JACQUELINE, THE MIGRATING STUDENT
We bet that you hear bird songs while biking to SDU, but how well do you listen? You wouldn’t believe it but some people listen professionally. Wonder why? Listen to this episode of Humans of SDU with Jacqueline. She is a guest researcher who studies songbirds and their international trade.
- What does it mean that our forests are getting silent?
- How does a bird singing competition look like?
- Can you teach a bird to sing?
How did we find Jacqueline?
Jacqueline was actually recommended to us as an interesting guest by Rune who is a student counselor helping international students. And well, Jacqueline is a unique student – her passion for biology and songbirds made her change her studies and enroll in another university in Germany. However, the research called her back to Odense and she had the opportunity to do an Erasmus internship here. Like the birds she loves so much, Jacqueline also migrated back to Odense.
“There is a ‘master songbird’ and it teaches other birds how to sing. It is a very cute and fluffy bird but only black and white, which is not very exciting to look at. Songbirds are usually very colourful. So, that bird is kept alongside other birds to teach them to sing. And those pretty birds are then taken to contests.”
JACQUELINE
Small birds – big problems. The endangered species are not fully categorized, so their problems are hard to keep track of. Especially if they migrate because then it is hard to determine which country’s responsibility it is to take care of the birds. Jacqueline told Humans of SDU about the intriguing songbird contests, forests going silent and undercover agents raiding illegal bird markets. It sounds like something straight out of a Bond-movie, right?
Check out this video about the illegal bird trades in Indonesia:
Jacqueline is a stressed student like the rest of us. However, she shares her secrets to cope and overcome hardships with Humans of SDU. And it must be working because she is one of the happiest guests we’ve ever had! She was practically glowing.
How well did you listen?
Done listening? Well, click below and test your knowledge of Jacqueline’s story in a simple quiz! Can you get all three answers right?
Did you enjoy meeting Jacqueline from Humans of SDU? Great! Who would you like to meet next? Click on the picture of the person you would like to learn more about. Or click here if you’d prefer choosing the next episode based on a topic.
