MontanaNatureMama: Wildlife Ramblings

On a side note this in my 200th post! Wow! Hard to believe I have written 200 blog posts!
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I am posting this random rambling to remind myself of what I love and who I am deep beneath the titles of "Addison and Landon's Mommy" or "Dylan's Wife". Please, do not get me wrong. I am grateful that I have two amazing babies who call me Mamma and whenever someone calls me "Dylan's Wife" I know I gleam with pride. When I take care of my family and naturally put them first, it is easy to forget who Brandi was. I never want to forget my dreams and what makes Brandi, Brandi. Without these baseline qualities and without doing something to keep my dreams alive I will not be able to be the very best mother and wife. These ramblings are probably so confusing! But I get it! Writing it down helps me to work through possible internal frustrations.

Swainson Hawk Research

Unhappy Swainson Hawk Mamma

Osprey Chick Research

Osprey Chick - even as chicks those talons and beaks are very tricky to work with!

My passion is working hands-on with wildlife. I enjoy watching them in their natural habitat, making observations about their behavior and photographing them. After one semester of college I fleeted off to Hawaii to follow my dream of becoming a marine mammal biologist. I ALWAYS pictured myself in a wet suit, holding a camera or clip board, aboard a small research vessel, bouncing through waves off the coast of Washington or Alaska - tracking 'my' orca pod. After returning home from my Hawaiian adventure before making my dream come true, for reasons that don't matter, I earned a bachelor's of arts in biology with an option in zoological sciences with a minor in psychology from the University of Montana. I have always wanted to work with wildlife - getting my hands dirty promoting conservation and understanding. I believe that what is natural deserves to be protected. I am "one of those" who supports the wolf; as a natural part of our ecosystem, I believe the wolf deserves to be there as much as any other animal, predator or not.

I feel great pride when my Grandpa Dave tells people I am a wildlife biologist. Although not entirely accurate as I have actually never been a paid biologist, all my research assistant work has been volunteer, in my heart I am a wildlife biologist.

I have worked with a wide variety of wild, captured and domesticated animals. I have assisted with hawk, osprey, owl, small rodent and elk calf research projects. I have trained and performed with parrots, raptors and exotic birds including emu's and pelicans. Yes, performed! I had a script and everything. I was a bird show intern at a Utah aviary. Besides working with, getting to know their individual personalilties and caring for a wide variety of awesome birds, this was my worst nightmare. Beautiful birds of prey, exotic parrots and rare flighted bald and golden eagles in small cages being asked to perform silly behaviors. While gobbs of children tried to knock passing birds out of the air. Me learning a ridiculous script trying to engage those same children who, I am sure, heard nothing that I said, expect, "Don't feed the macaw. He can break a broom stick in half and could do the same to your fingers." Yikes. I could not get out of there quick enough.

A lot of the birds were in the aviary because they are no longer able to live in the wild due to being hit by a car or wounded by a bullet that was meant to kill them. I can't imagine a Red-Tailed Hawk sailing above the earth on a warm air current searching for a rabbit or snake and then suddenly in a 4 x 4 foot mew (fancy word for cage), being forced to soar from a lifted dog kennel to a post and landing on a small bit of white mouse as an award. The positive part was I quickly learned that I did not want to work in an aviary or zoo environment.

I appreciate the educational aspects of these facilities. I have seen my daughter's face light up seeing a lemur or grizzly bear up close and even I get all gooey seeing dolphins, giraffes and hippos. I know that a child seeing a great ape in a zoo may inspire that child later in life to support conservation projects, but I know I prefer observing animals in the wild. Some people say, "An animal does not have the capacity to know that they are in a zoo. They do not 'miss' the wild. They have established a home, a niche, a territory. Whether it is within the walls of a zoo or in the wild - it doesn't matter to them." I absolutely do not believe this. A tiger does not want a carcass hand delivered to his concrete territory. He wants and needs to hunt - to stalk, to pounce, to kill. He needs to find a mate, raise a litter, establish a territory based on needs. He needs more than the bare necessities to keep him breathing. Living in a zoo, in my opinion, is not 'easier' for the animal and not preferred. One of the first things you learn as a zoologist is to not anthropomorphise animals - do not assign human emotions or human attributes to animals. I have never been good at this! I do not assign animals numbers, I give them names. I talk about animal emotion and feel I can recognize emotion in animals.

I would love to be involved with a rescue facility. One who takes in injured wildlife, rehabilitates them and releases them back to the wild. I have always wanted to work at a marine mammal rescue facility. Maybe one day we will live on a coast and I will get that chance! If we don't make a huge life change and move to the coast, another huge dream of mine is to open my own rescue/rehab facility.

And welcome to the random ramblings of me! Where was I? I have worked with dogs in a cageless boarding and daycare environment. I had up to 90 dogs at a time. I worked the night shift while going to school. I was in the facility alone at night caring for the dogs and cleaning. After my job duties were completed I would curl up on the bed with whatever dog wanted to join me and study. Sometimes I could have 10 dogs all around me. I loved it. We had a lot of regular dogs. This is where I fell in love with pugs. One pug who was there a lot was so funny. He would get all the big dogs to chase him by picking up a ball and would run in big circles around the facility. When he got tired or when he feared they would catch him he would jump up into my arms! One night he got mad at me because I did not allow him up onto my bed for whatever reason. Normally he would sleep next to me on my pillow. To get back at me he peed on my pillow!

After college, I applied for a dog handling job. The dogs were scent trained to track an invasive, over-populated snake species in Guam. I did not get the job. I cannot even imagine how different my life would be if I had moved to Guam. I still think of doing this kind of work, using trained dogs for conservation projects. Very interesting!

When I lived in Hawaii I was a educational docent at the Sea Life Park in Hawaii. I worked with kids, introducing them to the touch pool. I taught them about Hawaii's touchable sea life - sea stars, sea urchins, sting rays, sea cucumbers. I loved this so much and so did the kids. At this park I also participated in feeding dolphins and sea birds and I assisting in training penguins. I cried when I first when to this facility. I introduced myself to the dolphin trainer after the dolphin show. He brought me up to the deck and introduced me to his dolphins and penguins. I really felt like all my dreams were coming true. It was a magical moment I will never forget.

I still do not know what I want to be when I grow up. Not exactly anyway. I feel myself being pulled into many directions and I find it extremely difficult to focus my passions into one career. I love research. I love conservation. I love animal training. I love rescue and rehab. I love travel. I would love to live abroad and study exotic places. I also love children. I love teaching children about nature. I know I would enjoy working with horses to help children with physical and mental therapy. Some where I have the drive and motivation to pick one thing and give it all I have. Right now my motivation is being the very best mother to my children. And I could not love my job more!

The owl biologist I used to work with, a mentor, once told me you cannot be a biologist, a women and have a family. With the traveling that is often required of a biologist and needing the freedom to completely devote yourself to your projects for months or years at a time, I understand how it is hard to have both. I told him I did not believe that. I was determined to prove him wrong. I was a biologist and I always wanted to be a mother and a wife. There has to be some sort of balance. And I am determined to figure out what that balance is.

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Below is a small sampling of my wildlife photos: