Images

A beautiful, sunny day with blue skies at the Leetown trout pond while on a birding excursion with the Potomac Valley Audubon Society.  This trout pond plays an important role in the community and gives veterans and handicapped groups the chance to get outside and catch big trout!  It also provides nourishing trout to the resident  bald eagles.

Matt Burgess from the USGS National Uncrewed Systems Office pilots a drone over research ponds at the Eastern Ecological Science Center as part of a methods development campaign to examine how multiple types of remote sensors may be used to map and identify algae, including those that lead to Harmful Algal Blooms.

This hatch-year American Robin was the 100th newly banded bird at the Patuxent Research Refuge's MAPS station during the summer of 2022. 

A USGS researcher pilots a drone over the Leetown Research Laboratory ponds as part of an effort to explore how remote sensing may be able to inform efforts to identify and track the extent of Harmful Algal Blooms.

Technicians calibrate a UAS before conducting aerial surveys at Leetown Research Lab ponds.

Blue Ridge sculpin (Cottus caeruleomentum) are being acclimated to the water temperature and chemistry of the Experimental Stream Laboratory at the Eastern Ecological Science Center in West Virginia. Fish from this study will be used to restore an extirpated population in Catoctin Mountain Park in Maryland.

One of the raptor handlers educates people for Latino Conservation Week at the National Wildlife Visitor Center, Patuxent Research Refuge. 

Elaine Nakash educates visitors and volunteers alike at the USGS Bird Banding Laboratory's display table, which was setup for the Latino Conservation Week event at the National Wildlife Visitor Center at Patuxent Research Refuge. 

A juvenile Yellow-breasted Chat peers out from a shrub, Eastern Ecological Science Center at the Patuxent Research Refuge

Wheat seeds with (A) and without (B) neonicotinoid coating. Wheat seeds with neonicotinoid coating were fed to eight Delaware chickens in summer 2022 as part of a controlled experiment to better determine what effect (if any) neonicotinoid-treated seeds have on birds that consume them.

A Delaware breed chicken is part of a controlled experiment to better determine what effect (if any) neonicotinoid-treated seeds have on birds that consume them. Results from this experiment may inform future field research on the potential sublethal effects of agricultural practices on Washington state sage grouse, a state-endangered species.

These Delaware breed chickens are part of a controlled experiment to better determine what effect (if any) neonicotinoid-treated seeds have on birds that consume them. Results from this experiment may inform future field research on the potential sublethal effects of agricultural practices on Washington state sage grouse, a state-endangered species.

A Delaware breed chicken is part of a controlled experiment to better determine what effect (if any) neonicotinoid-treated seeds have on birds that consume them. Results from this experiment may inform future field research on the potential sublethal effects of agricultural practices on Washington state sage grouse, a state-endangered species.

Prosser Team and additional volunteers on Poplar Island, Maryland in 2022 field season

Scale diagram of EESC’s fish passage complex at the S.O. Conte Research Laboratory in Turners Falls, MA.

Justine Neville (left) and Brendan Crossman (right) work to download and examine the data obtained from the site's sap flow probes, which were installed in early May. To learn more, contact Justine Neville at jneville@usgs.gov or David Walters at davidwalters@usgs.gov.

An adult Yellow-breasted Chat keeps watch from a perch above a nearby nest, Eastern Ecological Science Center at the Patuxent Research Refuge

USGS research fishery biologist Micah Kieffer sutures an adult Atlantic sturgeon after implanting an acoustic transmitter in its abdomen as part of efforts by USGS Eastern Ecological Science Center and partners to better understand sturgeon movements in the Gulf of Maine. This project was funded by the U.S.

USGS sturgeon biologist, Micah Kieffer, surgically implants telemetry tag in a juvenile sturgeon captured (and later released) during a survey in the Lower Kennebec River

USGS technician Zach Kelly inserts a Passive Integrated Transponder (PIT) tag into an anesthetized Blue Ridge sculpin at the EESC Experimental Stream Laboratory. The PIT tag will enable researchers to monitor fish growth, survival, and movement after their release.

USGS research fishery biologist Micah Kieffer sutures a juvenile Atlantic sturgeon after implanting an acoustic transmitter its abdomen as part of efforts by USGS Eastern Ecological Science Center and partners to better understand sturgeon movements in the Gulf of Maine. This project was funded by the U.S.