Job Description: Technician needed approximately May 1 –Jul 31 2015 to assist M.S. graduate student from Colorado State University (CSU) to investigate the effects of an invasive shrub on riparian bird habitat use and food web interactions. Fieldwork is located in the Piceance Basin on Colorado’s western slope. Primary duties will include conducting bird point count surveys, mist netting, bird banding, taking weight and body measurements, fecal and feather sample collection, aging/sexing using a Pyle guide, and vegetation surveys. Additional duties may include assisting with passerine nest searching and monitoring, acoustic bat monitoring using detectors, and invertebrate sampling. Applicants must have an interest in avian biology and conservation, strong bird ID skills, and high proficiency with mist netting and banding. Accommodation (likely mobile home or field house) will be provided for the duration of the field season, and the schedule is expected to consist of 10 days of fieldwork with 4 days off in between. A field vehicle will be provided during work hours but applicants may want a personal vehicle for use on days off. Salary will be $1300-1600/month, depending on experience. This position provides the opportunity to work in beautiful riparian areas of western Colorado, contribute to conservation on private lands, enhance field research skill sets, and interact with researchers at CSU, a highly-respected institution for natural resources research.
Required Skills: Extensive mist-netting and banding experience (banding >~500 passerines), preferably in riparian areas and/or in the western US. Competitive applicants will have more than one season of mist netting experience, with high proficiency extracting birds from nets, banding, aging and sexing using a Pyle guide. Applicants should possess enough banding experience to qualify as a sub-permittee on a federal banding permit. Must possess an ability to identify western birds by sight and sound, with previous experience conducting bird surveys (point count or transects) and estimating detection distances. Additional Preferred Skills/Qualities: Experience nest searching and monitoring passerine nests, riparian vegetation identification skills, experience using bat detectors. Desirable personal qualities include an ability to take initiative, attention to detail, adaptability, and ability to work long hours and live in a remote field setting. TO APPLY: Please send a letter of interest, resume, and contact information for 3 references in a single PDF document with file name “applicant’s last name_riparian” to: Lani Stinson (lani.stin...@colostate.edu). Letters should highlight the specific qualifications mentioned in the posting (including # passerines extracted/banded, # seasons/duration mist netting, # seasons/duration bird survey experience). Applications will be reviewed as received but will not be considered after 31 March 2015. Website: http://warnercnr.colostate.edu/fwcb-home
