Images

 Lesser Snow Goose at Colusa National Wildlife Refuge.

When looking for a place to set up a capture location, biologists look for existing bear sign such as scratches on trees and bear scat.  Sometimes traps are set in areas that have no obvious bear sign to determine if indeed bears are present.

When looking for a place to set up a capture location, biologists look for existing bear sign such as scratches on trees and bear scat.  Sometimes traps are set in areas that have no obvious bear sign to determine if indeed bears are present.

Flock of Ross’s Geese at Colusa National Wildlife Refuge.

USGS scientist sampling water at Horicon National Wildlife Refuge for analysis of avian influenza to determine if wild bird habitat is a reservoir of the virus.  

Drilling to take water chemistry samples for permafrost study in the Yukon River Basin

Student dusts the Model A Ford coupe used by USGS scientists from the 1930s to 1965. 

Old-growth ponderosa pine in the Monument Canyon Research Natural Area, New Mexico.

USGS biologist Gretchen Roffler weighs a newborn caribou calf in Denali National Park, Alaska.

A grizzly bear has cached an elk carcass in Grand Teton National Park. Scientists used DNA from hair samples collected from barbed wire to estimate whether the availability of carcasses associated with an elk hunting season resulted in temporary immigration of grizzly bears. 

Experimental laboratory setup to study uranium in aquatic organisms. Bottles contain artificial freshwater amended with dissolved organic matter and a range of uranium concentrations.

David Pelunis-Messier and Milton Roberts navigating on the Tanana River, a main tributary of the Yukon River. The two are taking part in the Yukon River permafrost study. 

Karen Nelson (USFWS) acquiring geophysical data amidst a naturally occurring plant (Salicornia rubra) in northeastern Montana.

Yukon River freezing up at Pilot Station, AK

Whitefish drying on a fish rack in Pilot Station, AK, in the Yukon River Basin. 

The pallid sturgeon is an endangered riverine sturgeon with historical distribution restricted to parts of the Yellowstone, Missouri, Mississippi, and Atchafalaya Rivers. Although rare, pallid sturgeon in the lower Mississippi River appear to be naturally recruiting, and information about habitat use is important to conserve this species.

Barred owls like this one were most strongly associated with patches of large hardwood and conifer trees in relatively flat areas along streams.  

An adult pallid sturgeon, an endangered species.

Heading out to do field work for a permafrost loss study in the Yukon River Basin. 

Non-native Burmese pythons have established a breeding population in South Florida and are one of the most concerning invasive species in Everglades National Park. This photograph is of a Burmese python hatchling

The Hawaiian ‘I‘iwi, a native forest bird species only found in the Hawaiian Islands.