Lessons from a Career in Seabird Research - Interview with Julia Parrish

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Lessons from a Career in Seabird Research – Interview with Julia Parrish

Interview by Todd Peterson

This is BirdNote.
[Calls of colony of Common Murres]
We asked Dr. Julia Parrish of the University of Washington what lessons she has learned from 20 years of studying seabirds such as Common Murres...
JP   Track 176  9:17
One lesson that I take away from my work is that the chance to see Nature is really important… It helps me to connect myself to the ecosystem that I’m a part of.  Everybody can get out there and experience nature.  It helps to define who you are and your part in the world.  

[Common Murres and waves at the coast]

JP  Track 176  11:04
Lesson #2 is a conservation lesson. We have lots and lots of impacts on birds.  Many of us tend to see humans and human activities as negative, as bad.  I think that’s the wrong way to look at things...Much of the work we’ve done over the years suggests that when you work with people who are having the impact that you’re worried about -- fishermen are a really good example -- in fact they will often be able to innovate solutions to the problem that you as a scientist would never be able to think about.  …That, I think, is true conservation. 

[Calls of colony of Common Murres]
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Bird sounds provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Colony sounds of Common Murres (137898 and 133308) recorded by M.J. Fisher.
Producer: John Kessler
Executive Producer: Chris Peterson
© 2011 Tune In to Nature.org          December 2011     Narrator: Michael Stein

ID#              parrishj-01-2011-12-03