Field Frame Friday: Who’s this chick??

A Spotted Sandpiper (Actitis macularius) chick shows off its shiny new leg band, which contains a unique ID number used by researchers to identify this individual. This chick will continue growing throughout the summer, migrate south for the winter, and perhaps return to its birthplace in the Mono Basin to breed next summer. [Photo and…

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Field Notes: Chatting with Cetaceans

Throughout my scientific career, I have mainly studied our closest non-human primate relatives and their quirky behaviors (see my previous field notes here). However, when my graduate school advisor asked if I’d be interested in helping with a research project on humpback whales, I was excited at the prospect of starting something entirely new and…

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Field Frame Friday: Turtle party!

Meet Testudo hermanni hermanni, a Mediterranean tortoise present in Italy, France and Spain. Its captive breeding was made necessary by the destruction of its native habitat. The challenge for current breeders, unlike most of the species bred as pets, is to maintain as much as possible the purity of the species, subspecies and, if possible,…

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Field Notes: The First of Many Lasts

As I pack up my car on a breezy August day, I take one last breath of the cool, ocean air filled with scents of sagebrush and eucalyptus, realizing that while this wouldn’t be my last trip to the Marin Headlands, this is the last time I will be collecting data for graduate school.  —…

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Field Frame Friday: This is how I show my love – QUAIL

A California Quail (Callipepla californica) poses majestically on a shrub. California Quail participate in brood-mixing, where multiple female quail will raise multiple offspring (related and not-related) in communal family groups. It is suggested that females involved in communal family groups also live longer than those in single family groups. There are benefits of being a…

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