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.