My interview with Ornithologist Dr. Maria Patricia Silva Rodriguez, Ph.D. She likes to be called Patricia. My friend Augustina calls her Tia Patri.
Tell me about yourself - where do you live, where you work, etc.
I was born in Uruguay and went to college in Argentina. I met my husband Marco while in school. He is from Argentina and now we are married and I now live in Argentina. Our home is in the city Mar del Plata which is on the Argentine coast near the capital city Buenos Aires. My husband and I work together at University and also with tourist companies in Antarctica.What exactly does an ornithologist like yourself do?
Ornithology is a special field of study in Biology and focuses on birds. And when we work Ornithologists study many different aspects of bird life, like behavior ( how they eat or breed for example), morphology and anatomy (the structure of their body), genetics (which are the relation between different groups of birds) to name a few.When did you decide to become an ornithologist and why?
I have always loved birds! As a child I dreamt that some day I would fly like a bird - yes! You know best designedobject in nature is a simple feather! And with these simple feathers, birds can go to the sky!!What is it like to do your work? Do you work alone or as part of a team? What particular questions you are trying to answer?
I am a part of a team that studies seabirds of the Southern Ocean. There are so many questions that still have no answer for some species. We have no idea where, how, and when some species find food in a wide,vast ocean. I am focused on now promoting conservation of albatrosses and petrels in the Southern Ocean.What is your favorite/most exciting work experience?
I have spent several seasons working in Antarctica at different research stations. The most exciting location was in a little shelter on Nelson Island ( South Shetland Islands) at Harmony Point. I had the opportunity to work with penguins, cape petrels, giant petrels, and gulls. For me it was a seabird paradise. Also, for long time it has been my dream to take a member of my family with me to Antarctica. My neice and your new friend Augustina - since she was only 4 years old - she has known everything about penguins and Antarctica. Now she is 12 and on board the Explorer II with me. She is studying at the Peralta Ramos School in Mar del Plata (Argentina).What advice do you have for me or anyone who wants to become an ornithologist?
Be sure that you love birds! To be a good ornithologist depends on how much you understand what it is to be a bird and how much effort are you able to commit to trying to further our knowledge about particular species. All you need is love for them.Patri loves to draw birds too. She sketched this gentoo family drawing.
