Author: The Ethogram

The official blog of the UC Davis Animal Behavior Graduate Group.

Field Notes: Settling into a Field Site and Embracing my Inner Limpet

As I summit Everest, sweating from exertion with the sun glaring on my face, I turn my gaze downward and sweep the creviced ground with my eyes. The creatures I am here to study are inconspicuous, blending into the rocks with their grey, ridged shells. Their species name is Siphonaria gigas, the Greek gigas meaning “giant,” and these…

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Field Frame Friday: Adorable Intruders

Even though my study species is White-crowned sparrows (Zonotrichia leucophrys), we sometimes catch other hungry birds by accident. This is a dark-eyed junco (Junco hyemalis) that wandered into our research traps for a quick birdseed snack. They’re fun to see and we let them go on their way as soon as they are satisfied with…

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Creature Feature: Coastal Cutthroat Trout

Fog rolls in one drizzly May morning on the Olympic Peninsula of northwestern Washington. The precipitation is somewhere between mist and rain, decreasing visibility to about a hundred feet in the temperate rainforest. The river is high, but still clear, and there is only one other car in the boat launch parking lot. May is…

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Sci Hero: Dr. Ernest Everett Just

The Ethogram believes that science should be accessible and diverse in order to increase the sense of belonging within the science community. As a part of our continuing effort to make science a more inclusive field, we will be highlighting a “Sci Hero” each month so that the next generation of scientists and naturalists may be inspired and identify with the diverse community that came before them.

Field Frame Friday: Eating away an ecosystem

Kelp-craving purple urchins (Strongylocentrotus purpuratus) are contributing to an underwater housing crisis! Kelp are considered ecosystem engineers because they provide food and shelter for many marine species. Due to several disturbances in the kelp forest, this underwater ecosystem in Northern California has been thrown off balance. Without predators to keep purple urchin populations in check…

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Field Frame Friday: It’s for science, baby.

At 6-days old I take measurements of nestling White-crowned sparrows (Zonotrichia leucophrys). Each nestling is affixed with a small metal band around its leg, this band has a unique ID number so if it is ever caught anywhere in the world, we’ll know exactly where it is from. [Photo and caption by Carly Hawkins] Carly…

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