Fear Bird Observatory. He maintains a bird-tagging project on private lands in the Uwharrie Region of central NC. This property was pasture until 2006 when it was converted to wildlife habitat. Since 2015 John and colleagues have documented the bird species using the habitat during each month. John primarily uses radio telemetry to study how a species occurs in a given habitat, and to gather data on nesting parameters and reproductive success. He helped start the International Black-capped Petrel Working Group. He co-led ecotours and did extensive capacity-building work in Nicaragua from 2005 to 2019. There, his work took place on wildlife-friendly coffee plantations with onsite ecolodges.

Grants and other logistical support from the USFWS, South Carolina and Georgia’s Departments of Natural Resources, the NC Wildlife Resources Commission, National Park Service, Carolina Bird Club and private groups and individuals, support much of his field and lab work.

John serves on the Wake Audubon Society Board and two committees of the Greater Uwharrie Conservation Partnership. He was the chairperson for the Scientific Council on Rare, Threatened, and Endangered Birds of NC for 10 years, and served on the Important Bird Areas Technical Committee for Audubon NC. He co-leads ecotours to local, national and international destinations.

In 2006, John co-founded the Young Naturalists’ Club (YNC), a collaboration between the Museum and Wake Audubon Society. The YNC was founded to provide youth ages 12-18 with opportunities to get outside and explore nature. Several of these teens learned to do museum collections work and assist with research in North Carolina, Nicaragua and Guyana. Although the YNC is on hold for now, John continues to mentor a few teens who help with collections tasks.

John enjoys gardening, especially with native plants and in his spare time assists with bumblebee and other pollinator surveys. He also plays acoustic guitar and when possible, shares his musical talents with residents of nursing or retirement homes and memory care units.

Peer-Reviewed Publications

  • Gerwin, J.A. and K.E. Douglass. 2019. Avian arithmetic: quantifying habitat management on private lands. Wildlife in North Carolina. July–August:4-11.
  • Bennett, Ruth E., Rodewald, Amanda D., Rosenberg, Kenneth V., Chandler, Richard, Chavarria-Duriaux, Liliana, Gerwin, John A., King, David I., Larkin, Jeff L. Drivers of variation in migration behavior for a linked population of long-distance migratory passerine. 2019. Auk: vol. 136, pp. 1-13.
  • Liani M. Yirka, Jaime A. Collazo, Brian J. O’Shea, John A. Gerwin, James A. Rotenberg, and David T. Cobb. Demographic rates of two southeastern populations of Painted Bunting, 2007-2015. The Condor/Ornithological Applications. Volume 120, 2018, pp. 319–329.
  • Nicholas M. Anich, Thomas J. Benson, John A. Gerwin, Neil A. Chartier, Bryan M. Reiley, Jeremy L. Everitts, James C. Bednarz, and Sharna F. Tolfree. Natal Philopatry and Juvenile Survival in Swainson’s Warblers (Limnothlypis swainsonii). 2017. Wilson Journal of Ornithology, Vol 129(4).
  • Brian L. Chang, Matthew Croson, Lorian Straker, Sean Gart, Carla Dove, John Gerwin, and Sunghwan Jung. How Seabirds Plunge-dive Without Injuries. 2016. PNAS early edition www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1608628113
  • Richard B. Chandler, Sharna Tolfree, John Gerwin, Curtis Smalling, Liliana Chavarría-Duriaux, Georges Duriaux, and David I. King. 2015. Conservation Implications of Golden-winged Warbler Social and Foraging Behaviors During the Nonbreeding Season. Studies in Avian Biology. Golden-winged Warbler Ecology, Conservation, and Management.

Collections

Fields of Research