Now that my time with EFTA is coming to a close, I have been scouring the internet for possible job opportunities. I am noticing more and more how desired it is to have a specialty. While I always considered my broad range of experience a good thing, I'm starting to realize that in the career field I would be more valuable with what they refer to as specialized experience. This is hard for me to accept, as my interests seem to be all over the map these days. I have wanted to study Rocky Mountain Elk, Brown Trout, Pronghorn Antelope, and even feeding habits of Mule Deer. My curiosity for wildlife as a whole has always been broad, and so I jumped around from many different areas of conservation to fulfill those interests. That's how I ended up with EFTA!
When I began this program, I had no idea I would find myself so enthralled with shorebirds. Now, however, I find myself wanting to know everything about them and direct my career towards their conservation. That's one of the cool things about this internship – I might have never known how much I cared about birds like the Snowy Plover or the Spotted Sandpiper had I stuck to what I already knew. But because of my work in Alamosa with EFTA and the BLM, I've been lucky enough to realize that not only do I need to find a specialty, I would be more than happy to make that specialty a migratory bird related one. It's funny how things work out like that.