National University. Location: Southeastern Tasmania, Australia.
Duration: 4 months (Sept 2013-Dec 2013). Job Type: Temporary. Number of
Openings: 1-2. Application Deadline: 1 July 2013. Job Description: Field
assistant needed to study the survival, breeding, and behavior of
forty-spotted pardalotes in southeastern Tasmania (Bruny Island,
Tinderbox Peninsula, Maria Island). Primary duties include nest
searching and monitoring, mist-netting and banding, resighting
color-banded birds, installing camera traps, and behavioral
observations. Forty-spotted pardalotes are cavity-nesters and we access
their nests (and nest boxes) using ladders and climbing ropes. Field
assistant will conduct data entry, work independently, and communicate
regularly with supervisor. Stipend: $1,000/month, plus food and housing
in Tasmania. The work schedule is variable, but typically six days on,
one day off. Qualifications: Applicants must be in excellent physical
health with outstanding hearing and vision, be able to tolerate
isolation, weather extremes, long field days, and frequent encounters
with highly poisonous snakes and large spiders. Mist-netting and banding
experience is required. Climbing experience is desirable, but
willingness to learn is great too. Applicants must be highly
independent, self-motivated and comfortable living with 1-2 other people
either in a small cabin/cottage, apartment, or tents. Willingness to
camp and to cycle up to 13 km to field sites in all weather conditions,
and to be persistent through all kinds of difficulties is crucial. We
also prefer candidates with an excellent academic record and a strong
interest in research. Applicants must pay their own way to Hobart,
Tasmania. To Apply: Send CV, cover letter, and contact information for
two references to AMANDA EDWORTHY (EM:amanda.edworthy@anu.edu.au
please include "forty-spot field assistant" as subject
