Janice Pearson graduated from LSU with a bachelor’s degree in natural resources and ecology management with a minor in oceanography and coastal sciences. Now, she’s turning her passion into purpose as she steps into a role with LSU’s School of Renewable Natural Resources as a wildlife research technician.
For three years, Pearson was a student worker who assisted with waterfowl studies and wildlife distribution research at the Reproductive Biology Center at the LSU AgCenter’s Central Research Station. Today, she works with that same department to visit state wildlife management areas to conduct field work and collect data on Black-bellied whistling ducks, wood ducks and mottled ducks.
One of the most rewarding parts of her job is working with the next generation of conservationists.
What solutions does your research with the LSU AgCenter work toward solving?
On my various projects that I assist on, we’re working toward research for waterfowl conservation. We work hand in hand with the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.
One project I’ve been working on has to do with movement ecology, studying the movements of various species that migrate down here in the winter. We’re looking at their sanctuary use and also taking autonomous recording units, ARUs, to analyze for gunshots in the area.
We’re taking that data and overlapping it with transmitter data to put transmitters on the backs of northern pintails. The data gives us a better idea of how we can manage the species so that we’re not risking them not returning. Or it gives us a better opportunity to do more studies on survival rates or population data.
Why is Louisiana an important place for this research to happen?
Louisiana is a critical point, especially in the winter, for waterfowl. As birds are migrating south, most duck and waterfowl species converge at the base of the Mississippi River that feeds into the Gulf in the winter, and that’s where they winter.
You see more species of waterfowl here than you do anywhere else in the United States that converge all at once. That’s what makes Louisiana super special.
For a hunter, you can go duck hunting and kill 67 different species in one hunt. For research purposes, that gives other researchers the opportunity to come and start studies in Louisiana to get a better idea of these birds.
How do you catch and band birds safely?
The primary technique we use is called rocket netting. Basically, we use rockets that shoot nets out over the birds, and then it safely holds the birds.
We go out and take the birds out of the nets and put them in a crate. Then we age, sex and band them. We have a lot of safety protocols in place for rockets, and we take that very seriously, but it’s one of the best tactics to get as many birds possible. They also use walk-in traps that are similar to a snare, but it does not tighten. It doesn’t harm the bird, and it’s a little bit safer than rocket netting.
Banding is important for us because it can tell us where that duck is, how long the duck survived and the age of the duck. We can use those things for survival rates. That also gives us an idea of their movement.
Then, we have a universal data sheet that we upload the data to so that we can track all of the birds that we band.
What’s the most rewarding part of working with waterfowl?
Getting hands-on experiences and learning about the species itself is rewarding. Being able to actually be a part of the solution and making contacts in the waterfowl world, professionally, is rewarding.
Seeing the birds converge is just a beautiful thing. It’s pretty amazing.
With black bellies, they used to never be here. So seeing them now is just incredible, plus learning about them. In my time assisting in research with LSU, I have been able to teach undergrad students how to band, and I’m teaching them the ropes. That was really rewarding to see them get excited about it, because that helps the whole conservation community.
