Swainson's Warbler Technician - Virginia

In collaboration with Virginia Commonwealth University and Conservation Management Institute, we are seeking 1 experienced field technician to recover geolocators from Swainson’s Warblers in two regions of Virginia: Great Dismal Swamp (Coastal Plains) and Breaks Interstate Park (Appalachians). This person will contribute valuable migratory data to a multi-state project, led by researchers at Louisiana State University, evaluating the population connectivity, phenology, and migration ecology of Swainson’s Warblers across their breeding range.

This technician will relocate previously tagged and color banded territorial males, capture them with mist nets, and relieve them of their tags. They will take morphometric measurements and blood samples (if qualified) from each individual. Depending on the extension of the position, this technician will also collect song recordings, band extra Swainson’s Warblers, and possibly conduct localized point counts.

Applicants should have experience:

- Independently setting up and taking down mistnets

 - Extracting songbirds from mistnets

- Handling songbirds to take proper measurements

- Observing avian behavior, resighting color bands

- Collecting blood samples from songbirds (preferred but not required)

- Traversing difficult terrain, as they will be catching birds in both mountainous rhododendron thickets and coastal plains hardwood swamps

- Identifying eastern breeding birds by sound and sight

Salary will be $15 hour, and housing will be provided. This technician will be responsible for driving their own vehicle to and from the field sites but will be reimbursed per mile. This field season is currently set to be 6 weeks from mid-late April through May, with 3 weeks spent at each field site, though we hope to extend to 8 – 10 weeks based on pending funding. Start and end dates will be flexible.

Applicants can send a single PDF or Word document of their resume and cover letter to Garrett Rhyne at grhyne1@lsu.edu. Please feel free to send questions before submitting your application.