A Day in the Life of a Field Researcher

In April, 2018, I - Christopher Sayers - and a team of three other Cornell students - Facundo Fernandez-Duque, Rachael Mady, and Sarah Toner - traveled to the Mpala Research Centre in central Kenya on an Ivy Expedition. Our mission was to collect photographs, videos, and audio recordings of species underrepresented in the Cornell Lab’s Macaulay Library. During the 10-day expedition, we interviewed Shailee Shah ‘14 - an alumna of Cornell who is conducting her Ph.D. research at Mpala on the breeding ecology of Superb Starlings. Our team filmed Shailee throughout several days of data collection in the field with the ultimate goal of creating a short film about her work. One of the most challenging parts of the filming process was actually getting high quality footage of Superb Starlings - the focal species of the film! Whenever we would finish setting up the camera and tripod to start recording, the flock of starlings would immediately fly out of frame. It was almost as if they knew we were trying to film them! After returning to the US, producers in the Cornell Lab’s Multimedia department were gracious enough to mentor me as I worked to bring this piece to life. I practiced using robust video editing software and bolstered my skill set in multimedia productions; I hope to keep improving these skills as I move forward in life. As an emerging scientist myself, I hope to show my audience about the wonders of pursuing field research, and aim to inspire young scientists to follow in Shailee’s footsteps.

[@tylergeorgeoutdoors5443]

I either want to be a geneticist ornithologist or a field ornithologist, I am only 13 so I have time to think, but this gave me insight to one of my options! Thanks! 👌🏼
Edit: I Really Want To Go To Cornell, Like ALLLOOOOTTTT!

[@vagabond8460]

you’re 16/17 now, still have the same interests?

[@forral1614]

@@vagabond8460 i do :p, althogh I'd rather be zoologist then strictly an ornithologist(so like everything, entemology, herptology, etc), but I'm still interested in it.

[@nkm08]

@@forral1614hi! I’m 15 and have similar interests as you. You still wanna go to Cornell? Or have you changed your mind?

[@BioBush]

Cooperative breeding is such an interesting system. Looking forward to hearing about your findings!
PS - Thanks for introducing me to the Kori Bustard at 2:43. I did not know it existed and it's a really cool bird!

[@OspreyMomma]

👍🤚this so awesome I love you are sharing these videos. Awesome. I am in and help donate to keep these studies going. Love Nature❤️Thanks from Florida

[@romanchukanov4454]

Very informative video. Loved the wildlife footage, the narration and the editing. Thank you.

[@michaeldeierhoi4096]

Very cool to see this young woman doing real research on birds. I photograph birds and would love to be there.

[@CharismaticPlanet3822]

you have to brave enough as well to face any kind of situation while shooting birds in remote areas. Very hectic job indeed.

[@kaneofdarkness]

Thanks for sharing what some of your work is like. Have there been any updates this past year?

[@sarahwimberly2346]

Thank you...enjoyed 👌

[@debangshumukherjee4127]

Very Nice.

[@biowebtv]

Beaultiful job

[@mycartoonz9532]

I am 13 and i wanna be an ornithologist so excited because i love watching birds helping birds and live like a bird

[@aysebordini]

um dia mais lindo com certeza

[@cobythebirdnerd3790]

My dream is to become an Ornithologist! Any help?! I love birds, and I can identify almost every bird in North America. 🙂

[@biowebtv]

Amazing! Keep it up

[@pearspeedruns]

A good first step is to go to college to study biology/a similar major.

[@ritupabankotoky]

Interesting

[@FranKoPepez]

She was in a natgeo's instagram photo some days ago... is youtube spying my social networks?... anyways... beautiful job :)

[@sncargo6375]

Verre naisegud

[@thepiya5002]

Good

[@sherylewyatt689]

Weird but true, the closest living relative to a T-Rex is..a chicken!

[@bustavonnutz]

Seems like a blast until you need to figure out how to secure grant funding