May 4, 2023

It’s that time again: the Vertebrate Biology field trip to the Mojave Desert! We spent the day driving down to the Desert Studies Center, with no stops other than lunch and bathroom breaks. I didn’t spend much time trying to make observations while driving, but I did see a few birds, including a Black-necked Stilt, several Northern Raven all along the route, and a probable Eurasian Collared Dove. 

We arrived at Zzyzx around 7:00, and while we were having our orientation tour, a female Calypte hummingbird (either Anna’s or Costa’s) flew quite close to us on the patio. Such a great close look, but not long enough for me to get the species ID). It was still great for me (and my students) to see this adorable bird so close up.

April 28th, 2023
12:00 to 2:00

My Vertebrate Biology students were invited to visit the field site of grad student Jess Schmieg, to learn about their research study on the interaction between California Tiger Salamander and predaceous diving beetles. We met out at the vernal pool site, and were able to see the experimental design and data collection techniques.

April 19, 2023
Sunny, light breeze

Today, one of my colleagues and I investigated the Native Plant Garden on campus. This garden (or perhaps it’s more accurate to call it a series of gardens) was established in the mid-1970s, along with trailer markers and a lovely trail guide and map that described the plants found in the garden. We wanted to see whether or not the map and guide were still accurate after nearly 50 years of plant growth. (Spoiler alert: they aren’t, but that is something we can fix).

April 14, 2023
Sunny and beautiful, light wind

Today, the Vertebrate Biology class visited Safari West, where Erika and Bella generously gave of their time to give us an awesome tour.

March 25, 2023
Sunny and cool

I was asked to lead an activity at the Preserve: “The Secrets of Pond Life – Aqua Bugs, Amphibians, and More.” This community event included a presentation with information about the sorts of things we might see, and then most of our time was spent hiking down to Turtle Pond to see what critters we could find. At the pond, we collected some invertebrates and brought them back to the nature center to look at them under dissecting scopes.

March 3, 2023
14:15 to 16:15
Cool but sunny until later in the day, when it turned overcast (but no precipitation)

This Vertebrate Biology trip gave students the opportunity to learn about coverboard surveys with SSU alumna Julie Wittmann.

February 24, 2023
10:00 – 12:30 
40° F, foggy, overcast, and snow on the ground (later, rain)

My Vertebrate Biology students and I had a wonderful tour of the Warm Spring Fish Hatchery, led by Bryan Freele. We were able to see the operations inside and out, from when a fish enters the hatchery, through the process of fertilization and raising the fry, until they’re just about ready to be released. 

February 17, 2023
9:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.

Our first off-campus trip of the semester was a visit to the Ellis Creek Water Treatment Facility in Petaluma. My students (I think 18 of them were in attendance) met me in the parking lot at 9:30 a.m., and spent about 2.5 hours walking the trails around the finishing ponds (total distance traveled: 2.6 km). The weather was clear and cool (but not cold). By the time we’d done about half of our hike, it was too warm for the fleece jacket I’d put on earlier in the day.

We had an amazing day, with a total of 47 species across all observers (although I didn’t personally see all of them; I saw or heard 43 species). Below are my own observations for the day.

February 10, 2023
11:30 to 12:45, sunny and cool

I took my Vertebrate Biology students on a brief (45-minute) campus walk before lunch, to practice our spotting and identification skills. We left out of the western end of Darwin Hall, and walked north, past Carson Hall to Copeland Creek. Along the way, lots of birds were seen and heard, including Northern Raven, Anna’s Hummingbird, American Robin and California Towhee. At least one Western Gray Squirrel was hanging around the lawn and trees south of the Art Building.

June 3, 2022

Our last day at the Bodega Marine Lab, we had only a single workshop session in the morning, and then would be heading home. A thick fog had rolled in while we were tidepooling, which made the landscape eerie and beautiful, especially along the BML road, which is a great place to drive slowly and look for wildlife. 

June 2, 2022

This was the full day of our Virtual Field workshop so I was in the classroom for big chunks of the day, but I did have plenty of opportunities (on breaks and during lunch) to wander around outside and take photos of the amazing wildlife and plant community. 

June 1, 2022

I had the good fortune to spend a few days at the Bodega Marine Laboratory for a workshop (for The Virtual Field project). I’d not been to the marine lab before, and I was looking forward to seeing the facility, but to be honest I was most excited about the promise of seeing the wildlife on site. 

May 20, 2022
09:00 to 11:30

In lieu of a final exam on the last day of the semester, I host a BioBlitz on campus for my Vertebrate Biology class. On this day, we spent 90 minutes on campus identifying as many species as possible, and then went back to the classroom to formalize our lists. The students are able to work in teams of up to 3 people, and all teams are competing not just against one another, but also against me, using a point system to determine the score. We can use any and all identification guides, and both visual and auditory identifications are acceptable.

May 15, 2022
12:30 to 2:00 p.m.

On the way home from Zzyzx, the folks in my van decided to make a stop part of the way home, to see if we could find some desert tortoises at the sanctuary in California City. It was a bit of a drive off the highway that took us away from anything resembling civilization. When we arrived at the preserve, the facilities consisted of two trailers (one for the naturalist, and the other was the giftshop). The naturalist was super friendly, and eager to give us some tips about where we might be able to find tortoises (although she hadn’t seen one in the recent past). It was quite warm – probably around 100° F – so we covered up and stocked up on water, and headed out into the desert landscape.

May 15, 2022
07:00

Our last morning in the desert, several of us got up early to check a series of pitfall traps that had been set the night before. A few very cool animals found their way into the traps, and we were able to get some great photos before releasing them to go on their way. The traps were set up in transects, and I think we ended up checking 40 or 50 traps. Most of them were empty, but here are the things that we did see.

May 14, 2022
13:00

Our next stop was the Mid-Hills Campground in the Mojave National Preserve, where we explored a higher-elevation pinyon pine and juniper forest.