Job Announcement Senior Field Assistant: Black-capped Vireo Monitoring Project Fort Sill Military Reservation, Lawton, OK. Of Fort Sill's 94,000 acres, 14,600 are occupied by Black-capped Vireos. 1 May - 31 July 2010. I may be able to accommodate a one week shift (later) for a strong candidate. Core task: Monitoring the reproductive success of a sampling of the 625 breeding pairs of Black-capped Vireos of Fort Sill ...not less than 24 territories (up to 32). In addition, you may be asked to assist in mist-netting, and in late season survey overlapping effort to fill in data gaps especially as to age structure. Skills: It is essential that your hearing is impeccable. Black-capped Vireos are somewhat inconspicuous in many of their habits and the key to finding them is the study of their many vocalizations Much of your training will be spent on this one facet. Ideally, you will have experience finding nests of songbirds in field/brush/ scrub habitats. Ideally, you have some experience in reading topo maps or otherwise the use of GPS. Ideally, you will have had some experience mist-netting songbirds.Training and equipment will be supplied but the strong candidate will be experienced in these matters. You will need binoculars. Ideally you will have a cell phone, and a personal computer is desirable but not required. It is essential that you are physically fit. You will be back- packing across rocky mountainous terrain on a near daily basis. June-July temperatures routinely range 96-106 degrees in the shade (and we rarely work in the shade). Zoom in on this map of Black-capped Vireo distribution for a sense of the terrain. http://tinyurl.com/yeo5kmr Workload: Nest monitoring is completed on a 10-day rotation where normally you work 8 in every ten days - 8 hrs in the field each of those days (perhaps 10 hrs during training/orientation). The workload is heavy at first but as the season progresses falls off. A few reproductive attempts may continue into early August, but typically data summaries are the focus by late July. Compensation: Salary: $2100 a month for 3 months. Mileage: generally you will car pool, but should you be required to use your vehicle, you will receive a mileage payment of $0.40/mile. Free Housing: free furnished apt housing in downtown Lawton with AC/internet/sat. TV. Travel stipend: $400 to cover something of the cost of getting to and from Oklahoma. Performance Bonus: The integrity and thoroughness of the data is crucial. Many elements of the USFWS and the Department of the Army scrutinize our work. Depending on the quality of this work, a performance bonus of $300 may be awarded at the end of the season. Perks: This is a very birdy part of Oklahoma. Hackberry Flat W.M.A. an hour to the sw. is a 7000 acre restored wetland that may support 30,000 shorebirds in May. The Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge is immediately adjacent to Fort Sill and offers a different suite of birds. The Wichitas are at the very border of eastern and western avifaunas There are many hybrid combinations and plumages to be studied here, perhaps more than anywhere else in the US. There are many of opportunities for personal research. Resumes are desired in either pdf or Word 2003 format. Submission deadline is 1 March 2010. This project is administered by Black Swamp Bird Observatory, and the successful candidate will be under contract with BSBO. Vic Fazio PI: Black-capped Vireo Monitoring Project 2007-2011, Fort Sill M.R., Lawton, OK. Please contact me at: [log in to unmask] ______________________________________________________________________ Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/. You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]