March 2002
Water Conservation Area 3A

I was employed primarily to assist a graduate student as a field technician to conduct White Ibis, Eudocimus albus,
research in the water conservation areas of the Florida Everglades.  Field work included:  Transporting and lauching
air boats in various conservation areas of the Florida Everglades.  Piloting air boats.  Surveying for White Ibis and
other wading birds using air boats, GPS, and fixed wing aircraft.  White Ibis nest searching and monitoring to
determine clutch size, the number of chicks, nest success, and fecundity.  Taking morphometric measurements
(weight, wing chord, culmen, and tarsus), bleeding (for sexing), and feather sampling (for mercury analysis) of nestlings.  
Fitting radio transmitters onto juveniles.  Radio telemetry (Advanced Telemetry Systems and Telonics) from the ground,
air boats, and fixed wing aircraft to determine fledgling survivorship and dispersal patterns.  Data entry.  Adult Anhinga,
Anhinga anhinga,  trapping using remote-controlled nest traps.  Morphometric analysis, bleeding, and feather
sampling of Anhingas and Wood Storks, Mycteria americana. Fitting satellite/radio transmitters onto juvenile Wood
Storks.

JD and I are near the Alley North tree island conducting radio telemetry for the previous year's fledglings.  
Many air boats have airplane engines.  Magnetos, which