Houston ChandlerViews:
Much of the work that we do is driven by the dedication and hard work of early-career biologists in seasonal technician positions. Herpetology-focused fieldwork often occurs in short bursts to align with the activity patterns of target species. For example, we hire seasonal staff every year to assist with Eastern Indigo Snake surveys, allowing us to visit more sites than would otherwise be possible. Such positions can provide valuable field experience and an introduction into the often-challenging field of natural resources conservation.
Over the last two years, Kira Cates and Emma Kendrick have contributed to projects ranging from Spotted Turtle monitoring to Eastern Indigo Snake and Gopher Tortoise surveys. Below, they share some of their favorite experiences and lessons learned from their time in the field.
— Houston Chandler
Kira Cates
From Weekend Surveys to a Career in Herpetology
After spending nearly two years working at The Orianne Society, it is safe to say that I have grown as a professional in the field of biology and herpetology, but I have also grown and changed as a person.
Upon securing my first position here—a part-time role where I spent my weekends assisting on generalized herp surveys—I was still incredibly new. I had all of the eagerness of a young girl who had finally secured a working path into the field she had always dreamed of, but quickly realized that there was much I needed to learn.
From understanding life history strategies and extensive capture methods to developing a deeper understanding of what it takes to plan and execute a successful study, there was no shortage of things I needed to study in order to excel at my job. However, knowing the coveted position I was in, I made sure to capitalize on my time there, as I had no way of knowing how long it might last.
Even about the most mundane aspects of the job, I was constantly asking questions:
“Why do we set traps this way?”
“What sort of environmental parameters affect the movement of this species?”
“What does the data we are collecting here get used for, exactly?”
I was on a mission to gain as much knowledge as I could because I wanted to ensure I had the best possible chance of continuing to work in this field.
That is why, when offered a full-time seasonal position as a Spotted Turtle technician, I readily accepted.
Becoming a Spotted Turtle Technician
As the Spotted Turtle technician, I continued to learn, though it was now at the expedited rate that working full-time allows for. I’ve written about my experience on this project more thoroughly in a previous blog, but I spent countless hours trapping, tracking, and searching for Spotted Turtles and their nests. This was no small task, as these iconic little turtles are rather painstaking to locate, and spotting their quarter-sized nests in the midst of poison ivy-covered wetlands was even more difficult.
However, the practical experience I got in the field during this project was invaluable, and I totally fell in love with Spotted Turtles. I became increasingly independent as I learned to navigate all of the intricacies and obstacles that fieldwork tends to throw your way. Many weeks were spent alone, with no one to keep me company but my beloved turtles that I was so diligently taking data on. The weeks that I wasn’t alone were usually spent with a likely familiar face to those reading this blog, Research Assistant Ben Stegenga. For many months, we spent more time with each other than we did with anyone else as we trudged through the wetlands, braving briars, mosquitoes, and, much to Ben’s chagrin, the mid-summer Georgia heat.
He quickly became a mentor to me, and when we weren’t arguing (in good nature, of course), he shared his years of experience and knowledge with me as I continued to plague him with more endless questions. We often spent our time beyond work volunteering on other projects with collaborators and searching for various herp species, all of which were incredible learning opportunities. During our outings, we would also stop to observe and discuss all manner of invertebrates, as well as the occasional fish, bird, or plant. This greatly appealed to my curious nature, as I have always found myself immensely fascinated by all wild things and the relationships between them.
As I gained this knowledge, my confidence began to grow as well. After becoming more confident not only in my general knowledge of herpetofauna, but also in my knowledge of Spotted Turtles, I managed to detect the first recorded instance of a Spotted Turtle clutching four times in a single season. This was definitely a highlight for me, and we drafted a natural history note about it, which I was rather pleased with.
Eastern Indigo Snakes and a Difficult Drought Season
As the seasons changed, the air became cooler, and the Spotted Turtle project came to an end, I began working with a new species: the Eastern Indigo Snake. Though I would miss my turtles, I was more than happy with this transition, as Indigo Snakes are my favorite species. Unfortunately, the extreme drought in the Southeast would make for an incredibly difficult season. Despite this, I still made many good memories and learned a practical lesson in tenacity—seriously, going on dozens of fruitless surveys can be quite disheartening.
However, even no data is good data to have, as they say, and my ultimate goal was to further conservation goals by gaining a deeper understanding of their populations, not just to go see snakes. This difficult season made the instances where I was able to see Indigo Snakes incredibly special. Each one felt like an earned accomplishment, and I cherished every moment I got to spend with them. Even more special were the times when I was able to bring volunteers and other researchers out into the field to search for these magnificent animals and share in their excitement upon seeing them.
Perhaps the most sentimental moment (which is saying something for someone as sentimental as I am) was the day we captured a large male that turned out to be the very first Eastern Indigo Snake I had ever seen nearly a year to the day prior. It is always particularly moving for me to see animals again after long periods of time between capture events, knowing that they must have faced so much and yet succeeded enough to survive. Eventually, the Indigo season came to an end, and I went on to work on my final project with Orianne with a familiar species: the Spotted Turtle.
When the Water Disappeared
My last few months of employment consisted of Spotted Turtle population monitoring and scouting across several states in the Southeast—or at least, that was how it was supposed to play out. Unfortunately, the drought from Indigo season held strong, leaving very little water to set traps in. Aside from a few long-term sites that retained water for part of the season, I found no Spotted Turtles this season. I spent a great deal of time slogging through mud (and falling into invisible, chest-deep mud holes) while carrying a burdensome load of supplies and traps, often pulling them at the end of the week with no turtles to show for it.
However, one of the few sites at which I found turtles was the same one where I had previously tracked reproductive females. Luckily, I managed to see all seven of the females I had tracked previously, as well as quite a few juveniles and males that I recognized. It was both incredibly rewarding and relieving to see that they had survived to see another season despite the drought.
Even my turtle-less endeavors were not totally fruitless. Aside from the unique environmental information we were able to catalog because of the drought, I was also able to see a handful of unique and interesting species, including various snakes and invertebrates. For instance, a Say’s Spiketail Dragonfly, a threatened species in Georgia, landed on me during a survey as I watched another one fly through the wetland—an incident I was sure to report to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.
Trading Waders for Gopher Tortoises
After unsuccessfully attempting to circumvent the drought for a while, we eventually shifted focus to a project that did not require water to complete: Gopher Tortoise surveys. These surveys, aimed at understanding Gopher Tortoise populations on conservation lands, took me back to the sandhills, where I traded my waders for gaiters and my traps for a burrow camera scope. In teams of three, we spent the days walking transects and scoping tortoise burrows.
Though this could get hot and exhausting at times, it is always a treat to see inside the burrows. Considering that Gopher Tortoise burrows provide habitat for over 300 different species, there is always something unique and interesting to see (aside from the tortoises themselves, of course). On top of that, there was a plethora of wildlife to be encountered outside the burrow, including an Eastern Diamondback, an Eastern Hognose, multiple Coachwhips, Scoliid wasps, ovipositing robberflies, and various hawks, passerines, and turkeys with the most adorable chicks.
It is in the midst of conducting these surveys that I am writing this, just days before leaving, and I already find myself looking forward to the next chapter in my life while also feeling incredibly sad to be leaving.
Looking Ahead
My time at The Orianne Society has allowed me opportunities and experiences that have shaped how I view conservation, ecosystems, and the natural world, while also showing me areas where I need to grow. As they say, “the more you learn, the more you realize how little you know.” I, for one, look forward to continuing my journey as a student of the natural world and learning just how little I actually know.
End Note
I have also met many lifelong friends and people who have inspired me, guided me, and educated me, some (definitely not all) of whom I would like to thank here: Kiley, for being the first to give me the opportunity to work for this organization; Tyler, for all the music and jokes we shared; Delana, for being the one person I’ve ever been able to relate my strange food habits to; Catherine, for teaching me more about the Muppets than I ever knew possible; Andrea, for your enduring compassion and endless humor; Emma, for your honesty and all of our fun girls’ nights; Houston, for always being willing to answer questions and offer advice; and Ben, for always encouraging my curiosity and believing in me, and also for all our time spent nerding out together over bugs and, of course, herps.
Emma Kendrick
Coming Back
Sometimes you get a seasonal position with an organization that you admire, your coworkers become good friends, and you get to do really cool and challenging work. Then the season ends, and you move on to the next thing.
…And sometimes, you get to go back.
After probably my fifth or sixth “it was such a tough choice, you were in our top three, but we’ve decided to go with another candidate” in six months, I was feeling pretty beat down. About five minutes after updating Andrea on my most recent rejection, however, she responded with, “Well… would you wanna come back for Spotted Turtles again?”
And I mean, how could I say no?
Returning to Familiar Wetlands
I was excited to visit new properties this season, as well as revisit some sites and put traps in wetlands that I found while exploring last year. There were also a few spots I trapped toward the end of last season that I wanted to try again earlier in the year when they would have more water.
Well, joke’s on me there, I guess.
Ironically, working on the Spotted Turtle project during a drought actually meant I saw more Spotted Turtles this season than last year, since the only places that reliably held water were our long-term monitoring sites. I am even now tied with Ben for the Orianne record for the most Spotted Turtles caught in a single day.
I really enjoyed returning to those familiar places and seeing some familiar faces. I probably wouldn’t have understood it if I weren’t in this line of work, but you really do come to know the personalities of individual turtles, and there are several that I can identify at a glance (still always check the notch codes, of course).
Surprises at Long-Term Monitoring Sites
Even within a well-monitored, long-term site, there are always surprises.
For example, this year I caught a Spotted Turtle in a plot that, despite being trapped multiple times each season, hadn’t turned up a turtle in the last few years. That served as a good reminder that there is always more to learn if we want to better understand this species.
I was also pleasantly surprised by how many new turtles, both young and old, we continue to record at these long-term sites where you’d think, “Surely, we have to have notched almost every turtle here.”
Arguably just as exciting as catching a new turtle is finding one that was first notched a decade ago and hasn’t been recaptured in a while. It is a much-needed dose of hope to see that, in spite of everything working against them, some of these little guys are finding a way.
A Shift to Gopher Tortoises
Alas, you can only trap a long-term site so many times in a season, and even those dried up around our last visits. With no water left to put our traps in, we shifted gears to Gopher Tortoise surveys.
Now, I will not lie and say that this has been my favorite fieldwork to do. Trying to walk in straight lines through often less-than-ideal habitat, looking for burrows in sweltering temperatures (sometimes going the whole day without seeing so much as an anole), is not an activity I would necessarily recommend for fun.
It has, however, been a great opportunity for me to gain some really valuable new skills and knowledge, including becoming “proficient at scoping burrows” (-Ben Stegenga).
No job is all fun and games, but even though it’s hard work, I am still very thankful to have been doing something that I know will help inform the conservation of such an important species. Even on the most miserable days, no one on the team could help but smile every time we caught a Gopher Tortoise scurrying through its burrow on camera.
The Best Part: The People
Despite the difficult conditions, another highlight for me this year was getting to spend a lot more time actually working alongside my coworkers instead of all being split up at different sites for the whole season. We even got Houston out in the field on multiple occasions!
The fact that Kira and I were on the same project this time meant we got to spend more than just weekends together, and there was really something special about the days when Andrea was also with us.
It is not very common, especially in the herpetology world, that you get to be on a team of all women. I am so grateful to have been around such fun and caring people at Orianne, and feel lucky to also get to call them my friends.
Looking Back
This season certainly did not go how I thought it would, but when does fieldwork ever go as planned anyway?
I truly learned a lot, and I’m so glad the universe decided to bring me back.
