Cheryl R. Dykstra is an independent researcher and holds an M.S. and Ph.D. in wildlife ecology from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. For the past 12 years, she has served as the editor-in-chief of The Journal of Raptor Research, an international, peer-reviewed journal dedicated to the dissemination of information about birds of prey. She has spent 23 years leading raptor research projects, including an ongoing 20-year study of urban red-shouldered hawks. She has published more than 30 articles in peer-reviewed ornithological journals.