USGS | bay salt blog

Season #3_USGS

Greetings from Davis, CA!

The weather has changed here in NorCal and we’ve had some light rains and cool days here lately. It is nice to have some changes in the weather and signs that the seasons continue to revolve….

I pulled out about 100 photos from the 6-month period I spent in San Diego County from March 8^th, 2015 – August 24^th, 2015 while working on a 3^rd season with USGS as a surveyor for three bird species there (Southwestern Willow Flycatcher, Least Bell’s Vireo, and California Gnatcatcher).

The season started a little earlier this year than last year. We began with some new vegetation protocol learning lead by our fearless leaders SL, BK, AH, and KF. I thought some of our crew looked a little suspicious in their face masks (sun protection) – border patrol must do a double take if they see these USGS characters way down south in SD County? After the major fires of 2014 on Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton (BASE) and elsewhere in San Diego County, a lot of habitat was lost for all of the birds we work with – the fires last year just kept erupting/popping up for a couple days in many areas it seemed. Some of the photos here show the extent of some of the burns – a lot of the areas were filled with invasive mustard (yellow flowered hillsides) as well as tons of burnt shrubs, cacti, and trees when we first got to BASE. The Gnatcatcher surveys were an addition to our surveys this year, and this gave us a good chance to see and explore a lot more of BASE via back roads, tank trails, and fire breaks. At times, I felt like I was preparing for a truck commercial while driving 4WD up steep hillsides and up to panoramic vistas on the BASE. Before too long, we were into out Bell’s Vireo surveys and shortly after those began, we started the Willow Flycatcher surveys. There was plenty to stay busy with this season, I felt. Added perks to the season were yet another CPR/First Aid class with our return instructor who always amuses us – and, we got to try out the new choking vests! (photo/video). Up at Santa Margarita Ecological Reserve (SMER) we had a new mix of people, some of the same local rattlesnakes, Red-Tails successfully nesting in the same tree just off the dirt road we use to get to SMER, and plenty of oranges and avocados for all! MAPS banding filled in some time once again with Warner Springs being one of my regular jaunts some Fridays. It was fun to see some birds in hand and keep in touch with the Pyle Guide. The Vireos seemed to have a decent year from my perspective (not sure what the esteemed science gurus in the OFFICE have found out from the DATA?) – there were plenty of nestlings and fledglings seen in many of my sites (photos/video). Surveys for Flycatchers even yielded a few nice highlights of color-banded birds, nests w/ eggs, and fledges (video). The Upper Margarita survey became a tactical/strategic adventure this year with truck leapfrog, escaping the survey via hillsides, and use of Fallbrook Naval Weapons Station for entrance and exits – fun. As usual, the end of season was filled with doing vegetation quads and transects – lots and lots of them! Finishing up the veg work in the area inundated with homeless camps added a little to the diversity and variety of the work – though, it really isn’t that fun to do a veg quad in the middle of an active homeless camp! Seeing a Vireo nest amongst a bunch of TP on the ground was a first for me – not the best sign of cooperation between Vireos and Homeless folks. Some transects through Typha/Scirpus proved to be a good excuse to sit or lie down on the job (photos). I don’t have any photos of the end of season SMER party – but I do have a few cool videos of long-boarders surfing Trestles (the end of one of my surveys) accompanied by Beyonce cuts (one of our featured musical guests at SMER party). Anyhow, I think the photos sum up much of the season. RD gets credit for foto of JG tactfully monitoring some Vireos in the SLR. I’m not sure who took the foto of Dr. Bowling with that cast of characters in the SLR – either way, I think we need to consider those dolls as possible SLR buddies next season?!?! Life in Davis is moving along with a few days a week spent working in Elementary and Middle Schools as a paraeducator III (working with students with ‘disabilities’) and wood work + a wood class I teach once a week @ UCD Craft Center. I’ll sign off for now – but, stay tuned…I’ll be posting more blogs soon!!!…warning, this is kind of a long slideshow (>16 mins?)…I figured 6 months is worth 16 minutes of photos, so be patient….

November 11, 2015 | Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: Birds, Endangered Species, Flycatchers, Gnatcathers, MACBCP, MAPS, Rattlesnakes, SMER, USGS, Vireos | 3 Comments

Season #2 – USGS – San Diego

Greetings and welcome back Woofersthedog fans!!!

Way too much time has passed since my last post! I am back in San Diego County working for the USGS (United States Geological Survey) for my second season with the endangered Least Bell’s Vireo and Southwestern Willow Flycatcher study. Our surveys have already begun and many Vireos are already nesting away in the habitat that our crew surveys and monitors daily. On the side of our main work, we also do MAPS (Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship) bird banding at a few sites in and around San Diego County. Most of the photos posted today are from this year’s MAPS work. Quite a few of the birds we capture in our mist-nets at our various sites are actually migrating through this area and headed north to places like Oregon, Washington, and perhaps as far as Alaska!! Pretty amazing when you consider most of these small birds (known as passerines – perching birds, or as neotropical migrants – since many of these species over-winter in the tropics) weigh about 7-30 grams!!

For now, I thought I would just share a few the images we are able to take when we have birds in-hand at our banding stations as well as a few photos here of birds, lizards, and snakes in the wild – many just out our front door here where I live. I hope you enjoy the diversity of birds you see – amazingly, this is only a subset of the birds we see day-to-day here!! More to follow, I promise. Stay tuned. Over-and-Out.