Images

USGS ecologist Lisa Allen carefully removes an endangered Least Bell's Vireo from a net. She and Principal Investigator Barbara Kus are studying these birds' migration patterns to provide the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and international efforts with information to assist in species recovery.

USGS researchers Lisa Allen and Ryan Pottinger survey Miraflores Wash in Baja, California for Least Bell's Vireos, an endangered migratory bird.

This old male tortoise was experimentally translocated to a site that had been previously burned in wildfire to understand how tortoise grow and survive in habitat that is disturbed by fires.

USGS WERC scientist Emily (Emma) Kelsey at False Klamath Rock doing seabird monitoring research. 

USGS WERC scientist Jonathan Felis on False Klamath Rock doing seabird monitoring research. 

Pelicans on a rock, observed by the USGS Western Ecological Center Seabird Studies team.

USGS WERC researcher Julia Ersan gets prepared to release a hoary bat (Lasiurus cinereus) after capture and examination. USGS researchers are conducting multiple projects to learn about the ecology of Western bats, including long distance migrants like the hoary bat.

Scientist Nate Stephenson with a large juniper tree in the Sierra Nevada

Photo of driftwood, and invasive grasses and iceplant at Point Reyes National Seashore, CA. Such "dune drainages" make surprising habitat for a threatened species of amphibian: the California red-legged frog.

Dead trees like the ones featured in this photo still provide valuable habitat for wildlife, including birds.

Dr. Brian Halstead, USGS WERC, gestures to the Randall House, now abandoned, constructed in the early 20th century. The house is now maintained by the National Park Service as a maternity roost for Townsend's Big-Eared bats.

Pat Kleeman, USGS WERC, searches for threatened California red-legged frogs in a dune drainage, Point Reyes National Seashore.

Driftwood and sand dunes at the Point Reyes National Seashore.

Wing of Southwestern Willow Flycatcher nestling on band day in 2017. 

This mallard duckling was captured in Suisun Marsh. USGS scientists are weighing, measuring and banding waterfowl to understand how they are using the marsh and for capture-recapture data. 

Moving from one site to the next requires hauling needed gear along with. These three have their hands full taking things back to the truck after processing waterfowl from a maintained site. 

Researchers use wire mesh to construct traps for collecting waterfowl in Suisun Marsh, CA.

Brock, a USGS volunteer, walks out to a future waterfowl trapping site with a bucket full of rice in hopes that it will attract waterfowl to the area.

Two WERC technicians walk back from a placed trap with hands full. 

Young skunk with an ear tag ID. 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.

Taken 7/11/2017 at Grizzly Ranch, Suisun City, CA. USGS biological science technician Breanne Cooney builds a decoy waterfowl nest for an outreach demonstration.