Jennifer Davis

 

Jennifer Davis became a Tracking Intern with the International Crane Foundation (ICF) in summer 2010. Driving a tracking vehicle and using radio telemetry, Jen will help track Whooping cranes in the new Eastern flock cranes on their fall and spring migrations.

While Jen is working as a Tracking Intern, she is finishing up her Masters in Zoo Management at Michigan State University. She likes making connections between the environment and people, so conservation was a natural focus for her energy. She previously worked in zoos doing everything from office work to keeping. Some of her favorite animals to work with at the zoo were birds and cats.

She didn’t have previous experience with cranes when she started as a Direct Autumn Release Intern, but she knew a little bit about animal behavior, and really enjoyed working with birds in the past. She also thought it would be amazing to train birds from hatching so they could be released into the wild, working to restore a wild population.

Jen had only a limited amount of tracking experience before she became the tracking intern. She learned a little about tracking the cranes during her time as a DAR intern, but everything before that came from tracking Blanding’s turtles in Toronto, Canada.

"My desire to help the survival of wildlife in their natural habitats is drives me to keep working in conservation," Jen told Journey North. "I want most out of life to make a positive difference for other species who share this planet. If this Eastern Whooping crane population is successful (by that, I mean it can eventually survive with limited—or even better, without—human management), I will be able to say that I helped. I made the world a more beautiful place."



Journey North is pleased to feature this educational adventure made possible by the Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership (WCEP).