John Marzluff and Colleen Marzluff are both scientists. John is Professor Emeritus of Wildlife Science at the University of Washington. His research has been the focus of articles in the New York Times, National Geographic, and many other prominent media. PBS’s NATURE featured his raven research in its production, “Ravens,” and his crow research in the film documentary, “A Murder of Crows.” His current research focuses on the interactions of ravens and wolves in Yellowstone. He teaches field ecology courses at the University of Washington and for Yellowstone Forever. He also is on the board of the Gallatin Wildlife Association.
Marzluff has written six books and edited several others. His graduate research in communication, social organization, demography, and foraging behavior was reveled in The Pinyon Jay, 1992, Academic Press (coauthored with his advisor Russell Balda). His book, In the Company of Crows and Ravens (with Tony Angell, 2005 Yale U. Press) blends biology, conservation, and anthropology to suggest that human and crow cultures have co-evolved. This book won the 2006 Washington State Book Award for general nonfiction.
With his wife, Colleen, he published Dog Days, Raven Nights (2011 Yale University Press), which combines reflection with biology and the recreational pursuit of dog sledding to show how a life in science blooms. Gifts of the Crow (2012 Free Press, coauthored with Tony Angell) applies a neurobiological perspective to understand the amazing feats of corvids. His Welcome to Subirdia (2014 Yale) discovers that moderately settled lands host a splendid array of biological diversity and suggests ways in which people can steward these riches to benefit birds and themselves. His most recent In Search of Meadowlarks (2020 Yale) connects our agriculture and diets to the conservation of birds and other wildlife.
Dr. Marzluff has mentored over 40 graduate students and authored over 170 scientific papers on various aspects of bird behavior and wildlife management. He is a Fellow of the American Ornithologist’s Union, a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and a National Geographic Explorer.
Colleen Marzluff completed her bachelor’s degree at Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington, in 1982. She returned to her native Southwest to study biology at Northern Arizona University, where she completed a Master’s thesis on the feeding ecology of Abert’s squirrels. After completing her degree, she worked with Dr. Russell Balda as a technician in his Avian Cognition Lab. She spent three years as a field technician researching the winter lives of ravens in Maine with Bernd Heinrich. She is an accomplished musher who raced throughout the Northeast, started a Siberian Husky working kennel in Boise, ID, and developed and taught a sledding curriculum. Later, in Washington, she became a full-time mother to daughters and dogs. To keep her animal behavior skills sharp, she participates in an ongoing study of magpies in Bozeman and regularly teaches field classes for Yellowstone Forever.
