Images

Bighead carp are a large and troublesome invasive species from Asia found in the great rivers of the central United States.

After being caught by mist nets, birds are anesthetized while a small transmitter is inserted into the abdominal cavity. The surgical procedure takes less than 30 minutes. Birds recover quickly and are ready for release within an hour of surgery. This photo shows a male curlew with a black leg flag inscribed "H8".

The Long-billed Curlew (Numenius americanus) is the largest North American shorebird and is characterized by its long and decurved bill.

Curlew Chicks hatch in late June and are almost immediately ready to leave the nest. The coloring and pattern of the downy chicks provides camouflage to protect them from avian and mammalian predators. Chicks follow their parents on long hikes to feeding areas. Curlews also migrate long distances each year.

A Devils Hole pupfish swims above the algae mat that typically covers the shallow spawning shelf in Devils Hole. 

USGS Cooperative Research Unit graduate student Ambre Chaudoin monitors pupfish spawning behavior in Devils Hole, the only habitat for endangered Devils Hole pupfish.The USGS cameras that captured effects of an earthquake on Devils Hole can be seen in this picture.

USGS researchers discovered a new species of turtle. The Pearl River map turtle makes its home in the Pearl River of Louisiana and Mississippi.

Turtle in Shenandoah National Park.

Hooks baited with worms are clipped to trotlines in an effort to catch pallid sturgeon in the Lower Missouri River.

Biologists with the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission release a 3 kilogram non-reproductive male pallid sturgeon.

Researchers are viewing imagery obtained via the underwater microscope.

Upon making an incision in PLS11-008 in which to implant a telemetry transmitter, black eggs pushed to the surface.  A few of the eggs were collected for analysis on how close she is to spawning.  

Red Buds blooming along the banks of the Missouri River in April 2011.

Lisbon Chute is a side channel to the Missouri River between Glasgow and Arrow Rock, Missouri, on the Big Muddy National Wildlife Refuge. It currently has a rock inlet structure (pictured) which controls the amount of water that flows into it from the main channel of the Missouri River.

Biologist Sabrina Davenport tandem tracks the Lower Missouri River during high water on June 2, 2011.  Two boats (note boat out window) tracking in tandem can detect fish effectively across a wider river and can turn to search behind wing dikes and sandbars where sturgeon can hide during higher flows. 

While performing a Flowtracker measurement off of a bridge, a curious gator comes to investigate.

A Morafka's desert tortoise in Saguaro National Park, with radio transmitter attached to its shell as part of a USGS study.

Lake Hartwell, SC.

Side shot of butterfly on a flower.

Migrating geese stop at local ecosystem.

Local ducks playing at home in the park.