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Recent Southern Illinois University Edwardsville graduate Stacia Novy is excited to begin a second career after retiring from a 24-year medical profession in the U.S. Air Force. 

“I always had a passion for wildlife and the outdoors but did not have the money to formally study science in college,” said Novy. “I joined the military for its education benefits, so I could go back to school.  I waited half my life to become a biologist.”

After finally earning a master’s degree in biology from SIUE’s College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) in 2020, Novy had to wait even longer to share her research due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Novy won the James Koplin Award from the Raptor Research Foundation (RRF) and the Love of Learning Award from Phi Kappa Phi. She presented at the 2022 RRF conference in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. last October with her paper titled “Beak Shape Varies with Diet in Buteogallus Raptors.”

 “It is an important skill to be able to bridge the gaps among birdwatchers, falconers and scientists,” said Novy. “Three special-interest groups that sometimes seem at odds with each other in the pursuit of raptors. Presenting a paper at the RRF conference helped me to further develop those skills.” 

 “The skeletal beaks of raptors are unusual in that shape changes are restricted; so much so, it’s thought that raptor beaks cannot respond to diet or feeding pressures,” Novy continued. “Hence, skeletal raptor beaks all look the same, no matter what they eat.  Raptors, as a group, are thought to be ancestral to other birds, so the beak’s inability to change shape is thought to be the original condition.”

Novy looked at the keratinized parts (i.e., hard covering) of the beak because it could be a way to overcome skeletal constraints and allow shape changes to occur. 

“The keratinous parts of the beak overlay the skeleton and are not usually used in research,” said Novy. “My decision to examine them was, in part, unintentional: some species were so rare that museums did not have skeletons for me to examine. So, I was forced to use the keratinized parts of the beak by default, which turned out to be fortuitous.  I chose Buteogallus raptors because the genus was recently revised, offering new research opportunities. The genus contains species that are diet specialists, and others that are generalists, covering a wide range of evolutionary outcomes.”

When the keratinized beaks of Buteogallus specialists were compared with the beaks of generalists, Novy found significant differences in the shapes related to diet.

“The keratinized beak may change shape in ways that the skeletal beak cannot,” she said. “This may be an example of tissue decoupling.  If so, the keratinized tissues release or “decouple” the beak from skeletal constraints so it can change shape in response to environmental pressures like feeding. Interestingly, the keratinized parts of the beak begin as soft epithelial tissue layers.  As the bird ages, these layers harden, become water and wear-resistant, and more closely approximate bone.”

In regard to the scientific paper she wants to publish, Novy said more data will strengthen the scope of the study.

“I want to include two Buteogallus raptors that were not part of the original thesis:  the Cuban Black Hawk and the Mangrove Black Hawk,” she said. “These two raptors are diet specialists, and it would be interesting to see how their beaks compare with other specialists in the same genus.”

When not concentrating on her project, Novy works as a field biologist at the Audubon Center at Riverlands in West Alton, Mo. The work involves surveying over one hundred miles of bottomland forest along the Mississippi River.  The data will be used to manage critical floodplain habitat for targeted bird species, including the Red-shouldered Hawk, Willow Flycatcher, Cerulean and Prothonotary Warblers.  Novy also leads guided bird walks and prepares museum-quality bird skins for the vertebrate collections of several universities, including SIUE. She has added extensively to the collections at SIUE and even acquired her own wildlife permits to do so.

“Stacia is highly skilled in avian taxidermy and has contributed many rare and unusual specimens to our vertebrate teaching collection,” said Jason Williams, associate professor and interim chair in the Department of Biological Sciences. “These beautiful specimens provide an enriching experience for students in several of our vertebrate zoology courses, especially Ornithology, which relies heavily on quality taxidermy specimens for learning bird identification.”

Novy previously found the nest of a rare Buteogallus eagle, prompting her to further investigate this group of birds. She presented a talk about the eagle at the 2013 Illinois State Academy of Science conference and won “Best Graduate Student Presentation” in Zoology. Along with the recent honors, Novy has earned three awards associated with her work on raptors.  She feels it is a great beginning to a second career in biology.

Photo: Stacia Novy, SIUE alumna.