Hello all. My name is Anne and I am a wildlife biologist with a strong background in avian science. I am currently a member of the Florida Flamingo Working Group, IUCN Flamingo Specialist Group, and will be conducting independent research on migratory bird health in suburban stopover habitat. All of which are volunteer work for me.
I joined WildHub to meet new people from around the globe and learn of all the different conservation opportunities there are for work. As they say on LinkedIn, I am "open to work" and searching for the next big fulltime job that will allow me to expand my skills in international conservation. I have a variety of interests, but enjoy working to establish partnership relationships in conservation, project management, and helping design research protocols. I have about 8 years of experience from numerous seasonal positions and working fulltime as an Avian Biologist in Florida.
I am based in Columbus, Ohio and looking to meet others who work with international projects so I can learn from them. With the WildHub community, I hope to learn of new opportunities, field techniques, or events. I also see it as being a great platform to share my progress as I start my own bird banding station research.
I have worked in field biology since 2013 with a focus on avian research, specifically wetland and coastal habitats. Most recently, I worked with Audubon Great Lakes to bring urban migratory bird monitoring to Grange Insurance Audubon Center. For several years, I worked with shorebirds and wading birds in Florida as the Avian Biologist with Rookery Bay Reserve. I have also presented multiple lectures for festivals or training courses such as the Florida Master Naturalist course and Rookery Bay's Festival of Birds. I currently reside in Central Ohio while staying active in national or international conservation programs such as Zoo Miami's Florida Flamingo Working Group to research American flamingo ecology or ResearchWild Inc's international internship research program.
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Welcome to WildHub, Anne! Your research sounds fascinating, and I look forward to reading what you share on the platform. To get to know some of the other people in the community, keep an eye on events like the monthly social :)
Glad to have you join us Anne, a bird banding station is a good feat, any motivations as to why you decided to start the research?
There's many reasons. If you visit Ohio, you see many fragmented woodlots and I've always been curious how they are in providing resources for migrants. In this case, there's fragmentation differences in suburban vs rural. But still, you can get serious fragmentation in rural areas with an agricultural landscape. But there's very little expansive habitat. Also, migration arrival and timing is different throughout the state. So having a banding station in central Ohio would be interesting to see how the timing differs from other locations.
A hypothesis of the research is also that invasives cannot provide the same habitat as native species. Looking at the difference btw areas with invasives (tends to be urban or suburban) vs rural.
Thank you Anne for enlightening me, I'm also a birder and you've thrown light to this. I could learn alot from your expertise. Cheers
A warm welcome to WildHub Anne! Great to have you join us! Exciting to learn that you will be starting your own bird banding station research! Yes, please keep us posted on your progress - that would be great.
I agree with Lara that a nice place to start is by joining our WildHub Socials so you can get to know other community members.
There are also opportunities to join our Conservation Catalyst programme which means that you will be teamed up with a coach who will connect you to conservation experts that you can interview on a topic that is in line with your interest as well as the community's. This is another great way to create connections and learn from opportunities. More information about joining our Core Community can be found here.
For now, I was curious to learn what you feel most passionate about regarding Avian Biology. Would be lovely to hear if you like to share :)
I would say that birds being most accessible for viewing is what did it. I wish there was more reason than that. :) But honestly, I have a passion for general wildlife conservation and wouldn't mind working as an assistant for a mammal or amphibian project. At this point, I have so much experience in birds that it would be too hard for me to switch. That's why I think going in a direction of general biodiversity conservation and looking at the ecosystem as a whole is the closest thing I can get, as opposed to specializing in another taxa.
But fun fact: I LOVE amphibians, especially salamanders and frogs. I did not have a herp course in undergrad. I think if I was given the opportunity, I would be a huge amphibian person now. But the opportunities are also limited in the states for working with them. It's one of my many dreams to look at how healthy vernal pool habitat changes bird composition. But one thing at a time...
That sounds like an amazing dream project - thanks for sharing! Perhaps you can find a herpetologist to collaborate with here in our community :)
Welcome to the Wildhub Community, Anne