It's been a journey to get here! I know that sounds like a stock thing to say, but man... is it true.
I graduated in May, and had plans to move to Virginia in June. Those plans didn't work out, and I began to doubt whether or not anything would because things kept coming up, effectively leaving me in a pretty uncomfortable limbo.
Thankfully! I was able to make contact with a program coordinator at the Smithsonian National Zoo who was very willing to work with my unpredictable moving schedule. After repeated emails with this gracious and wonderful lady, she eventually told me that whenever I get here, we'll meet, and find something for me to do.
Not only was I able to secure a volunteer position working as a member of her Bird Strike study (more info on that in a minute), she also encouraged me to apply for the Zookeeper Aide positions!
So, I'm finally up here (Virginia) and I met with the gracious coordinator a few days ago. I told her my position (i.e. I do not currently have a source of income, but my (absolutely amazing) uncle is letting me stay with him for free until I find a paid position somewhere), and she worked with me to figure out where I should try to secure a paid job.
I mentioned to her that I had applied to several on-sight park-related jobs a month or two ago but never heard back about any of them, which she mentioned was very odd. So, she made a few calls, but later we determined that working elsewhere was going to be more monetarily beneficial for me.
While I was waiting in the lobby of the visitor's center to meet with this madam, I watched a synopsis video playing of some of the huge victories accomplished by the Smithsonian Biology Conservation Institute.
Have you ever seen a cartoon where the character's eyes slowly increase in size until they are no longer anatomically accurate? <- me.
Somehow, in all my searches, I had managed to miss the existence of this facility, but they were doing conservation research outside of a zoo setting!
Currently, I am going to be working with the Bird Strike study at the Smithsonian National Zoo as a volunteer at 6:30 - 8:00 on Fridays. While my temporary badge (picture at the beginning) says Keeper Aide, I have applied, but have not yet been interviewed for this position. If I am accepted as a Keeper Aide in the area I applied to, I will be at the zoo on Thursdays from 07:00 - 15:00. (If this changes, I'll update this statement).
For the last few days, I've been actively attempting to make contact with someone at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute (SCBI). This has also shown to be rather challenging, but today I finally found a posting for an internship! A paid internship!
While I've just submitted my application, I have such high hopes. Here is a quote from the internship posting:
"The intern will assist with two projects. The first is an ongoing population monitoring project examining the distribution and status of wood turtle (Glyptemys insculpta) populations across northern Virginia. The second project is an ongoing study that is part of a multi-state grant to determine the status and distribution of spotted turtles (Clemmys guttata) across their range.
The intern will assist with aquatic visual encounter surveys, trapping, and radio-telemetry.
They will also assist with report preparation and outreach activities to promote conservation in the Commonwealth.
Data Management:
The intern will assist with data collection, data entry, and data analysis for both spotted turtle and wood turtle projects. Public Outreach The intern will assist with public outreach opportunities including working with collaborators and stakeholders as well as presenting research to varied audiences." ( 1 )
Okay! The Bird Strike Study. I learned a decent amount about this issue from my last year at OSU, as my Ornithology professor, Dr. Tim O'Connell was one of the leads on this project at the university. So, clearly I'm super excited to be working on it at the National Zoo!
In the most rudimentary way to explain this possible: Birds hit windows. Conservationists don't like that. Gotta figure out why. Must implement solution!
Nationwide, this project is still somewhere between finding reasons why and experimenting with solutions. Hopefully within the next decade, we'll have a reliable way to fix it entirely! ... Also, without costing cities millions of dollars to implement the solution.
I'll write another article soon that will delve into some more details regarding bird strike studies, but for now, this is a general update.
Progress!
1. Meck, J. (2019, July 15). Wood and Spotted Turtle Ecology Internship – Virginia. Retrieved July 26, 2019, from https://wfscjobs.tamu.edu/jobs/wood-and-spotted-turtle-ecology-internship-virginia/?utm_source=jooble&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=jooble