Ghost Bird
Dec. 12th, 2012 06:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pacificpikachuI watched the documentary Ghost Bird today, about the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker. I've done quite a bit of reading on the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker (hereafter IBW), but I felt this documentary was a great summary of the known information and debate, plus some extra insight in regards to conservation and extinction in general. I highly recommend checking it out.
Again, I think my hormones played a part because normally not everything makes me want to cry, but I teared up in several scenes and I don't think that was entirely hormones. I'm very invested in conservation, and birds specifically are close to my heart, so this hit home for me. I don't think the IBW is still alive--I really don't, with what I've read, seen, and heard, and analyzing the material myself--but I can so keenly understand why people get so emotional about this bird, and why the hope for it being still alive is important to many people. There are Pileated Woodpeckers around my dad's house, and even they, who are a common species and nowhere near as large as the IBW was, are such incredible birds to see. I can only imagine how breathtaking seeing an IBW must have been. Hearing about the studies of Tanner and the firsthand experiences of his still-living wife, from before the bird went extinct, particularly moved me.
It makes me want to become an ornithologist, which I have considered on multiple occasions, but unfortunately it still requires a ton of college (you basically need a Masters or PhD, and in undergraduate, several of the same courses I got stuck on while being pre-vet) and in my current state of health, that feels impossible to me. I have such an incredible love of birds, and fairly extensive knowledge of them considering. Having done wildlife rehab for years, that gives you a much more intimate and detailed look at wild birds than anyone else really gets to have, including many of the scientists with high degrees. I have seen these birds firsthand, in my own home. I have fed them, raised them from just a few days old, learned their behaviors, vocalizations, and natural history, and I have watched them fly away when the time came, hoping that I'd done a good enough job for them to survive. Hundreds of birds from dozens of species, over the years. When I was in my Zoology class, you could not get me to shut up during the Ornithology section. I even brought in young dead birds from my freezer to show the growth of feather tracts and generally allow my classmates to observe these young birds. I'm currently not actively rehabbing for obvious reasons, and rehabbing takes so much dedication, but I think back to what I learned and experienced often. It was inspiring and it was heartbreaking, all at once.
I know I'm bright enough to do all these studies--I have excellent long-term retention of learned knowledge--but unfortunately, with not enough energy, a muddled mind, and virtually no motivation/work ethic, that means my ambitions for the time are extremely limited. I would so love to study birds for a living, though, whether as a veterinarian, an ornithologist, a professor, or whatever else. I just don't know if it's possible for me to get there for now. So, for now I suppose I'll just settle for "studying" my poultry and other birds at home, and birdwatching periodically when I get a chance. My mom and I will probably go birdwatching sometime soon, in the next few weeks I hope.
Again, I think my hormones played a part because normally not everything makes me want to cry, but I teared up in several scenes and I don't think that was entirely hormones. I'm very invested in conservation, and birds specifically are close to my heart, so this hit home for me. I don't think the IBW is still alive--I really don't, with what I've read, seen, and heard, and analyzing the material myself--but I can so keenly understand why people get so emotional about this bird, and why the hope for it being still alive is important to many people. There are Pileated Woodpeckers around my dad's house, and even they, who are a common species and nowhere near as large as the IBW was, are such incredible birds to see. I can only imagine how breathtaking seeing an IBW must have been. Hearing about the studies of Tanner and the firsthand experiences of his still-living wife, from before the bird went extinct, particularly moved me.
It makes me want to become an ornithologist, which I have considered on multiple occasions, but unfortunately it still requires a ton of college (you basically need a Masters or PhD, and in undergraduate, several of the same courses I got stuck on while being pre-vet) and in my current state of health, that feels impossible to me. I have such an incredible love of birds, and fairly extensive knowledge of them considering. Having done wildlife rehab for years, that gives you a much more intimate and detailed look at wild birds than anyone else really gets to have, including many of the scientists with high degrees. I have seen these birds firsthand, in my own home. I have fed them, raised them from just a few days old, learned their behaviors, vocalizations, and natural history, and I have watched them fly away when the time came, hoping that I'd done a good enough job for them to survive. Hundreds of birds from dozens of species, over the years. When I was in my Zoology class, you could not get me to shut up during the Ornithology section. I even brought in young dead birds from my freezer to show the growth of feather tracts and generally allow my classmates to observe these young birds. I'm currently not actively rehabbing for obvious reasons, and rehabbing takes so much dedication, but I think back to what I learned and experienced often. It was inspiring and it was heartbreaking, all at once.
I know I'm bright enough to do all these studies--I have excellent long-term retention of learned knowledge--but unfortunately, with not enough energy, a muddled mind, and virtually no motivation/work ethic, that means my ambitions for the time are extremely limited. I would so love to study birds for a living, though, whether as a veterinarian, an ornithologist, a professor, or whatever else. I just don't know if it's possible for me to get there for now. So, for now I suppose I'll just settle for "studying" my poultry and other birds at home, and birdwatching periodically when I get a chance. My mom and I will probably go birdwatching sometime soon, in the next few weeks I hope.
