Dr. Eric Wagner
Research Scientist
ORCID: 0000-0002-1681-4151
Eric Wagner has an M.A. in English and Ph.D. in Biology from the University of Washington. He is generally interested in seabirds, and at Punta Tombo has studied the penguins’ behavioral ecology, as well as the effects that tourism can have on penguins more broadly. Closer to home, he collaborates with a team of researchers who work on rhinoceros auklets at two of their colonies off the Washington coast, looking at how a changing climate affects the birds in different marine systems.
Eric is also an award-winning science writer and author. His essays and journalism have appeared in The Atlantic, Audubon, High Country News, Orion, Smithsonian, and elsewhere, and he has written three books, including Penguins in the Desert and After the Blast: The Ecological Recovery of Mount St. Helens. He is a regular contributor to The Last Word On Nothing, and Book Reviews editor for Marine Ornithology.
Recent publications
Books
The View from Destruction: One Island, Twelve Thousand Birds, and the Futures of the North Pacific (Forthcoming). University of Washington Press.
Watch the webinar hosted by NOAA’s Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary and Feiro Marine Life Center
After the Blast: The Ecological Recovery of Mount St. Helens. 2020. University of Washington Press.
Named a Choice Outstanding Academic Title of 2020
Purchase through bookshop.org
Penguins in the Desert. 2018. Oregon State University Press.
Purchase through bookshop.org
Once and Future River: Reclaiming the Duwamish. 2016. University of Washington Press.
Purchase through bookshop.org
Latest news
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Testing Technology with the Woodland Park Zoo
Since 2015, we have deployed automatic weighbridges to track the foraging success of Magellanic penguins at one of their largest breeding colonies – Punta Tombo, Argentina. These weighbridges weigh penguins noninvasively as they leave the nesting area to forage and when they return to feed their chicks. This helps us track whether these penguins are…
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Dr. Eric Wagner featured on podcast Raising Kind Humans
Dr. Eric Wagner talked with Katie Doughty, host of the podcast Raising Kind Humans, about parenting, penguins, and protecting the planet. Find the link to the podcast below, or wherever you download your other podcasts. Raising Kind Humans, episode 56 Katie also wrote a couple of children’s books starring penguins. Follow Team Kind Humans on…
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Eric Wagner featured in NOAA webinar
Eric Wagner was featured in a webinar series co-sponsored by NOAA’s Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary and Feiro Marine Life Center. In this talk, Eric discussed the ongoing research on the rhinoceros auklets of Destruction Island (and beyond), and talked about what these furtive birds can show us about the larger world in which they…