This past summer I interned for U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Bethel, Alaska. I participated in the waterfowl ecology and behavioral studies program also known as WEBS. The thing I expected to be doing are observing, handling, banding, and capturing birds. The skills I hoped to learn were teamwork skills, organizational skills, and effective listening skills. This internship is worthwhile because I get experience studying wildlife in the beautiful state of Alaska. I choose to purse this internship, because I hope to one day work for U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The first week of my internship was spent mostly setting up camp and learning how to search plots for eider nests. The very first day I took a float plane with my gear to Kigigak
…show more content…
After that we left to do a plot close to camp. We used the rope to flush birds in meadow areas. We begin nest searching. We searched the entire plot and found two common eider nest. Our crew leader showed us how to recorded data and mark our location of our GPS. e left camp to do a migratory bird plot. In these plots we recorded all nest found not just eiders. We started to separate. Our crew leader marked off sections on our area photo maps of the area we are supposed to search. We were too far from each other. The island is very flat, so it was easy to maintain visual of one another. When we found a nest we used of GPS to get decimal coordinates and filled out a nest data card. I found one spectacled eider nest. I found a total of twenty-six nests for the day. I am not too good at identifying common eiders and spectacled eiders in flight, but I am determined to get better. I was extremely tired and still trying to get adjusted to all the hiking we do in a days work. We spend all day walking at a fast pace for at least eight hours. Every morning our crew leader picked out the plots we would walk to and search for the day. We finished the MBM plots and our plots four and five …show more content…
First is the spectacled eider research project. Nesting spectacled eiders have been monitored for 24 years on Kigigak Island, Alaska. The species was first listed as threaten in 1993. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has monitored the population try to assess the reason for the decline. They have developed a management plan for population recovery. Over the last 24 years research on Kigigak Island has documented clutch size, hatch date, final nest status. Spectacled eider females are resighted, captured, and banded if unmarked to estimate survival rate. In additional spectacled eider broods are captured to monitor duckling survival. The research will most likely continue into the summer of 2016. The nest project I participated was the cackling goose mark–resight project. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has been monitoring cackling geese on the Yukon–Kuskokwim Delta annually since 1998. U.S. Fish and Wildlife also implemented an independent assessment of the fall population size of cackling geese. They created this project to assess the accuracy of existing monitoring methods. The 2015 field season marked the 5th year of the mark–resight project. Last but not least is the pre–season duck banding. Since 1990, the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge had participated in the northern pintail, green–winged teal, and mallard pre–season banding program established by the
After that we left to do a plot close to camp. We used the rope to flush birds in meadow areas. We begin nest searching. We searched the entire plot and found two common eider nest. Our crew leader showed us how to recorded data and mark our location of our GPS. e left camp to do a migratory bird plot. In these plots we recorded all nest found not just eiders. We started to separate. Our crew leader marked off sections on our area photo maps of the area we are supposed to search. We were too far from each other. The island is very flat, so it was easy to maintain visual of one another. When we found a nest we used of GPS to get decimal coordinates and filled out a nest data card. I found one spectacled eider nest. I found a total of twenty-six nests for the day. I am not too good at identifying common eiders and spectacled eiders in flight, but I am determined to get better. I was extremely tired and still trying to get adjusted to all the hiking we do in a days work. We spend all day walking at a fast pace for at least eight hours. Every morning our crew leader picked out the plots we would walk to and search for the day. We finished the MBM plots and our plots four and five …show more content…
First is the spectacled eider research project. Nesting spectacled eiders have been monitored for 24 years on Kigigak Island, Alaska. The species was first listed as threaten in 1993. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has monitored the population try to assess the reason for the decline. They have developed a management plan for population recovery. Over the last 24 years research on Kigigak Island has documented clutch size, hatch date, final nest status. Spectacled eider females are resighted, captured, and banded if unmarked to estimate survival rate. In additional spectacled eider broods are captured to monitor duckling survival. The research will most likely continue into the summer of 2016. The nest project I participated was the cackling goose mark–resight project. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has been monitoring cackling geese on the Yukon–Kuskokwim Delta annually since 1998. U.S. Fish and Wildlife also implemented an independent assessment of the fall population size of cackling geese. They created this project to assess the accuracy of existing monitoring methods. The 2015 field season marked the 5th year of the mark–resight project. Last but not least is the pre–season duck banding. Since 1990, the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge had participated in the northern pintail, green–winged teal, and mallard pre–season banding program established by the