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When did you decide to work at the peregrine fund? What interested you in the peregrine falcon?
I have been interested in birds most of my life. In college I received a degree in biology and chemistry. I first started working with birds as a profession in 1993 at a Bald Eagle hospital in Alaska. I really became interested in birds of prey at this time and when I wanted to move from Alaska I accepted a job at The Peregrine Fund in 1999.
What do you mostly teach? Who do you teach?
I first started teaching people at age 15 with my first job, as a tour guide. In college I tutored other students, and in 1990 I went to Africa in the Peace Corps and taught science. I enjoy sharing my knowledge and passion of the sciences and especially of birds of prey. At The Peregrine Fund I teach various age groups from kindergarten to senior citizens about the biology, ecology, and conservation of birds of prey.
What is the most interesting thing about your job?
The part of my job I like the best is working directly with the birds, but also helping people learn to appreciate birds of prey for what they are and how they fit into our natural world. Education is very important to the future of these birds. If people do not understand raptors, then they may not care about them and will not fight to conserve them for the future.
What's the most important thing you'd like kids to know?
One of the most important ideas I would like you to think about is that we all, people, plants and animals, live on this planet. It is like living in a large, closed jar. If we pollute the water in our jar, we still have to drink and bathe in it. If we cut down all the plants in our jar, then we will have no oxygen to breathe. If we kill all the food animals in our jar we have nothing to eat. If we over populate our jar with people, then we won't have enough supplies for everyone. If we pollute the air in the jar, then we still have to breathe and the pollution may kill the plants or animals that we are eating. Earth is like this, but it is harder to see the effects. A little bit of pollution, a few plants or animals that go extinct, some population expansion will not cause noticeable problems, but at some point if these things are not resolved, the whole ecosystem in our jar or on our planet could be affected beyond our abilities to fix. I would like each of us to think of this and make sensible decisions about what we do.
Thanks, Kim. We hope kids will care about the peregrines and all animals, and help protect them.
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