Andrea Mott

Andrea is New York state native currently working in Northern California as a waterfowl biologist. She is an avid birder and aspiring bird photographer. She enjoys sampling the local cuisine in whichever location her birding adventures take her. Check out some of her photography on her Tumblr birdsandbirds.

Education, Featured, Guides, Main Feed

Duck Feeding PSA

No bread, of any kind, has any nutritional value for ducks. By feeding them bread, it fills their stomachs while providing no nutrients. It’s essentially the equivalent of humans eating cotton balls, or grass. This also goes for such snacks as tortilla chips, regular chips, pretzels, cheesies etc. The oil, salt, and/or flavoring on any human snack is no good for ducks. This is especially important for the wee ones during the breeding season, while they’re growing.

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Written by: Andrea Mott

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Education, Featured, Guides, Main Feed, Science

5 Tips on Breaking into the Biology Profession

Getting a job is hard. Thousands of millennials graduate college each year with nothing else to show for it than a piece of paper. A diploma no longer gets you a full-time job right out of college. The job market is tough, especially in the wildlife field. There is a finite amount of jobs for a growing pool of applicants. This doesn’t mean you can’t get there, it just means you have to put in a little more effort beyond your time spent at college!

Here are a quick 5 tips on breaking into the biology profession:

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Written by: Andrea Mott

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Education, Featured, Main Feed, Science

A Day in The Life of a Waterfowl Biologist

The day starts out by waking up to the sound of geese flying back to marsh after spending the night feeding in nearby rice fields. A day in the life of a waterfowl biologist is never dull; work is almost purely dictated by the birds themselves. There are two main seasons in California’s Sacramento Valley: the breeding season and the wintering season.

The waterfowl present during breeding season consist almost exclusively of Mallard, Gadwall, a handful of Cinnamon Teal, and a few other stragglers that didn’t feel like flying all the way up to Alaska.

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Written by: Andrea Mott

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