Avian care and art at the Bird Sanctuary: An internship experience

Marie Kroneman came to the W.K. Kellogg Biological Station as the 2022 avian caretaker summer intern for the W.K. Kellogg Bird Sanctuary this summer. She is a junior at Michigan State University, studying zoology. She plans on attending vet school and focusing on exotics. 

In her internship role, she cared for the birds housed at the Kellogg Bird Sanctuary, helping with daily feeding and cleaning the enclosures of the resident raptors, game birds, and waterfowl. She also assisted in medical exams and practices and, on weekends, Marie also helped run the store inside the Sanctuary’s Resource Center. Outside of Marie’s internship, she also took the KBS summer ecology lecture and lab courses.

Marie decided to come to Kellogg Biological Station because it was a great opportunity for her to learn more about her interests in the field, to see if her future career goals still interested her. She was able to complete this both through her internship at the Sanctuary, and through her ecology lectures and labs.

Work and play at the Sanctuary 

Some of Marie’s favorite KBS summer experiences included making friends and attending a concert in Grand Rapids with all of them. Through working at KBS, she met many people that have helped her learn more about her interests.

According to Marie, an important thing she learned this summer was time management. She said that she has learned to balance her work and school tasks and priorities with having fun with friends.

During Marie’s free time, she enjoyed doing random art projects. She became obsessed with pressing and drying wildflowers, then using them in art projects. At night, Marie draw, paint, or watch the sunset from the roof of her apartment at the Bird Sanctuary—favorite place out of all of Kellogg Biological Station. 

How to describe her KBS summer experience in a word? For Marie, it would be “peaceful.”

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Marie Kroneman was the 2022 W.K. Kellogg Bird Sanctuary avian care intern. She was interviewed by Alex Sills, the 2022 KBS external communications intern.
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