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D. James Mountjoy

James Mountjoy

Meet Professor Mountjoy

Years at Knox: 2001 to present

Function of song repertoires in Yellow-throated Vireos, including field work in Costa Rica on song variation in woodcreepers and song-sharing in White-breasted Wood-Wrens; comparative analyses of song repertoires in varied avian taxa.

Function of song repertoires and extended song learning in Red-eyed Vireos; comparative analyses of the evolution of song repertoire size in the genus Vireo.

Education

Ph.D., Biology, 1994, McGill University.
M.S., Biology, 1982, Queen's University.
B.S., Zoology, 1982, University of Guelph-Ontario.

Teaching Interests

Populations, vertebrate anatomy, behavioral ecology.

Selected Professional Accomplishments

Honors/Grants

  • Knox Mellon Faculty Career Enhancement Grant - Collaborative Research Grant with Jennifer Templeton: Sabbatical Research at the University of Washington: "Identifying Brain Regions Associated with Visual Mate Choice in Zebra Finches", 2016-2017.
  • Knox Faculty Research / Creative Work Grant: Song learning and repertoire usage in the Red-eyed Vireo (Vireo olivaceus), 2014.
  • Franklin & Marshall Faculty Research Grant-Song Variation in Woodcreepers, 2000.
  • Hackman Fellowships for undergraduate research assistants, 1999, 2000.

Publications

"An Eye for Beauty: Lateralized Visual Stimulation of Courtship Behavior and Mate Preferences in Male Zebra Finches, Taeniopygia guttata," (with Templeton, J.J., McCracken, B.G., Sher, M.). Behavioural Processes. Published Online Nov. 13, 2013 (hard copy Feb. 2014).

"An Eye for Beauty: Lateralized Visual Stimulation of Courtship Behavior and Mate Preferences in Male Zebra Finches," (with Templeton, J. J., McCracken, B.G. '12, Sher, M. '11). International Comparative Cognition Society, Melbourne,FL March 2013.

"In the eye of the beholder: visual mate choice lateralization in a polymorphic songbird." Jennifer J. Templeton, D. James Mountjoy, Sarah R. Pryke and Simon C. Griffith. Royal Society's Biology Letters, online, doi: 10.1098 (2012).

"Family Bombycillidae (Waxwings)." Edited by J. In del Hoyo, A. Elliott and D.A. Christie. Handbook of the Birds of the World 10 (2005).

"Diving ducks: A field study of benthic and piscivorous foragers." Co-authored with Jennifer J. Templeton. Exploring Animal Behavior in Laboratory and Field. Edited by B.J. Ploger and K. Yasukawa, Academic Press. In press.

"Vireo song repertoires and migratory distance: three sexual selection hypotheses fail to explain the correlation." Co-authored with Daniel W. Leger. Behavioral Ecology 12 (2001): 98-102.

Presentations

With Annalyn Chia '17 and Jennifer Templeton, "Comparison of Bat Species Diversity in Different West-central Illinois Habitats," Midwest Undergraduate Research Symposium, Chicago, IL. November 11-12, 2016.

"Rapid Repertoire Turnover in Red-eyed Vireos." Paper, with Scholl, Jacob D., and Badger, E. Laine. Annual meeting of the Association of Field Orinthologists, Ogden, Utah, 2010.

"Old Birds, New Tricks? Song Complexity and Song Learning in Passerine Birds." Eastern Illinois University, Charleston, Illinois, 2010.

"Song Repertoires and Singing Patterns in the Red-Eyed Vireo, Vireo olivaceus." With D. Racke, Animal Behavior Society, Snowbird, Utah.

"Song as a Quality Indicator in Indigo Buntings." With J. Wilcox and J. MacDonald, International Behavioural Ecology Congress, Tours, France.

"The Evolution of Complexity in Bird Song." Western Illinois University, Macomb, Illinois.

Campus & Community Involvement

  • Member, International Society for Behavioral Ecology.
  • Member, Animal Behavior Society.
  • Member, American Ornithologists' Union.
  • Reviewer, Behavioral Ecology.
  • Reviewer, Animal Behavior.
  • Reviewer, The Auk.
  • Reviewer, Behavior.
  • Reviewer, Journal of Avian Biology.
  • Reviewer, Bird Behavior.
  • Reviewer, The Journal of Comparative Psychology.
  • Holder, Master-personal bird-banding permits.