Month of Action Plan

The brightly lit and largely glass RPAC is likely to have a number of window strikes this spring

My “month of action” will look slightly different for two reasons. The first of these is how late I’m submitting my plan for my month of action—the end of March. The second of these reasons is that my issue focuses pretty heavily on bird migration, and bird migration during March is very, very slow. Songbird migration in Ohio doesn’t really kick into high gear until mid-April, reaching its peak in early to mid-May. That being said, there are plenty of actions a person can take to mitigate migratory songbird mortality

  1. When you leave a room at night, close the blinds or shut off the lights. This is good policy anyways because people outside can see in if the lights are on…this means you, North Campus.
  2. For homeowners with outside lights, cut down on light pollution by making sure they’re angled downwards and shielded on top.
  3. Also for outdoors lights, keep them off at night unless they’re necessary.
  4. Make your glass bird proof! Putting a sticker silhouette in your window will make it harder for a bird to mistake it for an open passageway. Also if you’re lazy, you can just let your window get a little dirty. That’s more my style.
  5. Know the number of your local wildlife rehabber! If you do find an injured bird, you can call the Ohio Wildlife Center at (614) 734-9453.

The actions above are good for the average person on how to do small things to minimize songbird death from window strikes. To take a much more active role, there are other things that can be done.

  1. Join your Local Lights Out organization! If there isn’t one, work to create one.
  2. The following steps and actions are all things that can be done with Lights Out. Patrol problem areas in the early mornings during migration, send live birds to a wildlife rehabber.
  3. Transport dead birds to museums etc.
  4. Keep detailed data on where collisions are occurring, which species are being collected, etc.
  5. Eventually, use said data to work with building owners and managers to turn off non-essential lights during the fall and spring migration periods.

In my “month of action” (that’s occurring a little late due to timing issues with migration) I’ll be doing two of the passive actions out of the first five listed, and several of the actions in the second list of five. For my passive actions, I keep my window a bit dirty-ish so that it isn’t mistaken as an open passage. I also keep my blinds shut at night if the lights are on…and they usually aren’t. For the second set of actions, I’ll be working with the OSU Ornithology Club on a new Lights Out Initiative at Ohio State. 1-4 will be possible this year, with hopefully #5 being possible in the coming years.

I’ve already faced some challenges, filling out a variety of safety forms and the like for handling dead or injured wild birds. The second challenge I anticipate is forcing myself to get up and be outside at 5:00 AM on heavy migration days to do collection and data. Out of all of this, I hope to gain a better understanding of bird migration, as well as knowledge on handling and basic rehabbing techniques.

References:

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Issue Selection: Declining Migratory Birds

A picture of a migratory Cape May Warbler, taken by me at Magee Marsh, Ohio, in May 2016.

The issue I’ve decided to look into is the global decline in migratory birds. Migratory birds provide a large number of ecosystem services, such as transport of nutrients and biomass, and control of pests. These services are important to humans, in ways we see, and indirectly in ways that we probably wouldn’t notice until it was too late.

Just one example of a not-so-obvious benefit of migratory birds to humans involves the spruce budworm. Spruce budworm is a pest that can destroy vast areas of spruce when an outbreak occurs. It is also the main food source of the Cape May, Bay-breasted, and Tennessee Warblers—all Neotropical migrants that fly between North and South America. If the numbers of these three predators were to drop too low, spruce budworm outbreaks could devastate swaths of northern forest. In addition to the direct effects of this on the ecosystem, the boreal forest is also responsible for approximately 1/3 of the oxygen in our atmosphere, and is a major regulator our climate. Declines in just these three species of bird could lead to dead forests, and eventually more extreme climate change with all of its own consequences.

There are a lot of situations similar to this, especially when you consider that thousands of species of birds around the world migrate and that example involved three of them. Unfortunately, most migratory birds are in decline due to the complicated nature of protecting them across numerous international borders. A recent study found that 91% of all migratory bird species do not have adequate protections. No country is innocent, and the United States is part of the problem.

If you walk around on an early fall or spring morning on campus, you’ll notice dead birds. Walk along next to the RPAC, or near the large windows on North Campus. You’ll see American Redstarts, White-throated Sparrows, and Wilson’s Warblers motionless on the ground. A journey of 1000 miles cut short in a single moment as the bird hits the window. Somewhere between 365 million and one billion birds die in window strike collisions annually in just the United States alone. Migratory birds are a large portion of this number. But this is preventable.

Lights Out programs work in cities around the country to turn off skyscraper and large building lights in urban centers when migration is in swing to reduce bird deaths. Starting this spring semester, the OSU Ornithology Club will be partnering with Lights Out to start collecting data on bird deaths on campus, and eventually lobby the University to become more bird friendly. I’m meeting with the coordinator of it all on Monday, and am looking forward to getting to work on doing my small part to keep migratory bird populations at a sustainable level.

Sources:

http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-migratory-birds-unprotected-20151203-story.html

http://science.sciencemag.org/content/350/6265/1255.full

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spruce_budworm

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/stop-blaming-cats-as-many-as-988-million-birds-die-annually-in-window-collisions/2014/02/03/9837fe80-8866-11e3-916e-e01534b1e132_story.html?utm_term=.e00df72e0ce9

http://www.audubon.org/conservation/project/lights-out

Columbus To Do List Part 2

All four locations for the second part of my Columbus To Do List were visited in one awesome day with Will, Kaleigh, John, and Andrew. Will had managed to get ahold of his car from Cincinnati, and the 5 of us jammed in one morning and set out. I count this whole morning as one sort of “experience,” and it was absolutely my favorite part of the project.

The first stop on the list was Goodale Park in the Short North. This is one of my favorite parks downtown, and I’ll often end up here after a night out with friends at the gallery hop or Kingmakers. After parking and wandering around for a little while, we headed for the playground. We swung on the swings for a bit, and then decided to see just how many of us could fit on the teeter totter (it was 4—and balancing it was HARD). However, before too long it was time to move onto the next destination.

Getting to Columbus Commons was difficult—parking anywhere downtown is, really. There wasn’t much going on there the particular day we went. In the past I’ve seen concerts in the park there, done Earth Day celebrations, and it was where the March for Science I went to ended this past spring. However it was still pretty cool to see the Christmas decorations, and we took a nice OHIO picture in front of the Christmas tree.

The next location to visit as we worked our way south from campus was the Topiary Park. Here I brought out my binoculars just in case there happened to be some juncos or winter finches bouncing around. As it happens, I was correct and pointed out a few species of birds to the group. Aside from that, mimicking the topiaries for pictures was pretty entertaining, and I think it’d be fun to come back in the summer.

Last on our tour de force of downtown Columbus’ city parks was Schiller Park. This was the only park on the list that I had not previously visited, so it was cool for me to experience somewhere new. The playground here had a seat that could be spun around pretty fast—I can’t find a way to describe it properly but that’s not important. What is important is that we made a pretty fun game out of getting one of us incredibly dizzy on the seat and then having them try to climb a rock wall onto the playset. This was way more entertaining than it sounds. Eventually we decided that the moms and small children on the playground might be a little annoyed at a bunch of random college kids spinning around and trying to climb things, so we moved on.

This was the last spot any of us needed for the assignment, but on the way back to campus I had us stop at Mikey’s Late Night Slice, my favorite pizza place in Columbus. Unfortunately no one else liked it quite as much as I do, but it was still fun to have lunch somewhere that isn’t Morrill Traditions. A nice end to the trip.

Columbus To Do List Part 1

  For the Columbus To Do List, I chose the nature and outdoor recreation portion. I chose this list because Columbus has a ton of hidden outdoor gyms, and although I’ve been to many of them growing up here, visiting them with other ENR Scholars from out of town makes them feel new to me.

For my first item on the Columbus To Do List I visited the Olentangy Bike Trail with Kevin, John, and Andrew Dunn. We walked some of the trail and enjoyed the views of the river. My personal favorite part was when I heard a Belted Kingfisher rattling away somewhere across the river.

As for what I most look forward to about the list…well, I’m writing this pretty late and have already done all of the required locations on my list (which will be detailed in another post). However I can reflect and say that I’m happy that what I most looked forward to in this assignment worked out. I was very excited to show out of towners areas of Columbus that I love and have memories tied to—for example the Topiary Park where I had a picnic with my family once as a kid, Goodale Park where I’ve been on several dates, and Columbus Commons where we took my grandparents for a concert one summer.

By the end of the list I got to show 3 Cincinnati kids and a New Yorker several of the things that I love about Columbus, and have a good time doing it. That full story, however, is for the next post.

Career Exploration Assignment

The RIASEC test gives me a three letter combination of either ESI or EIS. This isn’t too much of a surprise to me, but it was cool to have the test confirm it. I consider my strengths to be in my curiosity, socialness, and being able to take initiative/work with groups. These correlate pretty well to the investigative, social, and enterprising characteristics.

I have some ideas for my future career, and decided to check the O*Net site to see if its opinion lined up with mine. Regardless of which of my 3 letter combinations I choose, the website does not pull up very many options for jobs (only 6). 5/6 of these are some form of law or business teacher. The sixth option is community health worker.

None of these options sound even remotely appealing to me, but that’s ok because I like my own ideas that I’ve thought of. First of these is bird guide. I’d get to take initiative and lead tours (enterprising), learn new countries and its birds (investigative), and interact with new people all the time (social). This is my number one career choice, and I’ve already done it some in the summer of 2015. I intend on following it up by messaging the owner of the company I’ve worked with as soon as I know when my finals end spring semester. Hopefully I’ll be able to join the guides in Ohio or Texas, or potentially travel somewhere this summer.

The second career I’ve thought about is park naturalist or park ranger. I’ve spent a day shadowing a park ranger at a local metro park (Blacklick) and know a few naturalists. This option is less ideal for me because it involves less travel. However, it still involves being outdoors, interacting with people, and sort of “being my own boss” and taking my own initiative.

The third option I’ve considered is signing on as a research tech to various projects all over the world. I have a friend who does this and manages to travel and have unique experiences that way. I also worked as a research tech with a field project at Hoover Reservoir this past summer and enjoyed it a lot.

The final, out of left field option, is something I learned about when talking to a forestry professor this semester. And that is wildlands firefighter. It has adventure, interaction with people, travel…it’s a card I’m keeping in my back pocket.

As for how my current actions in college are shaping my future career goals, I’ve finally decided (for now) on Forestry, Fisheries, and Wildlife with a Forestry and Wildlife focus. Guiding doesn’t need a degree, but I want to have the degree just in case. This major sets me up very well for park naturalist type stuff, as well as research. The forestry component will get me wildland firefighter certified. If everything goes according to plan, I’ll have plenty of options in 4 years.

Peer Mentor Meeting

I met with Sydney and Nicole outside of Kottman Hall under the gazebo for my peer mentor meeting. The conversation ranged from academics and involvement, to the scholars program, careers, and just general advice.

On the subject of academics, one of my takeaways is that it’s ok to be undecided and switch majors. Both Sydney and Nicole started as Environmental Science, but Nicole switched to Environment, Economy, Development, and Sustainability (EEDS) and Sydney switched to Environmental Policy and Decision Making (EPDM). Both are much happier with these majors. Another encouraging thing I learned on academics is that Sydney considered general chemistry the hardest course she’s taken. If the same holds true for me it means that after this semester (and possibly next if I end up having to take 1220) school will be a lot less stressful for me.

As for involvement, this seemed to heavily overlap with their thoughts on the ENR Scholars program. The main organization that both Sydney and Nicole are involved in is the scholars. They recommended a few others, mentioning Defend our Future as a good one, but most of the conversation at this point was about getting involved with ENR Scholars. For this, they both highly recommended being peer mentors. They also recommended getting involved with the leadership council for the program, to really get a behind the scenes look at how the programs is run.

As for what they’ve personally gotten out of the scholars program, both said that it greatly improved their leadership skills. They also said that the more you put into the Scholars program, the more you get out of it, which from what I’ve seen so far, I would agree with. They also said the ENR is one of the best scholars programs to be in—having talked to a few people in other programs such as DSWS, I would agree. The camping trip was awesome, and I haven’t heard of any other program doing anything similar.

As for career plans, Sydney and Nicole had very different answers. Sydney is considering law school for environmental law, but split on if she wants to do that much more difficult schooling. The other option she’s considering is graduating in 3 years, and then taking a year to explore and travel. Nicole is interested in NGO work or potentially working with the Peace Corp. When asked about backup plans, both answered that they were just going to go with the flow and see where life takes them. The “go with the flow and see where life takes me” route is the one I seem to be on right now, but hopefully that will change as I get further along in school.

The final thing we talked about was just general tips for getting through freshman year, or advice they wished they’d had as freshmen. The first piece of advice, from Nicole, was to not be afraid to attend club meetings. The second piece of advice, from Sydney, was to not let stress consume you. College is stressful, but everything will be fine in the end.

About Me

My name is Doug Whitman. I am a first year student at The Ohio State University. My major right now is undecided, but I am most likely going to choose Forest Fisheries and Wildlife. In high school I took several AP courses, and enjoyed activities like Marching Band and the spring musical. However, most of my interests, and my reason for attending the School of Environment and Natural Resources, lie outside of high school. I’ve had a longstanding interest in nature and the environment since I was a kid, which turned into an interest in birds and birding in 2009. I was involved with a group called the Ohio Young Birders Club, and presented at several of their conferences. I have also presented for Columbus Audubon, the Ohio Bluebird Society, and at the Midwest Birding Symposium.

 

My interest in birding has developed along a two prong route–one way into ecotourism, and the other way into research. For ecotourism, in the summer of 2015 I had the opportunity to work as a volunteer lodge guide in Ecuador for a professional tour company called Tropical Birding. Here I developed both my birding skills, and my people skills to show clients birds. It also taught me about how ecotourism and business related to it can benefit the environment. For the research side, in the summer of 2016 I took an avian field ecology class at Stone Lab with Dr. Chris Tonra. I had the opportunity this past summer to work as a volunteer research tech for one of his Ph.D. student’s projects at Hoover Reservoir.

 

In my time at OSU, I’d like to continue pursuing both of these paths, to expand my knowledge and eventually decide on a career.

Year in Review

[ “Year in Review”  is where you should reflect on the past year and show how you have evolved as a person and as a student.  You may want to focus on your growth in a particular area (as a leader, scholar, researcher, etc.) or you may want to talk about your overall experience over the past year.  For more information, go to: http://honors-scholars.osu.edu/e-portfolio. Delete these instructions and add your own post.]

VIA Strengths

  1. Curiosity: Taking an interest in ongoing experience for its own sake; finding subjects and topics fascinating; exploring and discovering

2. Humor: Liking to laugh and tease; bringing smiles to other people; seeing the light side; making (not necessarily telling) jokes.

3. Creativity: Thinking of novel and productive ways to conceptualize and do things; includes artistic achievement but is not limited to it.

4. Love of learning: Mastering new skills, topics, and bodies of knowledge, whether on one’s own or formally; related to the strength of curiosity but goes beyond it to describe the tendency to add systematically to what one knows.

5. Judgment: Thinking things through and examining them from all sides; not jumping to conclusions; being able to change one’s mind in light of evidence; weighing all evidence fairly.

For the most part, I think my order is accurate. My favorites would have to be curiosity and love of learning. I’ve considered these my top strengths for a while, and I think they show themselves strongest in my intense interest in the natural world, be that birding, botany, geology, or anything else. I also love sharing this knowledge with other people, telling stories, and making people laugh. I think the combination of my humor, curiosity, and love of learning is what’s drawn me to guiding as a profession. When guiding, quick thinking (creativity), humor, and personal skills are equally if not more important than just the subject knowledge.

My lowest strengths were spirituality, humility, prudence, and self-regulation. I’d also agree with this. I have a lot of energy and ideas and impulsivity, but I sometimes fail to channel it well. I also don’t believe in any sort of higher power or plan. I wish I did, but I can’t and this means whenever I’m alone, I feel truly alone. This combined with my tendency to take risks can increase my problems with self-regulation and prudence.

Where I disagree with my VIA Strengths is on leadership. It ranked it as 19 for me. However, whenever I’m in any sort of group I often assume the position of leader naturally. It should be higher. My indignation at leadership being ranked low is probably an indication that my low ranking for humility is accurate.

The picture attached is a candid of me while I was photographing a volcano in Ecuador. The picture itself shows my curiosity and love of learning, but my time in Ecuador brought out a lot of different traits in me, and I consider it a transformational experience. I lived in Ecuador to try my hand at bird guiding. I went alone at the age of 16, and with the plan of learning the language and birds when I arrived. This utilized my curiosity (#1), love of learning (#4), and bravery (#6). Judgment (#5) and creativity (#3) were also important as I navigated a foreign country alone, and found creative ways to solve problems with clients and show them what they came to see. I could write in a lot more detail with a lot more introspection about my time down there, but it would go beyond the scope of this blog post.

As a final note, I don’t like that I’m posting this analysis of my strengths and weaknesses on a public forum for anyone to see. I feel like the goal of the assignment is to do some serious introspection, and having to put it out in the open stifles that. I’ve been split between writing honest assessments that I don’t necessarily want people to read, and writing some generic stuff and posting it for the 5 points as some others have suggested. Eventually I decided to be (mostly) honest on here with the idea that not many people are actually going to read my ePortfolio.