Chris Merkord
More Information
Chris Merkord has been an avid naturalist since childhood. Family vacations nurtured a keen interest in the natural world, an interest further fueled after a scholarship sent Chris to a VENT camp for young birders at the age of 15. After obtaining his undergraduate degree in vertebrate zoology from Texas A&M University, Chris put in two years as a field assistant with research projects studying everything from breeding ecology of boreal birds to community ecology of small mammals in Mexico. A 5th generation Texan, Chris enjoys nature photography, disc golf, dancing, and keeping up with the Texas music scene. He has spent the last four years studying the ecology of birds in the Peruvian Andes for his doctoral dissertation at the University of Missouri, and is happily engaged to fellow biologist Marissa Ahlering.