I got a wonderful email from Kim who homeschools her children and wanted some advice. Her oldest son is hoping to do something in the field of nature. I also received this email from Charles Van Rees a Conservation Biologist and Naturalist offering to be a guest on the show.
"I want first and foremost to thank you for bringing your expertise, humor, warmth, and energy to a great podcast on natural history. I recently moved from a crowded city in Europe to rural Montana, and have been looking for good podcasts on natural history to keep my mind occupied during frequent, long drives. Your podcast has brought me a lot of joy, laughs, and learning during a tough transition and helped me get back in touch with North American nature. Thank you so much! On my way into work this morning I heard your 'Welcome 2020' podcast and your mention of wanting to feature more 'humans' on the show. In case you were looking for additional humans, I wanted to offer myself as a potential guest, since I absolutely adore the show and would love to give something in return. I'm a wetland ecologist and conservation biologist with expertise in freshwater biodiversity and ornithology, and currently work as a postdoctoral research scientist at Flathead Lake Biological Station in Polson, Montana. My past work has been on endangered water birds in Hawaii and migratory gulls in Seville, Spain. Aside from that, I'm a passionate student of natural history and have been trying to spend more time integrating nature study into my work as my career advances. I've been featured on a couple podcasts before and think it's tremendous fun. If you'd like to learn more about me I'd be happy to chat anytime, or you can have a look at my website."
I decided it would be a good idea to have Charles answer Kim's email. What started as an email exchange evolved into doing a complete episode. If you know people who are interested in the natural world as a career please share this episode with them.
You can contact Charles Van Rees and learn more about his activities on his website cbvanrees.wordpress.com or on Twitter @Gulothoughts.
Special thanks to Cinfed Credit Union for sponsoring this episode.