Biological Science Technician
USGS-Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center
Jamestown, North Dakota
May 2017- July 2017
I was stationed in Crosby, North Dakota for the 2017 for a seasonal summer field season biological science technician position. I was responsible for monitoring the breeding of the endangered species of bird, the Piping Plover in the alkali lakes of North Dakota and Montana. The Piping Plover is a shore bird that breeds on emergent sandbars and shorelines. I collected research data through bird-banding, band-resighting,
nest-searching, and various bird trapping techniques.
I worked average work weeks of 45 hours Monday through Friday. Hired as a student contractor and received a pay rate of $16.93 an hour. I was stationed in a location with no supervisor present daily. I worked independently and with two other field technicians located in Crosby. Field work was extensive and required long hours walking on sandbars and rocky shorelines in adverse weather conditions. Field conditions included wide ranges of weather conditions from cold to severe heat. Field conditions also included exposure to biting insects.
I became skilled in the various techniques:
- telemetry
- 4x4 off road driving
- trap cameras
- using DSLR cameras,
- spotting scopes
- binoculars
- GPS field navigation
- data entry and error checking in Access
- mapping nest coordinates
- bird behavior analysis
- nest searching
Images of the experience:
Figure 1. The shore bird the Piping Plover. The bands and flags on this bird's legs were read and recorded to identify each spotted bird. Images were taken with DSLR cameras and recorded later. Unbannded birds were noted and banded using a variety of trapping techniques.
Figure 2. Example of a Piping Plover color band combo and alphanumeric tag. This birds combo is recorded as - ANF Y C - X O K with ANF= X11. The ordering scheme to bead band combos is the birds upper left 1, upper left 2, lower left 1, lower left 2, upper right 1, upper right 2, lower right 1, lower right 2. Data on whether the bird had a nest was recorded so the nest could be monitored and chicks later banded.
Figure 3. A picture of myself and a fellow technician using spotting scopes to look for birds sitting on nests to easily locate nests before approaching and disrupting the parent adult bird.
Figure 4. Picture of me using binoculars to look for Piping Plovers along the shoreline. I am wearing a bug jacket because late in the summer deer flies become active and bite and eat human flesh. The bug jacket is an attempt to prevent their painful bites.
Figure 5. Habitat of the Piping Plovers in North Dakota and Montana, the salty and pebbled shores of the alkali lakes.
Figure 6. A Piping Plover nest. The Piping Plovers breed and nest where they do because of the amazing camouflage the pebbled shores provide to hide their nests from predators. I had to be careful to not step on nests because of how well they are hidden.
Figure 7. A picture of myself handling and floating a Piping Plover egg to determine when it was laid to estimate a hatch date. Technicians like myself would return to the nest based on the estimated hatch date to band Piping Plover chicks.
Figure 8. A picture of me holding a freshly banded Piping Plover chick.
