Hi there! Jessica here. I’m starting this diary to log the tribulations and triumphs of my PhD research on shorebirds in the Eastern Sierra Nevada. Always exciting, grueling, and full of surprises, field season is my favorite part of the year . . . however, the first field season of a new project can be…
Category: Field Notes
Field Notes: It takes a village
After last year’s field season was canceled because of the pandemic followed by a full year of virtual meetings, conferences, socializing, and the never-ending pinging of emails in my inbox, sitting at my laptop was about the very last place I wanted to be at the start of summer. Contrarily, being in the fog of the Marin Headlands,…
Field Notes: A Life-or-Death Game of Musical Chairs: How Do Baboons Choose Where to Sleep at Night?
Let’s take a little journey back in time. Remember when you walked into a classroom on the first day of school in, say, 8th grade? If you lucked out and your teacher let you choose where to sit, you had a pretty challenging decision ahead of you, whether you recognized it at the time or not….
Field (Lab) Notes: Do pigeon parents get better with practice?
What can pigeons teach us about the parental brain? What do COVID-19 testing and animal behavior analyses have in common? Read more about Victoria’s Ph.D. research to find out!
Field Notes: Risky Business
Read all about how California ground squirrels assess risk in a human-dominated environment with our newest Field Notes piece by our own ABGGer Chelsea Ortiz.
Field Notes: California Plants and Pollinators
At least 87.5% of flowering plant species rely on animal pollinators such as bees, birds, bats and butterflies for help with reproduction [1]. Plant-pollinator mutual relationships contribute to biodiversity, ecosystem stability, and promote food security through crop pollination [2]. Much of the food and medicine we use comes from plants that need pollinators to reproduce….
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…
What To Do When Sh** Hits the Fan, a.k.a. Alternative Research Plans for Field Biologists
Grad students everywhere have had their best laid research plans stalled by the COVID-19 pandemic. This year has been particularly challenging for animal biologists whose research requires them to travel to other countries to conduct fieldwork. I’ve had many anxiety-ridden virtual conversations with colleagues whose study animals can only be observed once in a blue…
Field Notes: Do You Prefer Your Salmon Hot or Iced?
If you’ve been following the information stream on climate change, you have likely heard of global warming. And, if you happen to be interested in fish or marine life (like yours truly), you also probably know that this means many of the world’s water systems are projected to increase in temperature . Even at face…
Field Notes: Ewe Wouldn’t Believe How Sheep Behave!
It has been two and a half years of collecting data for my oxymoronically entitled study, “An assessment of consistent individual differences during human-animal interactions in the pre and post-natal period in rangeland ewes”. Ewes are female sheep for those of ewe that do not know. I say my study seems like an oxymoron because prior to…
theethogram.com 