To sit on a sunsetting beach with wild ponies
I remember when I got the call and was accepted as an official intern at the Smithsonian. The Migratory Bird Center at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute. I was sitting in Biology 220 and left lecture to talk to Russell Greenberg. It was a great feeling! I had done it; I had succeeded. If I was doing anything right by jumping around lab to lab to find my niche, this was the phone interview that told me I was on track.
The summer that followed was another to remember. Taking weekly trips to the Maryland coast to catch song sparrows and take weather data, but also to sit on a sunsetting beach with wild ponies; weather a storm in my small red tent Big Blue; leading my first field team; and collecting with the Natural History Museum. As a result from my work with the Smithsonian this summer, and the next, I am now a coauthor on two song sparrow papers. Ray Danner took place as my advisor after the passing of Russell Greenberg; I thank him for all that he did for me in my early career. He is missed. I am so lucky to have the professional help and friendly guidance of Ray. Hope he's enjoying New Orleans! |
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Check out an illustration from my da bomb advisor: Ray Danner! The infrared photo is a project I worked on at the Migratory Bird Center on Galapagos Finches looking at how three different species, all with different bill sizes dissipate heat using their bills and legs. The X-ray photo is of San Clemente Island Sparrows where we took bill moprhometrics and compared different islands and cartilage growth vs. bone growth.