My Park Story: Prineet Anand

Prineet holding a Hairy Woodpecker that he retrieved from a mist net

Photo courtesy of Prineet Anand

Howdy everyone! My name is Prineet Anand and I am currently a Fish & Feathers intern through Environment for the Americas on the east side of Rocky Mountain National Park. I am from Katy, Texas, just outside of Houston and am a rising junior at Texas A&M University. My love for nature and the outdoors was developed at a very young age, actually just on the front porch of my childhood home! There was a day when I was around five years-old and I wouldn’t eat my food, so my dad took me outside onto the porch where a lone Gulf Coast Toad happened to have plopped itself. My dad told me, “every time it hops, you have to eat a spoonful of your food.” As the toad spent the next few minutes frolicking around the porch eating moths, I too was doing the same (with my own food of course). I finished quickly enough to inspect the toad up close: its granular skin, golden-outlined eyes, a white stripe down its spine. From then on, I was hooked onto wildlife and its quenching effect on the curiosity of a little boy.

Prineet takes a Selfie at Sky Pond in Rocky Mountain National Park

Photo courtesy of Prineet Anand

As I continued to grow up, I fell deeply in love with wildlife. To my parents’ dismay, I would incessantly start flipping rocks in our yard to find any insects or amphibians that might’ve lodged themselves under them. I binge-watched David Attenborough narrated documentaries and TV shows such as Wild Kratts and Bridgerton. For nearly every birthday, my one request was always to buy wildlife books, such as, “The Encyclopedia of Animals,” or Helm Field Guides “Birds of the Indian Subcontinent.” I spent hours reading them indoors, but fortunately, I had the chance to use those books outdoors whenever my family and I would travel to a unique piece of wilderness. Thus far, I’ve been to 23 national parks (with the “National Park” designation) across the U.S. (soon to be 24), and every location leaves me with a gentle lasting reminder that the outdoors is what I’m meant to protect. At the moment, some of my hobbies include, birding, herping (searching for amphibians and reptiles), hiking, playing basketball, tennis, drumming, wildlife photography, watching professional boxing, and just learning, in general!

How did you find yourself working at a national park?

I always remained curious about what it was like to work as a Park Ranger in a beautiful chunk of mother nature any time we visited a national park. As someone who enjoys networking, I attended a career fair at my university and started conversing with a representative from EFTA. After hearing her description of what it’s like to be an intern, I instantly fell in love with the offer and started doing my own research. I understood that an opportunity like this shouldn't be taken for granted, so I decided that I was going to be a quasi-ranger for a summer.

The main national park sites I wanted to work at were Padre Island National Seashore due to proximity and amazing birding opportunities and Cuyahoga Valley National Park for their well-established bird banding program. However, I received notice that there was an opening at Rocky Mountain National Park. Rocky Mountain National Park? I didn’t even know that that was a potential site to begin with for some reason. Well anyhow, I took that opportunity in a heartbeat, holding off on signing offers from other employers that had reached out to me. The rest is history, and I couldn’t imagine that situation playing out in any other way after experiencing this gorgeous place for almost four months.

What’s it like birding and fishing in and around Rocky Mountain National Park?

Well… it’s pretty insane to say the least, as I’ve documented more than 130 species of birds in the past two months. Rocky Mountain National Park serves as a home or migration passageway for around 280 bird species. As a pretty serious birder, I’ve seen some birds that I never imagined that I would see this year, let alone in my life: multiple owl species, White-tailed Ptarmigan, Prairie Falcons, American Three-toed Woodpeckers, Brown-capped Rosy-Finches, and a Calliope Hummingbird! What’s beautiful is that there are a multitude of different habitats including montane, subalpine, and alpine (tundra) that allow for such bird diversity in the park. This place never ceases to amaze me with how “birdy” it can be, and I’m grateful for the people that I’ve met who’ve made me a better birder and avian educator.

Prineet catches his first fish at Fern Lake at Rocky Mountain National Park

Photo courtesy of Prineet Anand

As far as fishing, it’s no secret that the Rockies are the premier fishing destination for anglers across the country. Fly fishing is the monarch around here, and it’s awesome to see a flurry of fly fishermen and fisherwomen flock to certain areas of the park in search of their day’s haul. While Sprague Lake tends to be the most accessible place with a decent number of fish, I find that the best fishing spots tend to be Fern Lake, Lake of Glass, The Loch, Odessa Lake, and the Big Thompson River. Personally, fishing is a very new experience for me compared to birding, and after struggling with it when I was younger, I put the reel down…that is until now. With this internship, I properly learned how to fish, and I’m proud of myself for the amount that I’ve learned and improved during my short time here. I can comfortably teach people to fish now, and I hope that I’ve inspired a few kids to continue their fishing journeys!

What’s something visitors should understand about Rocky Mountain National Park?

Something that I’ve learned from working and exploring this wonderful place is that what’s beautiful isn’t always a hop, skip, and a step away. You have to hike a little bit to understand the true expanse, beauty, and meaning of the park. While Trail Ridge Road is an awesome, accessible place for people to simply drive on, it only serves as one facet of the park’s beauty. If you’re willing and able to, get out into the backcountry! Even though we get nearly the same number of visitors at Yellowstone National Park each year, most people concentrate on Trail Ridge Road and a few trails around Bear Lake. I encourage you all to do the hike that’s a mile longer than you expected, and you’ll often be rewarded for the extra effort with magnificent views. My favorite parts of the park include Timber Lake, Odessa Lake, Blue Lake, and Sky Pond, all of which are at least four miles one way. In addition to the destination, the journey is what creates the most memorable moments to reflect upon. Just remember that.

What’s your favorite program to run in Rocky Mountain National Park?

In the park, I run or assist on multiple birding and fishing programs each week! The birding programs, mainly consisting of bird walks, are both fun and challenging for me as I create new goals for myself each time. These programs allow me to showcase the knowledge of western birds that I’ve accumulated since my time here, and I love articulating that knowledge to both beginner and advanced birders. However, my favorite program to run is my “History and Overview of Owls of Rocky Mountain National Park” presentation that I created. This presentation was a collaborative effort as well, since I indirectly worked on it with avian researcher Scott Rashid, to help string together the accuracy and content of the presentation itself. This project was something that I had started from the ground up, and I couldn’t be happier with the way it turned out. Knowing very little about your subject to fluidly being able to present it and answer questions about it to other people is challenging, and I felt that I’ve made lots of progress in better understanding our precious owls.

What have been the highlights of your experience as an intern with the National Park Service?

Prineet hiking to Odessa Lake

Photo courtesy of Prineet Anand

Wow! I mean, to narrow the highlights down is very difficult, so how about I name a few!

One of the highlights of working here was a chance to rove around the park! During a rove, your goal is to show ranger presence in the park while also getting an opportunity to explore the park itself. Although this national park may not be the biggest one out there, there are plenty of beautiful destinations to hike to while also finding time to engage with the visitors that…well… allow your job to exist! I’ve gone to some pretty special places in the park during roves, and as an intern, an opportunity like this one is sure to create special moments. Outside of the park, another lingering highlight was doing bird research with Scott Rashid at his banding station and the YMCA of the Rockies, as well as studying owls. He undoubtedly has been a large influence on me these past few months through his lessons on birds, but also life, and I consider him a mentor. Scott and one of his longtime volunteers, Linda, trained me in extracting birds from the mist nets, an experience that I’ve wanted for a long time.

Up to this point, I've removed around 50-60 birds from the net, and it feels awesome to have that kind of experience. My favorite birds to remove from the nets are Nuthatches (because they listen to you), and my least favorite birds have been Chickadees (because they don't listen to you and decide to spin around in the net about 30 times by the time you get to them). All in all, I've got some pretty amazing birds out of the net including Western Tanagers, Green-tailed Towhees, Black-headed Grosbeaks, Broad-tailed Hummingbirds, Downy & Hairy Woodpeckers, and Lesser Goldfinches.

One time, during a banding session, I asked Scott how he finds owls so well. In typical Scott fashion, he replied "You increase your chance of seeing an owl by 50 percent if you get out of your house." Of course, I laughed at his dry-humored joke, but I was genuinely curious at how he finds these secretive creatures that people seldom see. Thus, I subsequently reached out to him later, and he decided to take me out to potentially find some Flammulated Owls (Psiloscops flammeolus) or "flams'' that had been migrating from their wintering grounds in Northern Mexico to their breeding grounds in patches of the western United States. These are the smallest owls in the park, on average, and are insectivorous. The goal was to catch these owls calling and picking out a nest because usually once they find a nest, their calls become much more infrequent. He told me that the best way to find owls is to understand their habitat.

A picture Prineet took of a Flammulated Owl sitting on a perch with an insect in its mouth.

Photo courtesy of Prineet Anand

We went late at night to an area that Scott has seen owls, and not just flammulated Owls, but also Northern Pygmy Owls, Northern Saw-whet Owls, and Long-eared Owls. We waited until it was pitch black and started listening for the hoots of these owls. All of a sudden, Scott asked, "Did you hear that?" I said "no," and I tried to listen a bit harder. After a long pause, I heard the softest "hoot" I've ever heard in my life. "That's a flam call" he said to me. I tried to remain visibly calm when I was screaming at the top of my lungs in excitement on the inside. We tracked the calls, hearing both a male and a female communicating with each other. Because the call seemed so soft, I assumed we were still decently far from the owls. However, Scott said, "There it is," and he shined his light close to a small bird 10-feet in front of us sitting majestically on an exposed branch and glancing briefly at me with its piercing dark eyes. Then, the female flew into her nest, and we realized what had just happened: We discovered a Flammulated Owl nest. This was a magical moment in my time here, and a big highlight of my journey to try and understand birds.

We'd been studying these owls for almost a month now. Eventually, the chicks had hatched, and we came back to the nest to identify the different insects that the adult owls were bringing in to feed the nestlings. It was awesome to see Scott in his element, and I felt like I was a part of something great. We noticed that although there are several insect species in the area where the owls had nested in, they seemed to be bringing only a handful of species consistently. These owls have so much personality, and I felt so grateful to study these animals for several nights, an outing that people rarely get the chance to do. Eventually, the nestlings fledged out of the hole on a day that I wasn't able to be there, but of course, Scott managed to be at the right place at the right time and managed to put bands on the little puffballs. It's been a special experience, and I've come to realize that owls are now among my favorite birds along with Falcons, Woodpeckers, and Hawaiian Honeycreepers.

Prineet assists in dehooking a Brook Trout

Photo courtesy of Prineet Anand

What projects have you been involved in so far?

Besides the two projects I’ve mentioned before, the Owls of Rocky Mountain National Park presentation and the Owl and Bird research with Scott, I’ve been involved in some other projects that are meaningful to myself and the park’s goal of expanding its reach to local families.

Every Wednesday and Saturday, I lead two different outreach events - one hosted by the Estes Valley Investment in Childhood Success (EVICS), and the other by Cal-Wood Education Center. The agenda for each EVICS and Cal-Wood session was done mainly by two other interns here in the park (Alexis and Zion); however, I was in charge of carrying out that agenda as best as possible. In our meetings, we usually talked about either teaching fishing or birding to the kids in those groups, but we didn’t limit ourselves to those two events. Sometimes, the other interns would plan out different engaging enrichment activities like landscape watercolor painting, nature-based writing/poetry, nest building using pipe cleaners, and coloring activities, all of which were great to be a part of! It’s difficult to manage all of those kids at once, so having Alexis and Zion there to help out was amazing, and I know that they’ll continue to do great things in their respective career paths.

Another outreach event that I was a part of was one with the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS). This event was meaningful to me since all of the TAPS members had lost a loved one in battle and were seeking peace and healing through being surrounded by nature. When I was with the group, I led a bus tour with the group into the Alpine Tundra, and I felt like I was participating along with them in their journey to find inner peace. The TAPS directors were really impressed with the bus tour, and they gave me free camping gear (can be really expensive) that they had left over, a gesture that I’ll always remember! As I’m writing this, I hope that those families find peace and comfort with their loss.

What are your goals after your internship at an NPS site?

My career goal is to work in the environmental consulting industry. I’ve often understood from a young age that I want to protect the biodiversity and health of our planet. Combine that with talking to people and finding creative solutions, and environmental consulting seems to fit the description! That being said, I understand that closing doors for career opportunities is not what somebody looking for an outdoor career should consider. My experiences here at the park have definitely helped me grow as a person and learn more about one facet of the federal environmental sector. I’m so thankful for the people I’ve met, and who knows, you might see me working at a different National Park Service site in the future!

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