DEADLINE Thursday FEBRUARY 15, 2018
This internship is jointly funded by the Center for Careers and Internships and Environmental Affairs. We have been funding this opportunity for many years.
Location: Southern and mid-coast Maine at an island field camp
Compensation: $350/week with food provided. Shared housing provided when on the mainland; camping is required at Island field sites.
Position Description:
Audubon’s Seabird Restoration Program operates seven island field stations along the Maine coast as critical seabird nesting sanctuaries. Research Interns will work under the direction of the Island Supervisor, participating in all aspects of seabird research, monitoring, and management that take place at the field station. The majority of research projects focus on studying the nesting success and foods fed to seabird chicks,most work focuses on terns, but depending of field site, other species studied may include: guillemots, puffins, and or razorbills. with most work focusing on terns. Work includes, but is not limited to: conducting population censuses, monitoring productivity and chick growth; conducting seabird diet studies; banding and re-sighting birds; removing invasive vegetation; educating island visitors; and assisting with predator management.
Research Interns will live on island (a single island or group of islands) for the duration of the field season. Interns assigned to inshore islands will have occasional trips to the mainland for logistics and resupplying the field camp, returning to the islands to work and sleep. On offshore islands, food, supplies, and mail are delivered approximately every 2 weeks. Research Interns on off shore islands will remain offshore for approximately eleven weeks. In a tern colony, the birds are loud, and in defense of their nests, terns will dive-bomb anyone moving through the colony. Living conditions on the islands are rustic. A cabin or wall tent serves as the base of field operations, and field team members sleep in their own tents (wooden tent platforms provided). Island field stations have limited electricity (solar panels power research needs), propane stoves, composting toilets, and no running water (rainwater is collected for washing; drinking water is brought from the mainland). Communications with the mainland are via cell or VOIP phone, depending on location, with VHF radios available as a back-up mode of communication. There is no internet access. Cooking, cleaning, and camp maintenance duties are shared by all island team members.
To see more information about this internship, please go to Handshake here: https://middlebury.joinhandshake.com/jobs/1333828?ref=16-dashboard