As many of you are aware, Scott Buhl migrated from the OWCN to the California Veterinary Emergency Team last year. Given the numerous spill responses the OWCN was activated for over the winter it’s taken us a little bit of extra time to replace that position.
That said, we are thrilled to announce the newest member of the OWCN Management Team, Wildlife Planning Specialist, Frankie Lill.
Hello OWCN Response Community! We are excited to share that our 2023 training and engagement calendar is live.
Although we’re getting a bit of a later start this year due to many spills to start the New Year, we promise to offer many exciting training and engagement opportunities, including some new offerings. As you view the calendar, please take note that some of our events are in person and some are being held on a virtual platform.
Maybe you have gone birding and seen a bird with a band on it, or been strolling the beach in southern California and seen a banded Snowy Plover? If so, consider yourself lucky! Seeing a banded bird (especially if you don’t know where to look) is a bit of a rare sight, even though the USGS’s Bird Banding Lab (BBL) works around the clock to help manage and keep track of all the bands that researchers use as well as all the band “returns” that get reported back to the BBL when birds with bands are spotted.
On October 22-23rd the Oiled Wildlife Care Network hosted its biennial conference, Oilapalooza! This two-day conference is hosted by OWCN for its Network of Member Organizations and consists of lectures, interactive activities, and hands-on workshops. This year we held the conference at our home base in Davis, CA. We had over 175 attendees (between our in-person and virtual opportunities) from greater than 35 of OWCN’s Member Organizations, as well as some affiliated agencies and colleagues.
For those who may have missed OWCN’s previous blog about me joining OWCN, I would like to briefly introduce/ re-introduce myself. I am Danny Vickers; I am OWCN’s most recent hire (August 21st marked two months!) and have replaced Tim (recently retired) as the new Care Facilities Specialist. I am a California native originally from Placer County. My educational background is in natural and biological sciences, wildlife management and animal science. I hold a bachelor’s degree from UC Davis in Animal Science where I concentrated my studies in Livestock Management.
