The World Bird Sanctuary
is a wonderful example of the people in this world that care about the
environment and the creatures that live in it. They do a fantastic job of sticking to their principals and
running an extremely professional facility.
Before I started
volunteering I never really put much thought into who runs places like this. Of course there is the year round staff,
but there are also volunteers and interns as well. As a previous intern at the World Bird Sanctuary I would
like to tell you what it was like to spend the summer at this amazing place.
Megan Weidman, another intern, helping to train the Pelican
This internship was truly
a shot in the dark for me. Being a senior photography student from Indiana
needing only 12 credits to graduate, my motto became, “Why not?!” when applying
for a summer internship might provide me at least 6 credits toward my
December 2012 graduation. When
Roger Holloway called and offered me the internship I can honestly say I did
not know what to expect. As an
intern you can choose to stay on the grounds or at home depending on where you
live. All interns have a project
they have to do during their internship.
You happen to be reading my intern project--photo articles for WBS’s
blog. You can pick anything, like
assisting with Pelican training, as Megan Weidman did this summer (see
photo). We are also required to
participate in a few after hours projects during our time there.
Once there you are put on
a schedule that rotates you between four different departments throughout any week;
Nature Center, Visitors Center, Rehab and ETC. After a while you get into a rhythm. You mostly do the same things at
each place every week--but don’t be fooled—every day is a little
different.
Preparing to remove one of our raptors from its travel crate
One thing you have to do
is be approved to handle the jessed raptors on your own. Once approved you start to learn how to
free fly the trained raptors for educational shows. Eventually, you get to go out to shows
and help a staff member educate a group of people about our beautiful birds and
animals. I went on a few shows; I
flew for a classroom and a group of kids at a day camp. I also got to go on the news with one
of our Eastern Screech Owls and Teri Graves, WBS’s Director of Education.
One of my favorite places
to work was WBS’s Wildlife Hospital, where
injured raptors are rehabilitated.
The reason for this is because I participated in the treatment and
rehabilitation of wild birds that people would bring to us. Every Thursday we have a
volunteer vet come in to do a check up on the birds at the hospital. I learned a lot working there. One of the pictures included is of me
releasing a Great Horned Owl back into the wild. We got her in the week I started working at the World Bird
Sanctuary. Watching and helping
her go from almost non-responsive to healthy and being able to release her back
into the wild is one of my fondest memories.
Intern Tracy Swanson preparing to band a bird while assisting the Field Studies team
We also get to participate
in field studies with the bird banding team, as you can see in the photo of
Tracy Swanson. In addition there
were the fun outings we had with the sanctuary--like intern lake day and the
cook out.
Just some of the many friends I met at the World Bird Sanctuary
The end of my summer there
was bitter sweet. I was ready to
go home, but I realized later how much I missed the other interns, staff
members and especially the birds.
As an art student at
Purdue, with little to no experience up close with wildlife, being an intern at
the World Bird Sanctuary was a completely new and different experience.
So, if you have the chance
to be an intern here, take it. You
will not get an experience like this anywhere else.
Submitted by Kaitlin
Conti, World Bird Sanctuary Intern
