The day started off with a great panel discussion including :
- Paul Marinari, Senior Curator of Animal Operations
- Alonso Aguirre, Executive Director of the Smithsonian - Mason School of Conservation. smithsem@gmu.edu
- Nucharin Sogasen, Research Biologist
- Priscilla Joyner, SCBI Associate Veterinarian / Department of Conservation Medicine, and
- Cooper Aitken-Palmer, SCBI Chief Veterinarian, Department of Conservation Medicine.
Not to be afraid of initial rejection, perseverance, making personal choices and being aware of their impact on the world, being concerned about invasive and non-native plants, being an optimist, learning to communicate effectively, getting jobs through effective networking, drawing on previous experience to tackle new issues, not being afraid to follow your passion where ever it leads, shot-gunning blind emails to people that can help you with your career can sometimes pay off.
Next, the Delegates participated in 3 field experiences.
The first was learning about characteristics to identify songbirds using binoculars in the field. We spotted probably 8-10 different species this way.
The second exercise was learning how remote camera capture techniques can be used to identify animals in the field. The Delegates learned to identify likely places where wildlife might set off the camera's motion and infra red detectors to capture images. The Delegates installed two cameras and, after two days and nights, any wildlife captured by the cameras will be reported back to the group - exciting!
Lastly, the Delegates were lead to the crane compounds to get an behind the scenes view at rare and threatened cranes and learned about their captive breeding programs and how they are handled to conserve the species.
Crane treats - meal worms, and baby mice
It was a great day at SCBI and many of the Delegates made great contacts for follow up networking!
The Cicada hatch!
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