​            For the summer of 2024, I was scrambling to find an internship that gave me valuable experience. The other jobs I applied for were highly competitive positions that I got close to getting but got rejected in the end. I felt defeated after almost 15 applications, but supportive parents found the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in Roseville, Minnesota was still taking applications, so I applied and was offered a position. I chose to work in the avian nursery because it required fewer vaccinations than the mammal nursery and I developed an immense fascination with birds after my ornithology class in the fall of 2023. I was excited to start a new adventure and overjoyed to get some valuable experience.

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            On my first day, I was nervous and got lost in the building due to its maze-like structure. This was scary and embarrassing but with many friendly people around it was easy to ask and find my way again. I remember the manager who trained me bouncing from one thing to the next and she told me later that it was her first busy day of the season, so I did not get as thorough of a one on one training as other interns who had started earlier in May. This was the second or third week of May; the peak season to see baby birds in the nursery is early June to July. Without extra rooms to house sensitive specific birds, the main ward was quite full and loud considering the vocal European Starlings. I learned later they usually start feeding the incubator birds on their first day. These younger birds are housed in boxes, get fed every 15 minutes and usually do not move quickly. Since it was so busy that day, I ended up working with the shelf birds which get fed every 30 minutes. There had to have been at least 30 cages so once I got done with one cycle of feeding, another would start. I felt overwhelmed getting thrown into this but getting hands on experience right away is usually how I learn best. I got into a good rhythm taking crickets with hemostats, a scissors-like tool with blunt ends that pick up items, and popping them into eager bird mouths. Some birds were so eager for food they jumped out of cages and screeched louder when the zipper of the soft butterfly cage was opened. The call for food was quite comical at first and made me smile but after an hour or so of constant noise, it started to get to me and add frustration, especially when I could not keep up with the feedings. Without any handling experience at this point, I had no idea what to do when a bird launched out of the cage at me and landed on my hand. I called in the room for help from anyone and the nursery director helped me get the bird back with their friends.

 

            After this first day I did not know if I was going to be able to continue. I wondered if the job would become smoother and less hectic. Thankfully, it did get smoother and with experience I got much more comfortable. I got to see and hold many species that I had been wishing to see in the field such as Cedar Waxwings, Piliated Woodpeckers and Green Herons.  

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             One thing I have told everyone who asked about my summer was I learned more about birds than I ever thought was possible. When you are sitting in a room with only one other person and 50 birds you learn to memorize each of their calls. Juvenile calls are much different than the classic bird songs you hear in the spring; they are raspy and sometimes do not even resemble the typical song. The bird I think of most often when describing this to people is a blue jay or red bellied woodpecker. Each baby calls for those species sound like they are hissing, it is a harsh sound as opposed to their classic strong adult calls. I applied this almost immediately in the field. I would hear it when birding which added joy, even though I could not see them I knew the youngsters were nearby. Another skill I applied right away was my learning to handle birds with the “banders grip” or “claw hold”. By approaching them from the back, with your index and middle finger just below the head and allowing the feet to grasp your ring finger you are protecting the wings from moving in any abnormal position, steadying the animal and keeping them calm. Depending on the bird it can prevent you from getting pecked with a beak, but not always. Woodpeckers were particularly feisty along with chickadees. I used this skill right away in the field through my volunteer bird banding every Friday. I was able to start handling birds by extracting them from light weight nets much faster than other new folks who did not have handling experience. My experience from a well-recognized organization also seemed to give the head bird bander confidence I had safe handling skills, although she still watched closely.

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            Through bird banding, I saw how this experience would directly affect my future career. It taught me common diseases in birds such as mites on their feathers or avian pox. These diseases are not life threatening but if you can get them to a rehabilitation center it can make all the difference. I became proficient in knowing different stages of birds such as when they may be self-sufficient or when they may need help finding their way back to a nest. If I am in the field, researching birds, I will know exactly what a healthy bird will look like and when to raise concern. This will help in field counts as well as banding. Many times, when banding birds, they make notes about the birds condition such as fat count or weight. Conditions such as an amputated foot or toe are something a bird can thrive with in the wild but making note of it is important for the research. If a bird had mites, I may have to assess the issue and decide if we should try to get the bird to a rehabilitation center. I know the different levels of avian pox and which cases are more severe. I would feel confident defining what may even be the beginnings of avian pox. This could tell us a lot about the population of birds nearby since these diseases can be easily spread amongst groups. The confidence that I learned through these experiences will encourage me to be assertive in describing my experience in job interviews and even in volunteer settings where my experience level is not known. In my exposure to poor leadership styles my freshman year of college, I did not assert myself and team members when we were not enjoying the club. I believe I applied the techniques I learned to stand up for myself after the club experience to this internship. For example, discreetly mentioning issues to managers or speaking with people directly by first explaining what I had learned and then discussing how they learned so we were on the same page.

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            Along with working with birds, this internship required a lot of teamwork skills as well as communicating with volunteers. At the beginning of a shift, we need to communicate with other interns and volunteers who will do each of the tasks throughout the day. Many of us were good at talking with each other and splitting up duties. For example, if one person had done a lot of the outside cages earlier in the week, someone else would take on that role. Some interns, got to their shift early and just signed themselves up for what they wanted without consulting the rest of the team. There were many times this was frustrating because similar people would take the easier roles without sharing responsibility. A few times I stepped into a leader position here by saying “Susy has done a lot of outside work this week, would you be willing to take care of outside cages instead so she can get a break?”. I stood up for others in my team as well as myself when needed. It is important to be independent and not need help constantly for a team to work in concert, but other members of the team need to work together and communicate to fulfill all duties in a fair manner.

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            After a month or so of gaining knowledge, I stepped up to work with volunteers and train them to feed birds, make new nest boxes for the incubator babies, and address health concerns they saw in the animals. When a bird did not look well, we were taught to flip them over on their back to check their belly; if it looks wrinkly or when you push on the skin, and it does not bounce back fast it could mean the bird is dehydrated. In this case, I would advise the volunteer to give the birds special fluids orally and keep an eye on the situation. If things looked worse, I would grab a manager to help give subcutaneous fluids via a needle in the bird’s leg. Giving fluids under the skin allows the bird to retain it faster. I stepped into this leadership instantaneously as I have had teaching roles like this throughout middle school and high school. I taught preschool Sunday School, led church camps and 4-H day camps. All these activities were a majority youth led with arts projects or worksheets. In these roles I got used to walking around the room, checking on things and helping where I was needed. My role as an intern was different in a lot of ways since I was working with adults from the ages of 18 to retired folks and I had lots of other work to do but the same principles applied with checking on people and making sure everything was running smoothly. Another virtue I have worked on a lot, although there is still area for improvement, is patience. I watched other interns get snappy with volunteers asking questions, I think patience is important in this kind of role. When you ask a question, you do not want to feel stupid or down on yourself for asking. This is something I have experienced with leadership, and I try my best to answer questions kindly. On the other hand, there have been times when I am stressed or frustrated with birds, other interns or lots of work. These things make it difficult to be patient when questions arise. Sometimes these questions seemed self-explanatory to me but that was after some experience. I had to put myself back into the shoes I was in when I first started; I had asked a lot of simple questions early on too because I did not know. My patience has grown a lot throughout my life experiences, I am able to put myself in the other’s position and be helpful in any way I can. It has always been a goal of mine to continue working on it because I feel guilty when I have been harsher when providing help, which still happens occasionally. No human is perfect so there is no way for me to eliminate harsh tone completely, but I used to default to that, and I am proud I start with kindness most of the time.

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            Overall, I will use the handling skills and my knowledge of animal health that I learned at the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center directly in my field of study. It is highly likely I will run into an animal while doing field research that has a condition that I may have seen before. I will also use the patience skills I have further grown in with future team members or coworkers in the future. Delegating tasks, working as a team and educating people is something that will always be apparent whether I am working in the field researching animals, in a teaching role with the public answering questions, or in a supervisor role leading team members towards a specific goal.