Students from Purdue Forestry and Natural Resources took their classroom knowledge to the field for summer internships and paid positions across the country, gaining valuable experience, hands-on training and career guidance. The FNR Field Reports series offers updates from those individuals as their positions draw to a close.
Sophomore wildlife major and forest ecosystems minor Lydia Pultorak worked as a Bird Atlas field technician in the coastal region of North Carolina.
The Brazil, Indiana, native found the position on several job boards, but also heard about it from a friend who worked for the North Carolina Bird Atlas last year.
The purpose of bird atlases is to document where bird species are breeding in a particular region. Finding a bird nest (especially with eggs or young) provides the highest level of proof that the species is breeding there.
Once in the role, Lydia left the house every day around 5 a.m. to conduct bird surveys, in which she would document breeding behavior such as nest building, territoriality and adults feeding young birds. Most of these surveys were conducted on land owned by timber companies or along roadsides, but some survey work was completed via kayak, observing birds from the water.
“One big takeaway from this position was learning how to observe and interpret bird behavior,” Lydia shared. “For example, due to the large numbers of Red-winged Blackbirds that I encountered, I became very familiar with finding their nests. If it's the breeding season and there are Red-winged Blackbirds in an area with tall grass near water, they are almost surely nesting nearby. After finding a few of them, I would look specifically for a female bird. If I saw her carrying nesting material or food, I'd see her fly straight to the
nest. Otherwise, I would wait to see a female bird flying out of the grass giving an alarmed call, then go to where she flew from, and there was always a nest. I really enjoyed seeing different stages of this species' breeding cycle, from a nest in the process of being built, to eggs (a beautiful blue with brown drizzles!), and little, feathery babies.”
In addition to learning the behaviors of the Red-winged blackbirds, Lydia also enjoyed the many aspects of her position.
“My favorite parts of the job were searching for nests, interacting with the public, and seeing other amazing wildlife and plants while on the job,” she said. “Nest searching was especially fun for me because it required paying close attention to bird behavior and it contributed valuable information to the North Carolina Bird Atlas.
“Interacting with the public was not an official part of my job, but when you're constantly parking along roadsides with binoculars in hand, someone's sure to ask you some questions. I expected people to not care too much about the work I was doing, but almost every person I encountered was fascinated and had something to tell me about an experience they've had with birds. I was always excited to share stories of and facts about birds with anyone that would listen.”
Pultorak had a variety of encounters with diverse wildlife species.
“One day when I was kayaking, I saw some adult Gray Catbirds making a chipping sound and acting
agitated,” she said. “After attempting to get out of the kayak without getting wet (yeah right, it was marsh on either side), I walked into the shrubby area the birds were chipping from and found a particularly fun nest that had 4 large Gray Catbird babies inside! I also loved conducting a survey at a wading bird rookery that had young Anhingas, Wood Storks, Western Cattle Egrets, White Ibises, and Little Blue Herons all together in a group of trees.
“And of course, since I was in an area of the country I had never been in before, I was thrilled to observe exciting new wildlife. Among my favorite memories are seeing a roseate skimmer (a pink dragonfly!), observing beautiful butterflies like the common checkered-skipper, encountering a mother black bear with cubs, kayaking in a canal that had an alligator, getting pinched on the finger by a giant Atlantic blue crab, paddling with some stingrays, and accidentally walking up to a cottonmouth that was lying in a marshy trail with its mouth open facing me.”
The position forced Lydia to overcome challenges as well.
“The most challenging part for me was the week my crew did nocturnal surveys,” she elaborated. “I've never been one to go outside alone at night, but when a task needs to be done, it needs to be done. While I wasn't the biggest fan of this part of the job, I'm really glad I had the experience to monitor nightjar and owl species during the time of day they are most active.”
All in all, her summer working as a Bird Atlas field technician clarified her future career goals.
“In the future, I hope to have a job in which I am teaching others about wildlife and conservation,” Lydia shared. “This job actually confirmed that for me. While that is not what I spent a majority of my summer doing, whenever I did have the chance to interact with the public, I really felt like that is what I'm meant to spend my life doing. One day, I was tasked with conducting bird surveys with a volunteer who had asked for some assistance in understanding how to monitor birds. At first, I was unsure about whether or not I would enjoy or be good at conducting a survey with someone who had very little experience, but it was a very enjoyable experience for both of us.”
Lydia also had some memorable experiences outside of her work environment.
“I was parked along the road completing my final survey for the day when someone pulled over in their car to ask out of curiosity what I was doing,” she said. “I explained to her, and she said I should look at the bird feeders that her neighbor puts out. I appreciated that she mentioned the feeders and thanked her for the information, even though I didn't expect to observe any bird breeding behavior by the feeders. The person also mentioned that her neighbor rescues dogs, and as a firm dog-lover and past animal shelter volunteer, I decided to check out the feeders and possibly meet the person who lived there. The lady was glad to meet me and showed me all of the dogs that she was fostering -- there were about 20 of them, all from either abuse or abandonment situations. I couldn't believe this woman's dedication to provide for all of these dogs and any dog in need. It was definitely an experience that I was not expecting but one that will stick with me for a long time.
“Outside of work, two other experiences I really enjoyed were going on a birding pelagic trip and looking for the rare crystal skipper butterfly at a state park.”
At Purdue, Pultorak is the co-leader of the Northern Saw-Whet Owl banding station as well as leader of the Purdue Bird Collision Prevention Project, which monitors bird-window collisions and works with the architecture department to reduce collisions. She also works for Dr. Esteban Fernandez-Juricic’s Avian Vision Lab and is a member of Dr. Barny Dunning’s bird banding lab. Prior to coming to Purdue, Pultorak gained experience working with birds at Wild Bird Unlimited, a store focused on bird feeding and bird conservation.
Lydia also is a member of the Purdue student chapter of The Wildlife Society and the Student Chapter of Environmental Education. She also was selected as Purdue FNR’s Outstanding Freshman in 2024.
A collage of photos from Lydia Pultorak's summer as a Bird Atlas technician in North Carolina. Top row (Left to Right): Bar-Winged Skimmer; Common Checkered Skipper; Roseate Skimmer; Crystal Skipper; a skate egg case. Row 2: black bears cross a path in a forested area; Spoon-leaved sundew; Killdeer eggs in a nest; Red-Winged Black Bird eggs in a nest; Gray catbird chicks in a nest. Row 3: Pine Barrens treefrog; Blue Grosbeak chicks; Carolina wrens in a nest; Red-Winged Black Bird chicks in a nest; a pair of Anhingas. 
