A Cornell graduate student and a team of Cornell Lab of Ornithology staff members have won bird conservation awards from Partners in Flight.

The awards were presented March 17 by Dan Ashe, appointed director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, at the North American Wildlife and Natural Resources conference in Kansas City, Mo.

Ashley Dayer, a Ph.D. student in the field of natural resources and a collaborator with the Lab of Ornithology, was recognized for her leadership in education and communications on behalf of international bird conservation initiatives.

Dayer has served as the education and outreach director at Klamath Bird Observatory and as managing editor of "Saving Our Shared Birds: The Partners in Flight Tri-national Vision for Landbird Conservation," a report that was produced at the Lab of Ornithology in English, French and Spanish and prioritizes bird conservation activities in the United States, Canada and Mexico. Dayer also founded and chaired the Bird Education Alliance for Conservation, an international network of bird conservation educators and communicators, and she has been a member of the communications team for the U.S. State of the Birds reports since 2009.

The State of the Birds team, which includes several Lab of Ornithology staffers, was presented a public awareness award. Lab staffers involved include Dayer, Ken Rosenberg, Miyoko Chu, John Bowman, Pat Leonard, Connie Bruce and Susan Spear. Findings from the State of the Birds reports have been widely reported in the media and have influenced bird conservation policy.

Partners in Flight aims to combine, coordinate and increase the resources of public and private organizations in North and South America to conserve bird populations in this hemisphere.