Paul Smith’s students practice field techniques and more

The Paul Smith’s College Student Chapter of The Wildlife Society has been busy this past semester! During our second meeting, we had the wonderful Mark Manske of Adirondack Raptors come in and talk to members about his research with saw whet owls. Our members were then able to sign up to volunteer to catch, band, and take measurement of these adorable little owls!

Eight members attended The Wildlife Society’s 24^th Annual Conference for a week where our advisor and chapter president, Dr. Ross Conover and Ashley Hodge, presented posters on their research. Our members attended talks presented by wildlife professionals from all over North America and participated in Quiz Bowl, where we unfortunately lost in the second round.

Following the week-long adventure in Albuquerque, we held a workshop on mist netting with Dr. Ross Conover and also played a game of telemetry hide-and-seek in the cold Upstate New York rain. Bobby O’Connor, a recreation professor at our college, came in a week later and talked to members about survival in the field and what to pack when you head out in the woods. Following the talk with Bobby, our own Dr. Curt Stager gave his “Human Heritage” presentation, where he talked about the roots of humans in the Adirondack Park.

In spring, we plan on having Dr. Eric Simandle discuss graduate school with members, as well as hold a job seeking and resume workshop. We are also looking forward to holding a series of student talks so members, and other members of our community, can hear about students’ summer work experiences in the field!

This article originally appeared in the Northeast Section of The Wildlife Society’s December 2017 newsletter.