News from Scientists at the USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center
Monday, March 5, 2007
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Robbins and Dowell Participate in Third International Bird Watching Encounter in Guatemala Patuxent’s retirees Chandler Robbins and Barbara Dowell participated in the Third International Bird Watching Encounter at Coban, Guatemala, (February 29) as guests of the Guatemalan government. Prominent tour leaders, photographers, nature writers, and scientists from five countries gathered to discuss ways to expand avitourism in Guatemala. Natural history tours, which are so important in the preservation of wildlife habitats, started barely a decade ago in Guatemala, but now involve a consortium of a dozen small operators. Robbins and Dowell, through their associations with wildlife and tourism majors in the Guatemalan universities in the nineteen nineties, were credited with giving a big boost to tourism as well as wildlife research and conservation in Guatemala. Karl Blankenship from the Bay Journal was here this week to interview Matthew Perry and Alicia Berlin regarding the possible connection between the oyster beds and the abundance of mussels available for seaduck foraging. He observed the ducks diving in the tanks and discussed the different foraging ecology's of the three captive seaduck species here at Patuxent. He did not state whether the information would be used in an article any time soon. |
O'Connell Interviewed about upcoming Workshop on Coyote Ecology Dr. O'Connell, a research biologist at Patuxent, was interviewed this week about the workshop by WMAL's Pat Brogan (see below). The public relations Division of the USGS in Reston (Diane Noserale) and the Humane Society are both working on this event. Patuxent will co-host a workshop on Coyote Ecology in the Washington DC, Maryland, and Virginia region on April 21st (Saturday) at the National Wildlife Visitors Center in Laurel, Maryland. The other sponsors are the Humane Society of the United States and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Dr. Allan O'Connell, a research biologist at Patuxent, and Dr. John Hadidian of the Humane Society, will coordinate all activities for the workshop. The event will sponsor two speakers, Dr. Stan Gehrt of the Ohio State University and Dr. Seth Riley of the National Park Service. Drs. Gehrt and Riley have worked on coyotes in the Chicago and Los Angeles areas, respectively will provide details on how coyotes adapt to suburban areas like Washington DC and suburban Maryland and Virginia. Two sessions will be held, one in the morning and another in the afternoon, each followed by a question and answer period on how to minimize conflicts with coyotes which have recently expanded into the DC-MD-VA region. A flyer will be published to summarize and advertise the event. The session will be free and open to the general public. Contact Allan O'Connell , 301-497-5525, Laurel, MD |
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