By: Dakota Dyer, Student Conservation Intern-Summer 2024
Me holding a female goose before it gets banded. Lake Etta, Gary, IN.
June 28th, 2024. Photo Credits: Gus Nyberg
During this internship I have learned to love and cherish the county I have grown up in. I have found love for the wildlife around me. From start to finish of this internship my eyes were opened towards something I’ve never seen before.
The Newton County Student Conservation Internship made me change my entire future career plans. After working with LaSalle Fish & Wildlife Area I fell in love with the wild animals I worked with. I grew up around hunting and fishing but never really got into actually being involved in the conservation background of it all. There is so much that goes into hunting that many might not know about such as bird banding. June 28th was the day my mindset changed. The other student conservation interns and I along with LaSalle Property Manager Zack DeYoung, traveled towards Gary, Indiana and arrived at Lake Etta to band geese. I met not only so many people but all different types of geese. The geese I worked with were mainly young we had many hatch years, others were adult male and females. Understanding the purpose of banding geese is important. During the process of banding geese, people on our team gathered into kayaks to cluster the geese together in the water and bring them towards the goose trap. While they were safely trapped for less than an hour we took each goose one by one and determined its out the sex, age, and applied a small metal numbered band around the foot stating that it was banned in Indiana. Banding any type of bird takes patience and understanding, knowing what you’re doing during banding will make the process go quickly and make things easier for the wildlife to get back to their home.
The process is similar for duck and dove banding. During duck and dove banding we were located at LaSalle Fish and Wildlife Area, where we have more than 10 traps located in different units to collect the ducks. The difference between geese, ducks, and doves, is that ducks and doves are much weaker and are easy to work with quickly because they don’t fight back like the geese. Trying to keep all of these types of bird’s feet still to get the band on correctly is sometimes challenging. The ducks are calm but waddle their feet while in your arm. The doves never really move they just sit and wait until their turn is over when they are released back into the sky and they fly away. The geese on the other hand, will flap their wings as hard as they can to get out, bite, kick, and scratch. But after having all of these animals in a comforting position they usually calm down and are easier to work with.
While growing up I wanted to be a veterinarian, that path changed when I hit high school. But now that I have worked hands-on with wild animals like ducks, doves, and geese, veterinary science just might be something I want to do. I have always wanted to go into the medical field, helping people and seeing people smile would make my life better. I never realized helping animals could make a difference in the natural world and could make many other people smile too.
Not only has this internship changed my career choice but it is a great opportunity that Newton County students should not pass up. “Putting your feet in the water” of something you think you would never be interested in could really surprise you on how much there is to offer in conservation. Understanding where you are growing up and being able to see the beautiful things God has created for us is truly a blessing and something all students should take advantage of when given the chance to. I have learned to appreciate the town I have been raised in and hope to make it an even better community for my younger siblings and everyone living in Newton County or visiting Newton County.
Me sexing a wood duck by looking at the number of primary feathers and searching for the sex feather. July 18th, 2024 Photo by: SCI Intern Sam Lipsky
Me holding a male wood duck located at LaSalle Fish & Wildlife Area in Area 5 July 18th, 2024 Photo by: SCI Intern Dakota Dyer