Greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) are weird alien-birds that are emblematic of North America’s western states. They live in the sagebrush steppes: a unique and harsh desert whose beauty belies the harsh conditions that animals face. My research is broadly focused on sage-grouse behavior and conservation. My project is two-pronged: I investigate the link between behavior…

Learn how UC Davis researchers track migrating salmon in the Central Valley in this month’s Field Notes.

ABGG first-year Karli Chudeau explains what enrichment is and why it’s important to consider in wildlife rehabilitation settings.

ABGG first-year Meredith Lutz discusses her research on sifaka play behavior in the eastern rainforests of Madagascar.

Field Notes is a monthly segment in which we (the students of the Animal Behavior Graduate Group) recount the scientific side of our fieldwork – why we are there, what we do when we get there, and what we learned from our time. Stay tuned each month as we travel the globe studying a variety…

I’m finally back after a summer field season studying monkeys in Japan! My research was conducted on Koshima Island, the birthplace of Japanese Primatology and home to a population of almost 100 Japanese macaques. You may have heard of

Greetings  from the tundra.  The past few weeks have been some of my favorite of the field season— time for nestling and fledgling birds!

I’ve recently returned from my first field season and as I’m settling back into Davis, I wanted to take a moment to talk about my research in Wyoming studying the mating behavior of Greater sage-grouse! Sage-grouse are basically weirdly-awesome, tricked-out prairie chickens (thus, Chicken Camp). Greater sage-grouse are currently being considered for listing under the Endangered…

Whew!  A lot has happened on the tundra in the past two weeks!  Since my last post the weather has gone from one extreme to another with multiple snow-storms and now blistering heat.  While I’ve been coping with the weather by switching between my parka and sunhat depending upon the day,  how do birds fare…

This is my first field season studying birds, which means that this is the first year that my friends and family call me with their anecdotal bird encounters and sightings. Sometimes I know the answer – like the territorial female cardinals that are terrorizing my sister’s house in Virginia. But other times I wonder if…