5 Things I've Learned as a Wildlife Biologist! Tips For Those Wanting a Career in Wildlife Biology

So today I'm going to tell you five things I've learned in my career as a wildlife biologist. So I've been a wildlife biologist for closing in on 10 years now. I started this particular path in 2010 and it's been a really amazing ride on the way and while I still have many many years left I've learned enough in my career so far that I thought I'd make a video sharing with you all some of the things I've learned along the way and things that it would have been nice to know in advance in some way right because there are there are some quirks in this field that a lot of people don't really understand or appreciate outside of just kind of diving in and just kind of learning through trial and error trial by fire right. So to start things off and I really can't emphasize this enough this is an unbelievable unique spectacular amazing career. I've had so many moments where it just baffles my mind that this is something that you can actually get paid for. You know I'm just thinking of like walking out of a forest drainage at seven o'clock in the morning when the light is still golden and seeing an owl fly down the drainage with three magpies right behind the owl's back chasing it all roughly at ground level or standing on top of a ridge line in southern Washington Mount Rainier the gigantic volcano finding mountain red fox tracks in the morning made just an hour before and as amazing as these experiences are they're not uncommon right this is something that almost every day that you go out into the field as a field biologist you will find things that are unique are amazing are just these wonderful fantastic moments it'll bring you back in time to a period where we were closer to the natural world around us and so this is a career where you can actually live this more rustic existence where you can be out in the wilds and listen to nature in a way that is just not possible through so many other career paths and for that reason I just recommend it so much and so if you're thinking about becoming a wildlife biologist please do it it's you will not regret it so second and something that I think is without a doubt offset by how unique and amazing and wonderful wildlife biology is a field but it can surprise some people who haven't really gone into it before it's really hard work you can be working lots and lots of hours this isn't a a traditional nine to five type field where often what matters more in terms of the hours you work are what's needed to actually get the job done and so I've had days where I'll work up to 18 19 hours out in the field leaving well before dawn coming back well after dark it's not necessarily every day but you definitely need to come into the field with a different kind of mindset you can't go in expecting these very very structured hours it's a it's a different kind of beast it's really worth it there will often be really really rugged times of work they're not just the long hours you'll be out in the field so out in nature and uh you know nature is amazing it is is also not necessarily conducive to a comfortable existence right and so there will be times where uh you just feel overwhelmed you're walking through thorny brushy awfulness and you're being eaten alive by insects and all the things that are are just part and parcel for work in nature but at least I found in my experience that you despite the immense ruggedness you love it and it can be a pain in the ass right I've definitely done my fair share of grumbling in the field but it's all this like releasing steam in the moment right you just go through this horrible heinous horrendous hike up something and you're just muttering under your breath and cursing and grumbling and all these things and it's all just to get rid of the stress uh in the moment and you know when you do uh finish the work there's no better sense of satisfaction right it's just absolutely unbelievable how rewarding it feels to go through things that are uh this rugged and difficult so third thing and this is really really important and this is something that I myself am still working on and that's to not be discouraged during certain times of the year particularly uh in the fall and winter it can be really slow going right it's very much a career path where you will go back and forth and there'll be periods of employment and periods of unemployment and um I currently I'm in uh one of the latter right this kind of stage during the fall and winter where you know you'll be applying for jobs but the jobs that exist are few and far between and every job that you apply for will have hundreds of applicants sending in applications and so it can be really really frustrating and I think that that sense of frustration is something that a lot of people can get discouraged by and um think that uh because it's this difficult that maybe this career was just not meant for them right that this is something that they they shouldn't be doing because uh they will look at people who do have some kind of a employment in the field at a time of year and you know ask why why aren't they employed in the same way what are they doing differently and maybe they're just not you know cut out for it all these things and I really want to emphasize uh within this video that those feelings are very common and it can be a rough time of the year right the only thing I can say is just keep on applying to things keep on pushing and keep on um throwing yourself out there a lot of it is almost luck of the draw so there's a great story that I often tell along these lines and so three years ago I was in one of those in between employment uh periods of stasis hanging out with my parents house and I got really frustrated right because there are all of these uh bird jobs that are being posted on the Texas A&M job board which is where you often get a lot of the wildlife job links and I got super frustrated and was just you know ranting to my mom and dad that there are there are so many you know bird jobs around and they all require having previous bird jobs and why are all these bird jobs where all the carnivore jobs blah blah blah blah blah blah literally the very next day I got uh called by Turnstone Environmental Consultants and they offered me a position as a marbled murrelet surveyor and that's since been for the last uh three summers and soon to be a fourth summer uh what I've been doing I've just been wandering around the temperate rainforest waking up before dawn hiking in the middle of the night and looking and listening for these what are often called a fog larks these kind of ghostly birds that are incredibly rare and incredibly cryptic but absolutely amazing to listen to when you hear their their calling oh let's be cool when you hear their calling in the early morning it's like the fog is laced over the trees it's so ghostly and so eerie and yet so wonderful and I got that position because I kept on pushing despite the frustration so my third piece of advice is very much to do the same keep pushing keep sending in applications because eventually something will work out and it will be amazing okay fourth thing and this is something that uh I think some people discover the hard way but don't feel compelled to rush straight into uh your graduate work when you finish your undergrad as a biology student I think there are some people that have this notion that uh their career path needs to be very very linear right that they're moving straight into uh graduate work so they can in turn uh do you know postgraduate uh stuff or you'll be hired by an agency in some capacity and so I think that that mythology of the way wildlife positions uh should work sometimes will do people a disservice I think people will rush into their masters without actually um creating the the background of standing the nature of field work and what needs to be done as a field biologist because they rush into it too quickly they end up being less capable as a wildlife biologist than they would have had they taken a few years off and lived the uh field technician life of going from from place to place and uh you know picking up new pieces of experience and seeing projects that work projects that don't work and using that to tell them what they should do when they're doing their grad work if they have a you know field component out there and so the fifth and final thing that I've learned as a wildlife biologist is that this field needs you this field really needs people who care about the continued existence of the natural world in something resembling a pristine state who thinks that nature by its nature has value it needs people who are willing to go through the the struggles and the the non-traditional lifestyles sometimes required of the field and who really think that it's still worth it right who really really love being in the natural world and seeing all that it has to offer and working hard to help assure a better future than we would have without it. Kalpasi's a turkey. And so if you're thinking about becoming a wildlife biologist I wholeheartedly recommend doing it it's been I think by far the the best decision I've made in my life just to realize that this field exists and to live a world where I can actually experience nature firsthand and not only experience nature firsthand in its raw form but I can actually get paid you can make money to be outside and to look for wildlife and to live that rugged existence and that I think is just an astonishing fact and I think that the more people who are willing to live that kind of life who are who want to experience the wildlife firsthand and help work to manage and help conserve and save the wild species absolutely I recommend doing it. Thanks for watching everyone and if you haven't yet please remember to subscribe down below