Minke Witteveen
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Minke Witteveen Based in Plettenberg Bay Email: minke.witteveen@gmail.com |
Minke Witteveen lived her childhood in Westville, Durban, where she had an innate love of the wonders of the backyard, the bush, and big furry animals. Unfortunately, her parent’s passion for birds was not passed on at birth or childhood, despite so many family holidays which were invariably dedicated to nature adventures, and where the search for the big furries was often delayed by the parents’ insistence on watching some or other small feathered job.
For her undergraduate degree, Minke studied a BSc in Genetics and Zoology at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Pietermaritzburg, and in 2012 graduated with a BSc Honours in Ecological Science. Her curious nature and wide interests nurtured an enthusiasm to participate and learn from a wide range of zoological studies being carried out at the university. In the last three years Minke has assisted with various projects from bat telemetry to pigeon blood lactate sampling to urban crowned eagle research. The passion for ornithology was sparked by bird ringing at the long running ringing station at Darvill Bird Sanctuary in Pietermaritzburg.
Minke began her laboratory based Honours project with the certainty that research for an MSc would be field based, and in a new and different part of the country. The research into the breeding and foraging ecology of Kelp Gulls from two colonies at Plettenberg Bay was an enticing opportunity – so what better place to call home for the next two years, with an office of sand, gull poo, and salty sea air. Follow her blog http://kelpgullproject.blogspot.com as she follows the lives of these birds, and investigates all Plett has to offer!
Thesis
The breeding and foraging ecology of Kelp Gulls (Supervisor: Peter Ryan).