Avian Field Technician

Details

Starting Date: 4/8/2024

Ending Date: 5/31/2024

Hours per Week: 40

Salary: $13-16 per hour, negotiable based on experience; food, lodging, and travel reimbursement provided

Education Required: Bachelor’s in Biology, Ecology, Natural Resources, or other related field

Experience Required: Bird banding, mist netting, telemetry

Description

Assist in the 40th year of Dark-eyed junco (Junco hyemalis) research at Mountain Lake Biological Station, minutes from Mountain Lake Lodge on Salt Pond Mountain in Pembroke, VA. The technician will work with a graduate student to conduct a census of the junco population via nest searching, mist netting, potter trapping, banding, and biometrics recording. Telemetry will monitor select birds’ territories and nest statuses. This is a physically demanding job that requires hiking up to ten miles daily in unpredictable weather, often on weekends. Lodging, stipend for groceries, and reimbursement for traveling to the field site are provided.

Responsibilities

- Set up and monitor mist nests and potter traps

- Use binoculars and telemetry to track birds in dense forests and assess nest status

- Carefully handle small birds to record biometrics, take blood samples, and band, including nestlings

- Accurately record data on paper, Excel, and FileMaker Pro

Requirements

- Bachelor’s degree in Biology, Ecology, Natural Resources, or other related field

- Cheerfulness and ability to work with a small team in a remote area

- Initiative to ask questions and learn

- Physical ability to hike for hours a day, including weekends

- Experience in telemetry (any taxon), mist netting, and bird banding

- Attention to detail when entering data and making schedules; strong organizational skills

- Valid driver’s license and reliable personal vehicle to travel to and around the field site (<5 mile radius)

Email Carlie Saline, carlie.saline@ndsu.edu, with questions.