“Ok let’s get focused! We have alot of things to get done today!”

taking the notes. Susanne is in the background

Today I shadowed Susanne Baird, the refuge  manager. Talking with her was exciting! Until now I knew I  wanted to work in wildlife management or land conservation but I couldn’t really narrow that I wanted to do , to a specific program. Managers take everything into consideration and work with the big picture. I love this idea. I listened in on a conference call for the creation of a new historic paddle trail and also a meeting with contractors for a new wing in the visitor’s center on the refuge. I learned that partnership is critical in politics and support for any program you are pushing for. Just think of it. Me..your boss.. Muwahaha

west wing planning

Paperwork ahhh

hmmmm donuts...

I just finished proof reading ten years of waterfowl surveys for Blackwater. Now I’m not going to lie, it was not the most exciting project I have done, and I had to ask myself if what I was doing was actually relevant, but it was. The numbers were not checked since being added to the excel spread sheet so if you were to make any charts or models for things like grant writing or managing for tends just from the waterfowl excel numbers, you would run the risk of misinterpreting the actual data . To get a feel for how many numbers I checked, there was about 3 days in one month and each day there was about 75 points. Then consider that the survey went back ten years , so I checked roughly 27,000 points. Wheew!

Banding brown pelicans!

Ok so Sunday I got to go out with some people to band brown pelicans. I did not know that they were endangered until last year when they got unlisted. The major reasons they became endangered was from habitat loss and also from problems arising from the pesticide DDT . See, DDT made the eggs brittle and weaker, and pelicans incubate eggs with their feet. So eggs were getting crushed and other whatnot. Anyways, DDT was banned along time ago and efforts from private and federal have helped these birds come back. But they still need to be watched over. SSOOOooo.. I got to band them. neat huh!

Long Term Monitoring of Delmarva Fox Squirrels

( smile, your on hidden camera!)

(The traps have to be baited every 3 days, The traps have been ziptied close to stop bigfoot!! just kidding the traps help detour raccoons and other wildlife from eatting the corn. )

"The Delmarva fox squirrel was listed as federally endangered in 1967. The
remaining populations persist naturally in portions of 5 counties on the eastern
shore of Maryland: Kent, Queen Annes, Talbot and Dorchester counties. Current causes for their decline include loss and fragmentation of their habitat due to timber harvesting and converting forested land into farms, housing developments, roads and commercial property. biologists require up to date information about the squirrels and their habitat needs. To help biologists determine Delmarva fox squirrel population trends, seven sites were established for long term monitoring of Delmarva fox squirrels. Information collected includes abundance, population structure (by age and sex), reproductive activity, growth rates, and movements. Stability or expansion of these populations over a five-year period is one of the principal criteria for Delmarva fox squirrel recovery. Five-year monitoring data from these sites is currently being analyzed. The sites include: Eastern Neck National Wildlife Refuge; Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge; Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge (two separate tracts)" - http://www.fws.gov/chesapeakebay/dfox.htm

siting up cameras, I got to do this, once.