Last week, my lab partner and I went out to our field site to see if last year’s hatchlings had emerged yet from their nests. The female pond turtles lay their eggs in the early summer (June is the most active month at our site), and the eggs hatch approximately three months later. There is evidence that young don’t leave the nest, though, until after the winter, something we were able to confirm on our excursion today!
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Presented my poster again today, as part of SSU’s Graduate Showcase:
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This week, I took my students on a field trip to one of my university’s nature preserves. Our primary goal was to survey some trees for Sudden Oak Death, but I never go to the preserve without the supplemental goal of making wildlife observations, especially since there are always at least a few students who tell me that this trip is the first time they’ve ever gone hiking in some sort of “natural” or wilderness area. I’ll combine photos from both days (I have multiple classes, so came out on two days).
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I did something really cool this evening: went out and surveyed for red-legged frogs (Rana draytonii), which are an endangered species in California. We found four frogs, and they are SUPER ADORABLE! Also, I look like a total dork in waders, but it was a really good evening. 🙂
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While taking some time away from the annual meeting of the Western Section of The Wildlife Society, we visited a few places in the old downtown area of Sacramento, including the Old Sacramento Schoolhouse Museum, a replica of the type of schoolhouses that were found in the area in days gone by. The building was charming, and apparently they provide tours and an educational program for thousands of schoolchildren every year. (My son and I spent the day at a similar museum in the Dougherty Valley a few years ago, where his class was walked through a typical day in the life of a schoolchild from this era).
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A small group of students from my research lab made the short trek to Sacramento to attend the annual meeting of The Western Section of The Wildlife Society, in Sacramento, California, February 1 – 3, 2012. This was my first conference after beginning the master’s program, and I worked with an undergraduate to create this poster, which we presented during the poster session:
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