Welcome to Solai Le Fay, ORI's 2022 intern!

May 5, 2022

Big welcome to ORI's 2022 seasonal intern, Solai Le Fay! She started with us at the beginning of March and has hit the ground running! She works closely with Denver, Beth, Chloe, Steve, and our other volunteers out in the field on all of ORI's long-term research projects.

So far this season she's been out in the cold early spring nights listening for Great Gray Owls deep in the woods, searching for (and finding!) Great Gray Owl nests, traversing grasslands searching for Short-eared Owl nests, crawling through thick stands of hawthorn and other shrubs to look for Long-eared Owls, helping monitor cavities for nesting Northern Pygmy and Northern Saw-whet Owls, and much more! The field season is a busy one, but Solai has jumped right in and is an invaluable member of our seasonal field crew.

Solai holding a female Long-eared Owl during banding, right before the owl was safely released.

A bit about Solai:

Solai Le Fay earned her bachelor's degree from Portland State University, where she discovered her fascination with ornithology. After landing her first wildlife position by chance working with diurnal raptors and owls in Idaho, she has been driven towards the goal of continuing her professional path with raptors.

Before coming to ORI, Solai had worked with with Northern Saw-whet, Flammulated, and Northern Spotted Owls. She looks forward to learning from the amazing researchers at ORI, developing new field skills, and working with the many species of owl present in western Montana. When she isn’t out looking for owls, Solai enjoys reading, hiking with her dog Grover, and paddle boarding.

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If you see Solai out in the field, say hi!