Eleven weeks later and here I am, smarter and tougher with more skills and a larger network. This internship certainly lived up to my expectations and even surpassed them in some areas. Back when I applied, I thought of this internship as a mini-test run...
Last week I mentioned some of the perks of federal employment generally. This week, I'll show you one of the perks specific to this office. The South Florida/Caribbean Monitoring and Inventory Network offices are located in what used to be the Burger King headquarters. We...
In a previous post I talked about how cool it is that government agencies are the keeper of so much information about everything, including natural resources. And often, with a little looking around, you’ll find that so much of that information is made available to the public for...
One of the Vital Signs monitored by the SFCN that I mentioned last week are Colonial Waterbirds. Birds have been a staple of Everglades ecosystem monitoring since long before our national parks were even established. In the late 1800’s, millions of birds per year were killed for the use...
I’m about halfway through my summer now and the number one thing I’ve learned is persistence. Science is such a different thing than schooling. In school, the right answer is known. In science, it’s not. The data I’m working with represent the first time that colonial waterbirds in...
Last post, I mentioned that I am the new intern at the SFCN office in Miami. You might have wondered what that meant. The South Florida/Caribbean Inventory & Monitoring Network (SFCN) is one of 32 National Park Service Inventory & Monitoring Networks across the United States. These offices focus...
When I was young, pre-school age, I would tell people I wanted to be “a vet without the blood.” About ten years after that, I went to ecology summer camp at the local university and read my National Geographic and Wildlife Conservation Society magazines religiously...
This week I had the opportunity to help out on a brand new bat monitoring project over in the Everglades. Just a bit of background - there are currently 5 bats in the species list for Everglades National Park but there are possibly more. There...
It is now week 6 at the South Florida Caribbean Inventory and Monitoring Network here in South Florida. So just an update on what I have been doing: as I have mentioned before I am working on the colonial nesting bird program which has been...
One of the focal birds that I am working with on my project in the great white heron. Prior to this internship I wasn't aware of this bird but it is quite interesting with his relationship to the great white heron. Debate on its taxonomic...