David's interest in research began developing during fieldwork in the Bahamas when in 2018, he conducted an island-wide survey of the pine forest specialist birds of Grand Bahama Island. He subsequently led a research paper to its publication on the Bahama Warbler distribution and its habitat preferences on the island – the first study on the ecology of this threatened island endemic species.
During the same fieldwork, his colleague and him rediscovered the rare endemic Bahama Nuthatch. However, sadly it may now be extinct following Hurricane Dorian’s devastation of the island in 2019 – they investigate reasons which might have led to the decline and subsequent extinction of this rare bird in a second research paper from the same fieldwork (Gardner et al. 2024).
David continued to pursue his interest on island birds, and in 2023, he spent five weeks conducting fieldwork in Antikythera island, Greece, which involved ringing migratory species as well as surveying Eleonora’s Falcon nest sites. A year later, in 2024, he joined Operation Wallacea and spent five weeks on expedition on their most physically demanding site, Cusuco National Park, Honduras. There he ringed neotropical species including hummingbirds and a Barred-forest Falcon.
Shortly after, David began his PhD to continue to pursue his interest on island birds.
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