Images

Small plants grow beneath the needles of a Bishop pine

Now that Forster’s terns have returned to nesting in Pond A16, an important nesting colony has been re-established, with hopes that this tern colony will grow in future years and help reverse the decline of the Forster’s tern population in San Francisco Bay.

Aerial view of Channel Islands.

Aerial view of Channel Islands.

Aerial view of Channel Islands.

James Molden shows off an Orange-throated Whiptail (Aspidoscelis hyperythra) while conducting the monthly pitfall trap monitoring at Cabrillo National Monument. The traps were put in place over 20 years ago by researcher Robert Fisher. USGS is looking at the effects of fragmentation on the isolated amphibian and reptile community at the monument.

James Molden takes habitat photos for Arroyo Toad surveys in Santa Ysabel Creek.

Researcher Melanie Madden holds up a Blainville's Horned Lizard (Phrynosoma blainvillii).

Researcher Melanie Madden holds up a gophersnake (Pituophis catenifer).

Aerial view of a shark (very small, bottom left).

Black-footed albatross and shearwater in flight.

Shannon Waters-Dynes masks up in the genetics lab.

Masked up and en route to begin a photographic aerial survey for seabirds and marine mammals off Central California, over the California Current.

A dragonfly nymph

Rich Kim works on giant gartersnake trap building. 

Damselfly nymph

Damselfly nymph

Researchers Liz Gallegos and Adam Backlin releasing California red-legged frog tadpoles into a temporary enclosure as part of an international translocation. The tadpoles were collected from the Sierra San Pedro Martir mountains of Baja California, Mexico and transported to two sites in the United States.

Adam Backlin and Elizabeth Gallegos translocatw an egg mass of the California Red Legged Frog from a donor site in the mountains of Baja California MX. The recipient site, where the photo was taken, was at Mesa Grande in San Diego County.

Humpback and California Sea Lion

Humpback Whale