Karnolab

Category: Prairie

  • SUMMERS of FEATHERS and FUN

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    s41yzw
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    An article has just been posted about summer “vacation” with pictures of Augie, Kristen and Charlotte: http://www.pomona.edu/news/2010/08/16-summer-vacation.aspx

  • The Last Banding

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    s41yzw
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    The MAPS (Monitoring Avian Survival and Productivity) protocol has a set range of dates for bird banding. As I stated before, in the last few banding periods (periods 8-10 to be specific), juvenile birds should predominate. MAPS has the overall goal of assessing survivorship and breeding rates of resident birds, and as such, its protocol…

  • home, home on the range

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    s41yzw
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    Last Wednesday, Charlotte and I finally got to go out with range management. These guys do a lot of habitat surveys and such, and the day we went out was no exception. First were some riparian habitat assessments, where we walked in and around dry stream beds to determine if the waterways were in “pfc”,…

  • Glasgow’s michelangelo

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    s41yzw
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    A little background: Most of the days during the week Charlotte and I drive to our MAPS station to do habitat surveys, bird censuses and banding. To get there, we turn right on the big main road, drive for a long time, turn right on the cornwell ranch road and navigate a confusing network of…

  • A river runs through it

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    s41yzw
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    This morning, Amy and I went prospecting for another potential MAPS site. John suggested that we find a site both closer to town (obviating the need to wake up obscenely early to get to a far-away site by dawn), and closer to the major river to compare avian community composition at varying distances from a…

  • ice ice baby

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    s41yzw
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    This weekend, Charlotte and I finally made it out to Glacier National Park! Glacier is a spectacular place– if you’ve never been, I highly recommend it. Early on Friday morning (~7am) Charlotte, Lauren and Marisa (BLM summer interns) and myself were jamming ourselves and all our gear into Lauren’s subaru. Before we truly began our…

  • a Flicker of a catch

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    s41yzw
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    Last Wednesday (8/22 to be more precise) was our second to last banding day. The Institute for Bird Populations (IBP) which is the entity overseeing all MAPS banding stations stated that in periods 8 – 10, the young of the year will predominate in the catch. What this means—or should mean—for us is that we…

  • Back in the office

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    s41yzw
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    Charlotte and I have once again taken up our posts in the BLM office because we had no field work planned for today. This is the slightly less glamorous part of our work here, but more comfortable on hot days (yesterday was a scorcher, and I think the AC in our trailer might have broken…)…

  • which would you choose: a parasite or an invasive?

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    s41yzw
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    Earlier today, while I was sitting on the porch of the shady rest office, I noticed a little bird rolling around on the other end of the porch, looking very helpless and lost indeed. I walked over to check it out, and next to the bird was a splatter of yolk and albumin and some…

  • a face only a mother could love

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    s41yzw
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    Last Friday morning (4:00 AM to be exact), Amy and I very sleepily headed out to our Canyon Creek banding station, with John taking the reins driving the pickup. All in all, we’ve had a very productive season, and that Friday was no exception; we banded a total of 18 birds, 14 of which we…