Images

Immature oocytes within the testicular tissue of a smallmouth bass.  The histological or cellular appearance of an intersex smallmouth bass. Immature oocytes (white arrows) are present within the testicular tissue which also contains mature sperm (yellow arrows).

Eelgrass (Zostera marina) forms extensive meadows in low intertidal and shallow subtidal areas of estuaries and embayments along the Northwest Atlantic coast. Ranked among the most productive plant communities on the planet, eelgrass beds are noted for contributing valuable ecosystem functions and services to the coastal zone.

Three biologists with the USGS Bird Banding Lab at Patuxent Wildlife Research Center prepare to band pelican chicks on Smith Island in the Chesapeake Bay.

Researchers monitoring frame for marked bees and colony health.  The associated project is Impacts of fossil fuels on pollinators.

Bees tagged to allow researchers to monitoring their foraging behavior.

Associated project title "Impacts of fossil fuel combustion on pollinators"

Bee with tag light blue 84 on comb. Bees tagged so researchers can monitor individual bee foraging behavior. 

Johanna Nifosi uses forceps to sample a flower for eDNA extraction in Indiana Dunes National Park. eDNA will be extracted and sequenced for the detection of pollinators such as bees. 

Two double-crested cormorant chicks in their nest on Smith Island in the Chesapeake Bay, Maryland.

Leetown Science Center researcher, Dr. Deborah Iwanowicz is collaborating with Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center.  Dr. Clint Otto, who has the lead on a project designed to identify and improve forage for honey bees on USDA Conservation Lands.  Dr.

Leetown Science Center researcher, Dr. Deborah Iwanowicz, is preparing honey bees for analysis of the Lake Sinai Virus (LSV).  This type of work is important to society as pollinators are critical for sustaining healthy ecosystems and prosperous human populations.

Leetown Science Center researcher, Dr. Deborah Iwanowicz is collaborating with Fort Collins Science Center.  Dr. Scott Cornman who has the lead on a project designed to identify diversity of strains of Lake Sinai Virus (LSV) in bees.  Dr. Iwanowicz is developing primers to more efficiently test for LSV and strain differentiation.

Leetown Science Center researcher, Dr. Deborah Iwanowicz, is preparing honey bee for analysis of the Lake Sinai Virus (LSV).   This type of work is important to society as pollinators are critical for sustaining healthy ecosystems and prosperous human populations.

Dr. Brian Healy is a research biologist and post doctoral research fellow at the US Geological Survey

Trumpeter Swans at Knowles Marsh at the Eastern Ecological Science Center on the Patuxent Research Refuge in Laurel, MD.

Laysan Albatross nesting colony on Sand Island, Midway Atoll, Northwest Hawaiian Islands.

Employee Spotlight: Lauren Walker
Newest member of the Bird Banding Laboratory has a long history with birds.

Hexagon-based aerial survey design with transects overlaid. The EPA 40 km² hexagons (White et al. 2018) were overlaid across the entirety of the northern Gulf of Mexico. Sampled hexagons were then selected using a Generalized Random Tesselation Stratified (GRTS) sampling scheme.

Rising mist and fall colors at Snowden Pond, Patuxent Research Refuge, Laurel, MD. Patuxent Research Refuge is the only National Wildlife Refuge established explicitly for research purposes, and is home to both USFWS and USGS programs, including the Bird Banding Lab.

Gotcha! A ruby-crowned kinglet waits to be extracted from a mist net at the Bird Banding Lab's fall migration banding station. Powerlines that run through the Patuxent Wildlife Research Refuge, near Laurel, MD are managed as shrub habitat instead of mowed, which provides stopover habitat for migratory birds.

Recently a long-time resident of Patuxent Wildlife Research Center (now part of the Eastern Ecological Science Center) made the Washington Post. A color photograph of "Zinc" and "Mrs. Zinc" was featured in a story about naming animals. Zinc received his unique name when he was less than one-year-old.

A Cape May Warbler pauses during fall migration on its journey south in Owings, MD