I recently decided as of last spring that I wanted to pursue a doctorate in the field of Ornithology. Ornithology is the study of birds. I love birds, particularly the ones that have the ability to kill or seriously injure you. These include owls, eagles, hawks, falcons, and vultures. My top three favorite that I would love to work with are owls, falcons, and vultures.

My love for these raptors started when I was in fourth grade and read a book about the effects of DDT on the Peregrine Falcon. DDT made the Peregrine Falcon almost go extinct, and that made my little heart so sad that farmers were hurting these beautiful birds and didn’t care. After that, I read all I could find about the Peregrine Falcon and found out that it was the fastest animal on earth, which I thought was so cool. I began getting science books out of the library for fun. I found out so much that my 10 year old self could about falcons and when I finished with falcons I moved on to hawks, then vultures, and then the owls! I fell in love with owls in fifth grade. I thought it was so awesome that you can’t hear them flap their wings and they are silent.

Through high school I vocalized my love for owls and their fellow raptors but didn’t see how I could be a naturalist and get to work with them. So I thought I would take the safe option and put the dream of working with them on hold. My parents were more than supportive of me and didn’t let me give up on that dream. My mom told me that when you love something you don’t give up when it gets hard. Instead, you grab on tighter. With her love and support, I came to Keystone.

At Keystone I met so many people and one person in particular saw my potential and passion from a mile away. That person was my professor and also my advisor. He was the first person that I told I wanted to really work with owls or vultures and falcons but took the safer option of being a Naturalist. He told me that what I would need to be able to work with raptors is a doctorate in Ornithology. That made me scared and he saw the fear in my face and told me that if anyone could do it, it was me because I already had the passion, I just needed the knowledge to back it up.

This semester I was able to get my feet wet and hands bitten in his bird banding class where I learned the basics of the scientific technique known as bird banding, which is when you mark captured birds with a band and release them. That made me want to become a master bander like my professor. He said that was a great idea and would help me out in my future.

This past week I got the opportunity to attend a trip to go owl banding. It was a project marking Northern Saw Whet owls and keeping track of their population in Pennsylvania. The process of banding them was different then banding song birds. It was an amazing opportunity and I even got to release the last one they banded. When she took off from my arm it was such an amazing feeling and I couldn’t wait to do that every day. I adopted the owl I released and nicknamed her after my mom. When she gets caught again they will notify me and I will receive the picture they took of her. I would love to go there again in the future. I refuse to give up on my dream of working with raptors. I may even open up a rehabilitation center for raptors in the future.