Images

Chicks and eggs of piping plovers. The piping plover is a small migratory shorebird listed as endangered in Canada and the U.S. Great Lakes, and threatened throughout the remainder of its U.S. breeding and winter range.

An adult piping plover. The piping plover is a small migratory shorebird listed as endangered in Canada and the U.S. Great Lakes, and threatened throughout the remainder of its U.S. breeding and winter range. Recent surveys indicate that there are only about 8,000 adults in existence.

California condors are one of the most endangered birds in North America. In the early 1990s, captive-bred condors were reintroduced into the wild in California. As of January 2010, about 190 condors now live in the wild and more reintroductions are being considered.

Plains bison in winter at Yellowstone National Park.

Silver carp are a large a troublesome invasive species from Asia found in the great rivers of the central United States. Silver carp have been observed to jump in response to rocks thrown in the water, passing trains, geese taking off from the water, or just when they unexpectedly find themselves in a tight place.

Curlews migrate long distances each year. Captured birds are quickly removed from mist nets and transported to the care of a veterinarian, who performs the implant surgeries to outfit the bird with a tracking device. In June 2007, USGS scientists tagged 13 curlews with satellite transmitters at their southern breeding area in Alaska.

A distinctive feature of the Bristle-thighed Curlew is its cinnamon-colored rump and tail. This feature helps distinguish curlews from similar species like the Whimbrel (N. phaeopus), particularly in places where the two species overlap in Alaska and Oceania. These curlews migrate long distances each year.

The endangered Devils Hole pupfish lives only in Devils Hole in the Mojave Desert.

A USGS technician collects a water sample at the Faka Union Canal Weir #1, Collier County, Florida. The sample was used to help determine the source of the warm water responsible for the site's popularity among manatees as a warm water refuge.

Deer in Shenandoah National Park.

Tree after spring blizzard.

Shallow coral reefs in the U.S. Virgin Islands are in jeopardy due to climate warming and ocean acidification.

Red knots, an at-risk shorebird, at Delaware Bay. Red knots like to feed on horseshoe crab eggs to refuel after their marathon migrations of some 10,000 miles. Declines of horseshoe crabs and red knots seem to be related.

Lead shot in the fall zone at the Broadkiln Sportsman's Club (quarter-coin for scale).

A blood sample is collected from every pallid sturgeon that is implanted with a telemetry transmitter. 

Researchers are deploying an underwater microscope (or "sand-cam") from the R/V Theodore H. Schmudde.

Two Cladonia lichen species, C. stellaris and C. rangiferina are pictured here among some blueberry plants in Newfoundland.  Lichens -- which are often mistaken for moss -- are unusual plant-like organisms that are actually symbioses of fungi, algae and bacteria living together.

Equipped with a multibeam bathymetric system and acoustic Doppler current profiler, the research vessel Lucien Brush was deployed to make comprehensive maps of the potential spawning area.  In order to collect precise location data, a base station is set-up within view of the area to be mapped.  Luckily, a sandbar was still peaking above the river’s surfac

Amy George uses a microscope and imaging software to measure larval Acipenseriformes collected in the Missouri River. 

Specialized, directional, underwater microphones, or hydrophones are lowered into the water to “hear” acoustic tags implanted in pallid sturgeon.

USGS and NPS personnel placed a GPS-transmitter on a California Condor at Pinnacles National Monument.  Photo was taken when the bird was released after attaching the transmitter.