Greetings from the South!

Hello All,

and welcome to my website. My name is Juliana Moore and I am a senior in Oregon State University’s Fisheries and Wildlife Sciences program. I’m specializing in Community-based Conservation with the goal of helping small communities peacefully resolve their wildlife conflicts. I have a particular interest in working in developing countries where agriculture is economically important, but environmentally harmful. I am immensely looking forward to graduating next summer and taking that next step toward my goals.

This summer, I am expanding my experience in field work through my internship with the Gulf Coast Bird Observatory (GCBO) in south Texas. I have lived in Texas, smack in between Houston and the Gulf Coast, for my entire life. The location is ideal. I’m just a hop, skip, and jump away from one of the nation’s largest cities, yet I live and work in Post Oak Savanna and Coastal Prairie ecoregions where nature is abundant.

This particular area of Texas is one of the prime birding hotspots in the United States. Birds migrating to and from South America stopover in the sanctuaries along our coast. There’s no end to the various-colored songbirds you’re bound to see in the Spring.  Prothonotary warblers and Painted buntings have both recently been sighted in my backyard.

I absolutely love having so many different avian species right outside my window. I feel like I may as well be living in a tropical paradise (the Texas heat probably adds to that illusion).

I had spent the past several months searching for internships with organizations within a reasonable distance from where I live. I had looked at the Houston Zoo, Moody Gardens Aquarium, and several other places, but I couldn’t find an internship that fit my list of criteria. I wanted to be outside, working in the field. I never thought I’d find the ideal internship right under my own nose.

I enrolled in Systematics of Birds last winter term. One of my assignments was to go bird watching with a local and professional birder. I got on the phone and made a few calls and I was directed to the Gulf Coast Bird Observatory, located just in my neighboring city. The director of the organization was gracious enough to take me on a tour of Aransas National Wildlife Refuge for a day of birding. I had never identified so many species in a single day! As our trip was wrapping up, my guide casually mentioned that they offered internships at GCBO and recommended that I look into them.

Fast-forward a few months and…