An internship at the Kellogg Bird Sanctuary helped KBS alum’s career take flight

In 2010, undergraduate student Stephanie Kong, traveled far from her California hometown to spend a season at the W.K. Kellogg Bird Sanctuary as a raptor and waterfowl care intern. She worked at the Sanctuary from January to April 2010.

During her internship, Stephanie was responsible for weekly bird surveys, entering data, keeping a bird list on the office’s white board, and taking care of the Sanctuary’s resident snake. She also assisted in raptor enclosure renovations, helped with raptor health checks, and worked extensively with Toby, one of the Sanctuary’s resident Red-tailed Hawk.

Throughout her time at KBS, Stephanie was able to gain a better understanding of raptor and waterfowl biology, game bird population control methods, and enclosure maintenance. She also learned how to set and bait live traps, how to take blood and feather samples from swans, and how to make bird bands.

When Stephanie arrived to begin her internship, she set goals to start a Bobwhite quail reintroduction, rearing, and release program, with the hope that her work would leave a positive impact on KBS. Because of time constraints and other factors, her Bobwhite reintroduction program was cut short. Instead, she opted to produce biographies on all of the Sanctuary’s resident game birds. She gave detailed information about their native ranges, wild populations, conservation, aviculture status, physical description, lifespan, diet, breeding information, husbandry notes, fun facts, and plans specific to the birds at KBS. Through her time here, she completed all eight game birds’ biographies.

Where is she now?

After leaving the Sanctuary, Stephanie worked as a biological technician at Glacier National Park in Montana and completed her master’s degree in Northern Illinois University’s Department of Biological Sciences. She’s currently a staff biologist at Sequoia Ecological Consulting in Danville, California.

Next, Stephanie will be moving to Botswana to take a project manager position with Elephants for Africa. The organization, based out of the Makgadikgadi Pans National Park, just south of Chobe National Park, is a nonprofit dedicated to reducing human-wildlife conflict. Stephanie will be running a research camp there, as well as heading up an elephant collaring effort and collaborating with local communities and international researchers. She is excited to push herself and grow personally and professionally in this new position and continue living her life on safari.

Supporting Sanctuary interns

Stephanie’s internship experience was made possible with the help of the Joe Johnson Conservation Fellowship Scholarship. Joe Johnson was a wildlife biologist for the Sanctuary, later appointed to chief wildlife biologist and the manager of the Sanctuary in 1985. Joe passed away in 2012, and to honor his retirement and years of wildlife conservation, a scholarship fund was created in his name to help fund the Sanctuary student interns.

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Stephanie was profiled by Alex Sills, the 2022 KBS external communications intern.
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