Haley's ePortfolio

 Computer Lit (CT)

-CIS 1020 

Reflection  

Working with the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center of Northern Utah I was able to acquire the information shown on the first page of this Excel project. Knowing what kind of birds are most common, where these birds are coming from and why they are coming into the rehab is very important. This knowledge allows the staff to better prepare for future intakes. 

First I wanted to see where the most birds were coming from. After organizing the number of intakes per city I graphed the top 10 cities. To no ones surprise the highest number of intakes were from Ogden.  Since the Rehab is located in Ogden and can not afford to pay staff or volunteers to do pick ups we ask people to bring in the animal they find. Some people are unwilling or unable to drive to Ogden.  The Second highest location is Salt Lake City, working with the Tracy Aviary we have arranged a drop off location where one of our volunteers picks up birds there by increasing the likely hood for us to receive Salt Lake City wildlife. In the future this information could help the rehab set up more pick up locations where needed. This information is also important for our out reach programs who seek to educate the public about wildlife to help prevent future injuries. 

The Amount Per Animal page of Excel arose from the Federals Governments as well as our interest in the kind of birds we most commonly receive. This can indicate declines of species in the area as well as how urban growth is effecting local wildlife numbers. For the wildlife rehab this shows that of our top ten Species of birds, three of them are considered "nuisance" species. House Sparrows, Starling, and Pigeons are not protected by the Migratory Bird act and can there for be raised by anyone. These birds take up large amounts of resources with in the rehab so other methods of care should be looked into. For us knowing that Robins are the number one bird means that food and medicine that pertains to that species will be purchased more frequently. 

Why birds are being brought to rehab is important to both the Federal Government as well as the Rehab. Since all birds except for the three I mentioned above are protected by the Migratory Bird Act it is a federal crime to injure these birds. If there is a large number of Birds being shot in a particular area the Division of Natural Resources will do an investigation. For the Rehab this means that more money will be spent into breaks, surgery, antibiotics and other medical needs. Many injures are human cause,by showing the number of birds effect by each problem we are able to help educate people on how they can help prevent these injurers

This assignment shows that I have been able to apply what I learned in my computer class to a real world situation. In my course I learned how to organize information with the Table ability or Excel, while showing the results in column and pie charts. The challenges I faced while completing this assignment were many, some of the intakes were incomplete information that didn't not list everything I needed. I had to filter through the intakes to remove the incomplete information for each area of interest. I chose this assignment for my ePortfolio because I feel this greatly pertains to my life and interests. It shows how one can apply Excel to find out needed information.