Michael Kuehn, Ph.D. 

Senior Biologist & Statistical Analyst                  

Professional Experience

As a biologist at Bloom Biological, Dr. Kuehn has worked for three years in a variety of capacities to help design and conduct ecological assessments and prepare permitting documents, including the following: 

Development of statistically valid pre-construction and post-construction avian survey protocols that meet federal and state permit requirements for alternative energy projects.

Managed multiple environmental assessments at alternative energy projects, involving survey design and site selection, training biologists to follow specific survey methods and protocols, scheduling and data management, as well as GIS management, data synthesis, statistical analysis and report preparation. 

Contributed to the drafting of multiple Eagle Conservation Plans for wind energy projects seeking to apply for USFWS programmatic incidental eagle take permits.

Experienced with the application of field survey data to generate eagle fatality estimates for wind energy projects using the USFWS-developed Bayesian fatality prediction model using R Statistical software.

Conducted field surveys for a variety of passerine birds, owls, and other raptors. 

Trained in raptor trapping (including Golden Eagles) and radio telemetry tracking of tagged birds.

Worked as an avian specialist, conducting nest searching and monitoring for the Sunrise Powerlink Project in San Diego and Imperial counties in California.

Assisted in creating burrows and conducting surveys for Burrowing Owls.

Dr. Kuehn also has the following experience: 

• As a research assistant at the Western Foundation of Vertebrate Zoology, conducted surveys for Loggerhead Shrikes on Santa Cruz Island and for all bird species along the Santa Clara River (Ventura County). 

• As a research associate at the University of California, Santa Barbara, designed and directed a two-year study investigating the effects of a tamarisk biocontrol agent on avian communities using riparian habitat in southern Nevada. 

• Served on a Technical Advisory Committee for a Walton Family Foundation funded initiative to restore habitat for Southwestern Willow Flycatchers in the Colorado Basin in the wake of Tamarisk biocontrol beetle introduction during 2011 and 2012.

• Conducted independent research on reproductive strategies of birds breeding at high latitudes in central Alaska. 

• As a graduate student at UC Santa Barbara, conducted seven years of field research in Alaska, Idaho and Montana to investigate the behavioral defenses of hosts against Brown-headed Cowbird parasitism. 

• Participated for four years in a long-term ecological investigation of landscape effects on nesting success of riparian birds in Western Montana 

• Participated in a study of nesting birds in the cloud-forests of central and southern Ecuador.