Saturday, May 29, 2010

Extra Extra...




Can't walk half a block around town without a glimpse of these spectacular Rhododendrons...


Hi Rough Skinned Newt, we think you are oh so cute....



A day in the life of a piece of driftwood - not bad...



 
                 

Extra Extra: No Owls in Site, Mouse Lives to Tell Frightening Tale


Monday, May 24, 2010

Amusing Mousings


When a Spotted or Sbarred owl (hybrid of Spotted and Barred)
is heard, we make a follow-up visit to the area.  
A technique called mousing is used to find out whether or not the owl
has a mate or young; its' nesting status.


Sbarred Owl... 
Has a blend of bars and spots on the chest 
like a Barred and Spotted Owl.
A melded look...



Mousing - A mouse is placed in plain site of the owl.  In this case, on a long stick.
The owl will either ignore the mouse, eat the mouse, or take it to a mate or nest.





It is possible that hybridization could add to the decline 
of the Northern Spotted Owl.  Especially in the long run 
if Northern Spotted Owl populations continue to stay so low.
Gotta keep the ol' gene pool clean.



 ...We're gonna have to go with nature on this one -
we always knew it was OK to play with your food.


Stunning and wise.  Both the moss-lichen covered tree and the Sbarred Owl.


Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Videos, Sounds, and Nostalgia Galore

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This video discusses one of the Northern Spotted Owl's most controversial threats....Barred Owls; as well as loss of old growth forest and habitat.
Note: "Most Spotted Owls (90%) will be found in 200+ year old multi-layer forests 
and few in less than 100-year-old forests"

Each night from a "boombox" 10 minutes worth of hooting is played at each pre-determinned survey station in hopes of calling-in the owls. The types of calls used include the classic 4-note and series, as well as contact calls (high pitched "shreeek", and barking calls (similar to crow calls). In an upcoming post, we'll show you the mousing procedure that takes place once a Spotted or Sbarred Owl (Hybrid of spotted and Barred) is detected.

Click to hear a Series and 4-Note call of a Spotted Owl.
You  might be familiar with the explanation for a Barred Owl Call sounding like "Who cooks for you, who cooks for you all". Some of the Spotted Owl's calls are similar to those of Barred Owls, but in general they tend to be shorter, higher pitch, and lack the gurgley throat sounds which are oh so prevalent among Barred Owl Calls.

Click to hear a Male Barred Owl 8-Note.






 The same moose(s) -Did they just say mooses?-
we worked with last summer in the Teton Wilderness. 
Scott, shown in the video, was the original University of Wyoming Grad Student to conduct the study which was then passed down to our boss for whom we worked.  Our field season focused on what the video mentioned as "lack of quality nutrients".  (See previous posts from last summer)
Now do you understand the excitement of finding poo??





Welp, this is a video of the Mexican Grey Wolf Reintroduction Program. The video is exactly the work we did.  Other duties included daily telemetry to triangulate wolf and den locations, aerial telemetry, scat collection and tracking.  This video is a reminder for us of how amazing our colleagues and day to day activities truly were! Going into the pens to capture, handle, and prep a wolf for a release was one of our favorite things to do....However the act of releasing the wolf into the wild was even better....



Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Gone Tidepoolin'




At Arcadia Beach for a windless, sun and tide pool filled afternoon...
So much animal life!



Intertidal zone covered mostly by goose and acorn barnacles.
The Oregon cost has semi-diurnal tides 
(two high tides and two low tides each day)


Anemone, mussels, and sea star filled pool...
"....so just then, the sea cucumber looks over to the mollusk and says: with friends like these, who needs anemones." - Finding Nemo



Look Ma, no feet!




 Molts, Molts, everywhere...
Mass molting is happening all over beaches during this time of year
...So fresh and so clean, clean, crab for all; especially the birds


* New Link to check out on the "wood panel" top of page - 
our Pre-Blog Work Photos *

Thursday, May 06, 2010

Bountiful Twilight


"The wise man can pick up a grain of sand and envision a whole universe. 
But the stupid man will just lie down on some seaweed 
and roll around until he's completely draped in it. 
Then he'll stand up and go, "Hey, I'm Vine Man."
- Jack Handey





One of our favorite photos taken thus far



A blustery, rainbow filled evening turned into a magnificent sunset







A not-so-shy beaver.  
Rabies? 
Well, let's just say he wasn't foaming at the mouth or gnawing on Ben's leg...



Northwestern Salamander
You might say this is not as picturesque as the Black Bear that Ben saw this week.
You might be right.
If only the bear was willing to lay motionless amongst the leaf liter for a close-up




We decided we could build a little "bubble box" around ourselves and sit through the blowing sand and rain and wait for moments just like this one....




Saturday, May 01, 2010

Cut up chunks of fish, anyone?



Manaznita Coastline...
Nehalem Bay can be seen in the upper back portion of photo below the ridge line








Went and took a visit to Seaside for their aquarium and who could resist doing some crayon rubbings?




Pacific Harbor Seal Smile :)


The Seaside Aquarium was the first in the country to successfully breed Pacific Harbor Seals. Some of the seals are 3rd or 4th generation offspring



Wolf Eel! Can grow up to 6 -7 feet in length and weigh 40 pounds...this one was massive! Believe it or not; their temperament is quite mild,
but
their face is one only a mother could love....
guess that makes us "mothers"






One neat aspect about the aquarium is that it features only animals found along the Pacific Coastline (Cali-Alaska). The Giant Pacific Octopus, for example, in the video above....




None of the seals have been trained. They have each acquired their own set of skills to attract the attention and fish of the visitors. This seal named Greta has her technique down pretty well....





Gazing


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