Her name is Maddy Killian, she's a bisexual scientist, working to get back into conservation. She went to Penn State for Wildlife and Fishery Sciences. She worked a lot while in school at the Penn State Deer Research Center, where she did a few small scale studies as well as cared for the deer. One of small studies she helped in was when she collected stool from the deer and sent it to the Smithsonian to see if they could actually identify the plant by the DNA in the stool.
After that she worked under a Wildlife Biologist on the Shaw Airforce Base. There, she helped in conservation efforts to aid the endangered Red-cockaded Woodpecker (RCW). She helped to put up new nest boxes, created natural cavities, replaced old boxes, and did a lot of bird banding. She banded the RCWs as well as some other birds that the team caught in mist nets on joint base Ft. Jackson. She also did a lot of fledgling tracking. After the RCWs hatch and are banded, the team came back later to watch and see if they could identify how many of the brood survived. They were able to identify individual birds by the unique band pattern that they put on their legs.
Maddy also aided the Wildland Fire Team in prepping fire trails and other areas that were to undergo a controlled burn. The team did this in order to keep the underbrush clear, since RCWs prefer a clear understory. She operated a mulcher in some areas to grind down hardwood trees, like many oaks, since the birds preferred live pines. When natural cavities were made, she got to use a gas powered drill to drill create the nest cavity. Otherwise the team was smashing old nest boxes with a hammer to be replaced or taking a chainsaw up a tree to cut out a space for a new nest. The way they all climbed the trees was a lot of fun too. Maddy never went much higher than 20 feet, but that is because she would be using stacking ladders that stick in and are secured by a chain that is wrapped around the tree.
Unfortunately her time at Shaw was a short term job, like many who start out in this field. She worked at the National Institute of Health in their animal labs for a while before the pandemic. It was alright work, but it wasn't where she wants to be.
You can check out more of Maddy and what she does on her Twitter: @KsIrishRed
