Connor Barr

My interest in the natural world started with fossils when I was still in preprimary school, moved on to invertebrates in primary school, and finally settled on birds. Since then, I have been fortunate enough to travel across South Africa, as well as across five continents, observing the rich diversity of birds across the globe. As a keen birdwatcher, I have always been fascinated by species numbers, bird identification and taxonomic relationships between birds, especially those that are often overlooked or severely understudied. 

I completed my BSc in Biology and Marine Biology at the University of Cape Town in 2024 and completed my BSc (Hons) the following year. During my honours year I estimated the population size of several raptor species that are impacted by wind farms across South Africa (supervised by A/Profs Arjun Amar and Robert Thomson). This research provided the first population estimates of some of these species for the region and provides the key data for understanding the impact of wind farms on these birds.

I am currently conducting my MSc research, investigating the taxonomy of the Long-billed Lark and Clapper Lark species complexes and aiming to establish species limits within each group. I am supervised by Dr Gabriel Jamie and Prof. Per Alström.