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Meet: Mike Legare
Wildlife Biologist
Kennedy Space Center
Webcast and Chat Archives
Who I am and what I do for KSC
Hi, my name is Mike Legare, and I work for Kennedy
Space Center as a wildlife biologist. The two main projects I'm currently
working on involve Eastern Indigo Snakes, and Florida Scrub Jays. I have
been working at KSC since December of 1998 on the Indigo Snake Project.
My main responsibility is to radio-tag and monitor this endangered species
to determine adult survival and gather missing life history information.
It appears that the most significant impacts to adult survival come from
road kills and fragmentation. This snake doesn't produce many young, so
it relies on living a long time, and breeding for many years just to replace
itself in the population. Our data indicates that if the adult survival
remains low, then the species will continue to decline. Part of my time
is spent researching Florida Scrub Jays. This bird is threatened with
extinction along the Atlantic coast. Florida Scrub Jays are very selective
in where they live, they only occur in oak-scrub habitats. They do not
migrate, and so they are very dependent on the quality of the habitat
where they live. In poor quality habitats, where fire has not been allowed
to occur, the oak-scrub becomes too tall, and the bird's cannot raise
they're young. In poor habitats, the Florida Scrub Jay experiences very
high nest predation. Through research, we have found that yellow rat snakes
are responsible for most of the predation of eggs and nestlings, while
Cooper's Hawk's eat most of the fledglings.
Career Journey
I graduated from High School in Pawtucket, Rhode
Island. I then went on to the University of Rhode Island, where I received
my B.S. in Wildlife Biology, and then a M.S. in Natural Resource Science.
My M.S. thesis work was on Black Rails, a very secretive marsh bird that
rarely flies and behaves more like a mouse, then a bird. I refined a method
to survey for this bird. During my fieldwork in Florida, at the St. Johns
National Wildlife Refuge, I became very interested in Florida wildlife
and conservation concerns here in Florida. I took a job with the U. S.
Fish and Wildlife Service at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge,
which shares its borders with NASA's Kennedy Space Center. I worked with
the refuge for 2 years before joining Kennedy Space Center as a wildlife
biologist.
Personal
I lived on a small farm in Maine, and then my family
moved to Rhode Island when I was 12 years old. I now live in Florida with
my wife Stephanie, and our two sons, Timothy (2 years old) and Daniel
(who's 8 months old). Timothy helps me to collect snakes for study, while
Daniel looks on and laughs. My wife, Stephanie is also a wildlife biologist,
she's worked on Neotropical migrants on Block Island, Rhode Island, Palila's
in Volcano National Park in Hawaii, and Florida Scrub Jays at Cape Canaveral
Air Force Station, Florida. For fun, I go camping with my family, fly
(I'm a private pilot), and tinker with 2-stoke Yamaha motorcycles.
Favorite Advice
Do whatever you do to the best of your ability. If
its worth doing, its worth doing right.
Webcast and Chat Archives
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