We still refer to grandpa as the
"Old buzzard", a name he earned by following Turkey Vultures
around with his sailplane because they always know where the best lift
is. Grandpa Les believed they could smell the lift because of the dead
stuff smells that came up with the thermals. My first real flight where
I was at the controls and actually aware of what was going on (instead
of just sleeping in the back seat) was on my 12th birthday. I was at
Grandpa Les’s glider airport taking an actual lesson. What a great
day. In the years that followed, I got the flying bug real bad and
eventually got my glider rating, instrument, commercial, multi-engine,
single engine land & sea. I owned and flew a glider for 10 years. I
did the usual stuff to build hours including towing gliders, flying jump
plane for a skydiving outfit and ferrying airplanes and people for free.
I worked 2 jobs for 5 years to pay for all the ratings ( no military or
govt. help for me). Somewhere in there I managed to graduate from
Humboldt University with a BS in Wildlife Biology & Range Management
I started flying for the Fish
& Wildlife Service in Montana at Charles M. Russell NWR in 1987. I
mostly flew a Super Cub for waterfowl surveys and looking for trespass
cattle on the refuge, I have been with the MBMO since 1991. I currently
fly around 350 hours per year. I mostly fly a wheeled C-206 doing
telemetry and low –level waterfowl surveys in the Pacific Flyway and
Alberta, Canada. I used to fly a C-185 on floats when I was stationed in
Maryland. Last year I was lucky enough to use our C-206 on floats for a
Pelican survey along the Oregon coast. (See Above Photo) I currently
have 3,700 hours, 2000 of which are low-level (<500’ AGL). I am one
of 12 pilots that work for the MBMO.
Elizabeth K. Buelna
Flyway Biologist (Pilot)
U.S. Department of the Interior
Fish and Wildlife Service/Office of Migratory Bird Management
Waterfowl Population Surveys
Klamath Falls, OR
