Downy Woodpecker - Natural Camouflage

Joe Kawalec looks skyward in search of a tiny ecosystem engineer

MORGAN KELLY ・ HIGH MEADOWS ENVIRONMENTAL INSTITUTE

The two years Princeton Joe Kawalec spent studying the natural camouflage of the ubiquitous downy woodpecker oddly enough began and ended the same way — tracing the outlines of birds.

In between, he observed patterns in tree bark through the ultraviolet perspective of a bird, dove into the dynamics of animal coloration, and conducted field experiments with replica downy woodpeckers to determine how the birds’ speckled plumage hides it from predators while potentially signaling to other birds.

These various elements culminate in the evolutionary story of a small bird with an outsized importance on its habitat, said Kawalec, who graduated from Princeton May 16 with a degree in ecology and evolutionary biology and a certificate in environmental studies from Princeton’s High Meadows Environmental Institute (HMEI).

“There’s so much diversity in coloration in nature. Each of these patterns and colors have a story behind them,” said Kawalec, whose thesis research was supported by a Becky Colvin Memorial Awardfrom HMEI and the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.

“Coloration isn’t just important from an aesthetic perspective, but also from an ecological perspective,” he said. “It’s important to understand how these patterns and colors ensure that species can survive and reproduce. If we change the environment beyond what an organism has adapted to, we can end up altering species’ relationships with their ecosystems and possibly their existence.”