Images

Kevin Lafferty encounters a curious endangered black sea bass during field work. Taken at Channel Islands National Park.

USGS WERC scientist Emily (Emma) Kelsey and Cassin's Auklet (Ptychoramphus aleuticus) chick.

Photo of a skunk with an ear tag ID. Scientists from the USGS Western Ecological Research Center are studying the movements of skunks and raccoons within Suisun Marsh, CA to understand how they navigate the marsh to reach waterfowl nests. Results will inform the management of waterfowl populations within the Central Valley, CA.

Scientists with the USGS Western Ecological Research Center examine a young skunk caught in Suisun Marsh, CA. The USGS is studying the movement patterns of skunks and raccoons in Suisun Marsh, CA to learn how they use different landscape features, like levee roads, to navigate to waterfowl nests.

USGS scientist takes the measurements of a young, blindfolded skunk in Suisun Marsh, CA. The USGS is studying the movement patterns of skunks and raccoons in Suisun Marsh, CA to learn how they use different landscape features, like levee roads, to navigate to waterfowl nests.

Hen in Suisun Marsh, CA.

Picture of a White-tailed Tropicbird (Phaethon lepturus) flying.

Photo of a Red-tailed Tropicbird (Phaethon rubricauda) in flight.

Caspian terns (Hydroprogne caspia) on Island 11 in Pond A16, Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge, California. USGS biologists, at the request of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, used lifelike models of Caspian terns to attract these waterbirds to newly-constructed habitat in the Bay.

Gadwall ducklings in nest, Suisun Marsh, CA. 

Photo of a USGS scientist holding a hen mallard equipped with a GPS transmitter. 

A pink-footed shearwater in flight.

USGS biological science technician Andrew Greenawalt holding a duckling with a lightweight radio transmitter. The USGS Western Ecological Research Center is monitoring waterfowl populations throughout Suisun Marsh, CA, and the greater Pacific Flyway. Radio transmitters fall off within several weeks and are recovered by scientists for data collection.

Laysan albatross with chick on Kauai, 2016.

Every year, the health of each of the thousands of trees in established research plots is checked, and if a tree has died, the cause of death is determined.

A copper-striped blue-tailed skink (Emoia impar) photographed in Samoa during a USGS field survey.

A copper-striped blue-tailed skink (Emoia impar) photographed in Samoa during a USGS field survey.

The Agassiz's desert tortoise, a native of the Mojave Desert.

A photo of USGS biological science technician Desmond Mackell holding a male mallard. USGS scientists based out of Dixon, CA are banding and marking mallards and other waterfowl with GPS transmitters as part of an ongoing study in the Suisun Marsh. 

A photo of USGS biological science technician releasing a male pintail in Suisun Marsh, CA. USGS Western Ecological Research Center scientists based out of Dixon, CA are marking and tagging waterfowl with GPS transmitters as part of an ongoing study.

Sunrise over Haleakalā Crater.