Images

The first House Finch caught at the USGS Bird Banding Lab's Fall Migration Station since 1999. 

Clay Raines, a USGS scientist, performing a dermal swab on a Largemouth Bass at a Bass Pro Shops retail store with a presumptive case of blotchy bass syndrome.  The collected swabs can be used to isolate DNA and RNA which can be used to identify pathogens including those associated with hyperpigmentation.

A dermal swab being used on a Largemouth Bass at a Bass Pro Shops retail store with a presumptive case of blotchy bass syndrome.   We can see the transfer of pigmented epidermal tissue to the swab changing its color. The collected swabs can be used to isolate DNA and RNA which can be used to identify pathogens including those associated with hyperpigmentation.

A photograph of geodetic surveying at the Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Site (National Park Service).

Cape May Warbler banded at the USGS Bird Banding Lab's Fall Migration Station.

Julie Dietze checks suplies for the QAQC test on the temperature cards in a walk in freezer.

Annaliese Estevez, Leyton Brunner, and Emiley Fletcher, three student interns helping the Logistics Teams, stand in front of logistics supplies.

Clay Raines performs primary filtration of pasteurized wastewater in the Biosafety Level-3 Lab

 Chris Ottinger prepares the autoclave at the Leetown, WV lab for waste decontamination. 

The buffy “teardrops” you see on some of the feathers indicate that this Swainson's Thrush hatched this summer and is making its first-ever migratory journey! This bird that was banded October 1, 2021 at the Bird Banding Lab’s fall migration banding station at Patuxent Research Refuge in Maryland.

A Swainson's Thrush banded at the Bird Banding Lab's Fall Migration Station.    

Vicki Blazer's group sampling smallmouth bass to do PFAS analysis of blood and blood plasma along with collecting tissues to look at other indicators of fish health such as histopathology and gene expression. These photos were taken at a sampling site in PA during October 2021. 

Bio-Rad Laboratories Engineer checks equipment needed to process samples in order to keep it working in top shape!

Lab sample from one of the facilities sitting patiently on the table, waiting to be extracted in the lab.

Image of a  flow-based composite sample being collected at one of the wastewater facilities to represent a 24-hour sample. 

Caitlin Beaver (WARC) setting up plates to run ddPCR in the Biosafety-level 3 lab in Leetown, WV. 

Picture of Travis Smith at a wastewater facility filling out paperwork for samples collected that day in the lab van before shipping the same samples to the Leetown, WV lab.

A USGS field team member retrieving the sample bottle from a time-based sampler onsite at a wastewater treatment facility.

Field team member Laura Hubbard shows off a sample in the field after pickup from the wastewater facility.

USGS field team member runs cleaning solution through the autosampler installed at one of the wastewater facilities in Ohio as part of a QA test to see if cleaning procedures affect sample results. 

Red biohazard bag, sealed bags with samples in bottles and a sample box on the ground.