During the summer of 2025, I spent 3 months surveying and nest searching for the Brewer's Sparrow, Sagebrush Sparrow, and Sage Thrasher in Southwest Wyoming. This project was in collaboration with the University of Wyoming and the Wyoming Cooperative Fish & Wildlife Research Unit. This job also required learning and understanding each of the study species unique behaviors during breeding and nesting season. This gave me lots of observational experience when it comes to behavior. I learned about having patience to figure out if individual birds might have nests nearby or are building one. I was able to get lots of hands-on experience in this job (because we had such an awesome crew lead) and have helped band about a young nestlings and watched many more be banded. We worked alongside natural gas and oil well pads, alongside BLM open range cattle. This project has been going on since 2008 and is geared toward understanding population densities of the study species with varying density of natural gas and oil infrastructure nearby. This project required nest searching for 8 hours a day and conducting follow-ups for found nests by gathering data on egg, chick, and fledgling success. In addition, wildlife cameras are set on nests to monitor predation events and to collect data on arthropods being fed to chicks. Near the end of the season, vegetation surveys are conducted to determine preference of sagebrush and location. This project is looking at the population success, predation events, and food types relevant to sagebrush songbirds living near well pads. Research areas consisted of high density of well pads to no density.
I filmed my coworkers during this field season on the weekends and my days off, and am currently editing a short film about them. These stills are from my film, and some are photos I took during the season.
Ethics disclaimer: The photos of nestlings, eggs, and nests were taken alongside field technicians with the University of Wyoming research team. Photos/videos were taken during the same duration as our nests checks, lasting no more than a minute or two, before moving 30-60 meters away to take notes and allow the brooding adult to return to the nest. There was no disturbance to chicks, eggs, or the environment they called home. Standard protocol for nest checks includes "flushing" of the brooding adult to check chick progress.
