Blog Post

Turtle Research

Since I am pursuing a bachelor of science degree, I will be writing a senior thesis. Of course, this means that I first need to do some research, so I have something about which to write. It looks like that something will be turtles, more specifically the nesting preferences and nest site fidelity of western pond turtles. I spent a a good part of last summer doing field research at a site up in Lake County, and this semester I am working in the lab with the data we collected, but for my own project, and also for a continuing project on temperature-dependent sex determination in turtles.

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By Wendy St. John, ago

Paleontology Illustrations

One of the things we were required to do in Paleontology was to keep a notebook with field notes, and also illustrations of specimens we’d studied in class. I’m pretty happy with the way some of these drawings turned out, so I thought I’d post them here.

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By Wendy, ago

A Photo of Me!

If you’re wondering about the black thing on the turtle’s back, it’s a radio transmitter. This gravid female had been captured the night before and given an ID number, weighed and measured, and fitted with a transmitter. Then, she spent the night in my car. This photo was taken right before she was released back into the lake the next morning. Then, over the next few days, her radio frequency was monitored each evening in the hopes of finding her out of the water and laying her eggs.

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By Wendy St. John, ago

That’s a Lot of Food

Today, I fed all the animals at the Wildlife Rescue by myself, for the first time ever. (Usually there are at least two, sometimes three of us). I don’t usually feed on Saturdays, but today I was filling in for someone who had surgery earlier in the week. I fed 56 animals today (well, 57 including Gizmo, whom I fed at home before I left this morning :D).

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By Wendy St. John, ago
Vert Morph shark dissection

Dissections in Vert Morph – For Science!

(Post backdated to 2010, when these photos were originally taken). 

Dissections nearly scared me away from biology. No kidding, when I first graduated from high school, I considered going into biology, but I always vetoed the idea, because I was convinced I’d never be able to handle dissecting an animal that had once been alive.

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By Wendy, ago

Avian Team Award!

I had a big surprise at the Sonoma County Wildlife Volunteer Appreciation party this afternoon – I received an AWARD!

I had no idea this was going to happen, and in fact I was really, really surprised. Apparently, though, Nicole knew about it, and insisted that I attend the party (otherwise I probably would have stayed home).

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By Wendy St. John, ago

Songbird Hospital

In addition to working at the main site of the Sonoma County Wildlife Rescue, I’ve been doing one shift a week at the nearby Songbird Hospital, which is affiliated with the SCWR, but located at a different site (at the home of the woman who runs it and does most of the work).

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By Wendy St. John, ago