Amelia Laskey

Amelia Rudolph Laskey (December 12, 1885 – December 19, 1973) was an American amateur naturalist and ornithologist noted for her contributions to the understanding of bird behavior. Many publications refer to her as Mrs F.C. Laskey.

Over the course of Laskey's career, her investigations included bird breeding behavior, nesting habits, territoriality, longevity, and migration.

Other birds that Laskey rehabilitated included a crippled red-tailed hawk which lived with her for another ten years and an albino great horned owl that she boarded for 22 years. She began bird banding in 1931 and became a very careful and prolific bander. Among her young pupils was the future ethologist John B. Calhoun. His approach to scientific research was shaped by Laskey's guidance, as evidenced by the precision monitoring technologies he would later use to study rodent inhabitants. through the observation of flocks of birds as their silhouettes crossed the disc of the moon. She discovered that the fatalities could be avoided by use of suitably filtered light, and that U.S. aviation policy already mandated the use of such filters. Once the mandate was implemented, the problem of bird deaths from ceilometer usage was resolved. Laskey was also a pioneer researcher of migratory bird casualties at television towers.

Honors and legacy

Laskey was made a Fellow of the American Ornithologists' Union in 1966, an organization in which she held membership since 1933.

The Eastern Bluebird Nesting Project in the Warner Parks of Nashville, Tennessee, was started in 1936 by Amelia Laskey. It continues as of 2025 and is the oldest nesting project in the United States.

Laskey is interred next to her husband at Woodlawn Memorial Park and Mausoleum in Nashville, Tennessee.