Mark Erno Hauber is an American ornithologist and Endowed Professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. His research considers the development of avian recognition systems.

Hauber was born and raised in Hungary. ^[1] He has said that he always wanted to become an ornithologist. ^[1] He attended high school in Italy, before moving to the United States for college. Hauber was an undergraduate student at Yale College, where he majored in organismal biology. ^[2] He started focusing on birds, and the differences between the brains of different species. ^[1] He worked toward his doctorate at the Cornell University, where he studied brood parasitic cowbirds. ^[3] After graduating, Hauber moved to the University of California, Berkeley as a postdoctoral research fellow.^{[ citation needed]}

In 2003, Hauber moved to New Zealand, where he joined the faculty at the University of Auckland. Whilst in New Zealand, he studied psychology, and earned a Doctor of Science on avian recognition systems. ^[4] His doctoral thesis for this degree was entitled Cognitive ecology of avian recognition systems : studies of brood parasitic and parental taxa. ^[5] He returned to the United States in 2009, where he joined the faculty at Graduate Center of the City University of New York. ^[6] Here he oversaw the biopsychology and behavioural neuroscience program. ^[6]

Hauber was appointed to the faculty at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 2017. He established the Cowbird Laboratory, which investigates the evolution of recognition systems. ^[7] For example, Hauber has studied the color and shape of eggs that "host" birds will accept in their nests. ^{[8] [9]} He has shown that pointy eggs are more likely to survive being in a bird's cliffside nest.^{[ citation needed]} Hauber focused his research on parasitic birds and the impact of climate change. ^[10] He showed that in unstable climates, distributing eggs amongst a variety of different nests made a species more resilient. ^[10] Hauber studies the birds that live in tree farms in East Urbana, Illinois. ^[1]

• Joanna K Hubbard; J. Albert C. Uy; Mark E Hauber; Hopi Hoekstra; Rebecca J Safran (8 April 2010). "Vertebrate pigmentation: from underlying genes to adaptive function". Trends in Genetics. 26 (5): 231–239. doi: 10.1016/J.TIG.2010.02.002. ISSN  0168-9525. PMID  20381892. Wikidata  Q37728546.
• Kevin J McGraw; Emiko A Mackillop; James Dale; Mark E Hauber (1 December 2002). "Different colors reveal different information: how nutritional stress affects the expression of melanin- and structurally based ornamental plumage". The Journal of Experimental Biology. 205 (Pt 23): 3747–3755. ISSN  0022-0949. PMID  12409501. Wikidata  Q48616134.
• Hauber ME; Sherman PW (1 October 2001). "Self-referent phenotype matching: theoretical considerations and empirical evidence". Trends in Neurosciences. 24 (10): 609–616. doi: 10.1016/S0166-2236(00)01916-0. ISSN  0166-2236. PMID  11576676. Wikidata  Q34384297.

• The Book of Eggs Hauber, Mark E. (2014). The book of eggs : a lifesize guide to the eggs of six hundred of the world's bird species. John Weinstein, John Bates, Barbara Becker. Chicago. ISBN  978-0-226-05778-1. OCLC  860757198.{{ cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher ( link)

Hauber came out as gay after moving to the United States. ^[11] He is a member of the grassroots organization 500 Queer Scientists. ^[11]