News from Scientists at the USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center
Thursday, May 17, 2001
|
Press/Media Inquiries Don Cahoon, Curt Larsen (GD) and Patuxent scientist Glenn Guntenspergen spent Wednesday, May 9 with National Public Radio reporter Diane Toomey (Living on Earth) providing interviews and information for a show she is doing on Blackwater NWR. The USGS scientists discussed their global climate change work and the importance to management agencies along the Atlantic coast. The program is tentatively scheduled to air in mid-July. Contact: On 18 April, Dr Howard Ginsberg provided an interview with Sonya Biding, a reporter for The Discovery Channel-Canada regarding mosquitoes and West Nile Virus, about USGS attempts to manage it, and about the research being done to help deal with the problem. Dr Ginsberg provided general information about mosquitoes and WNV, current thinking about management, and about USGS research efforts. The reporter indicated that this was an information-gathering interview, that she or another reporter might pursue this further and perhaps do a piece on it. Contact: Dr
Howard Ginsberg, Dr Joe Meyers, Research Wildlife Biologist at USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center in Athens, GA, spent time with an Atlanta Journal Constitution photographer on April 23-24 in Bond Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, near Macon, GA. Photographs of Neotropical songbirds where obtained by using a decoy owl and special bird call tapes developed by Meyers as a teaching aid. Flocks of migrants are moving through Bond Swamp and many birds are beginning to nest in early May. On April 26, writer Charles Seabrook interviewed Meyers for the second time to develop a side bar on Bond Swamp for the special migratory bird feature that will be published on May 6 or May 13. The special feature will be 2-3 full pages and continue for 3-4 successive days. Each day will feature a different topic on migratory birds of special concern, interviews with scientists from Puerto Rico to Georgia, habitat for birds in backyards, and migration routes. Two posters are also being developed for distribution. Contact: Dr J.
Michael Meyers Publications Dr Joe Meyers of USGS Patuxent-Athens has been selected by Section Editor Dr. Frank Golley (UGA School of Ecology) and Assistant Editor Ms. Elisabeth Hughes to write the Birds of Georgia for the geography and environment section of the New Georgia Encyclopedia. The project of the Georgia Humanities Council in partnership with the Office of the Governor, the University of Georgia Press, and the University System of Georgia/GALILEO is the first state encyclopedia to be conceived and published initially in electronic form. It will be available free of charge on the internet to all the state's citizens and every school and public library in Georgia. The Encyclopedia will be unusually comprehensive, providing information on subjects ranging from history and culture to commerce, government, sports, medicine, and the environment. To date more than 500 articles are in progress with more planned in the next year. Contact: Dr J.
Michael Meyers
|
Research Four of the five surf scoters instrumented in Chesapeake Bay during March and April by researchers at USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center have left the Bay and are migrating north. Locations of the ducks are being determined by satellite telemetry. Four of the ducks are going up the east coast with satellite locations in Delaware Bay, New Jersey, Cape Cod, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and the Saint Lawrence River, Quebec. Another scoter is in Lake Erie (near Buffalo and Long Point). Hopefully, this study will provide information about the breeding and molting areas of the surf scoter. Movements of the ducks, which are updated regularly, can be checked on the PWRC web site: www.pwrc.usgs.gov/resshow/perry/scoters/ Contact: Dr.
Matthew C. Perry Dr Joe Meyers of USGS Patuxent-Athens has joined The University of Georgia's River Basin Science and Policy Center. The newly established Center's mission is to unite the vast and varied water- related research and outreach expertise on The University of Georgia to support the development of sound water resources policies at the local, regional, national, and international levels. The River Basin Center's faculty affiliations includes more than 75 members from approximately 28 departments and agencies. Joe's interest in aquatic- terrestrial ecotones, especially in management and research of migratory birds, will provide opportunities for cooperative research, especially in flood plain forests of the southeastern U.S. Research on the Swainson's Warbler habitat on the Ocmulgee River's flood plain and on the Painted Bunting's wetland habitat associated with rivers and estuaries are planned in association with the River Basin Center, USFWS, GA DNR, and UGA's Warnell School of Forest Resources. Contact: Dr J.
Michael Meyers Dr John R Sauer recently participated in the County-Wide Migratory Bird Project for Warren County, New Jersey. An article regarding this project has been published by the New Jersey Association for Educational Technology. http://www.njaet.org/winter2001.html#2. Expressions of acclaim have been received from the New Jersey Department of the Environment for this project. Contact: Dr
John R Sauer Meetings/Presentations The North American Banding Council (NABC) held its Annual Meeting at the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center (PWRC) March 23-24, hosted by the Bird Banding Laboratory (BBL). A total of 28 participants from across the USA and Canada met to conduct their annual business meeting. The meeting included standing committee meetings with planning for the next year, elections, and an all too brief field trip hosted by Johathan Male. The NABC is made up of representatives from 15 ornithological and banding organizations and several at-large members. The council is producing manuals on banding and training banders with five manuals near completion. For more information visit the NABC web page at http://nmnhwww.si.edu/BIRDNET/NABC/ Contact: Mary
Gustafson Patuxent Biologists Train Young Guatemalan Scientists. - Two dozen ornithology students from Guatemala's del Valle and San Carlos universities took four days off from their regular classes last week to participate in a bird monitoring workshop held in the cloud forest at Biotopo del Quetzal. At the request of National Fish and Wildlife Foundation's Central American coordinator Megan Hill, Chan Robbins and Barbara Dowell provided intensive hands-on training in field techniques: point counts, roadside surveys, mist netting, and vegetation surveys. Several of Guatemala's national park guards who have demonstrated expertise in bird identification also participated in the training. The roadside and off-road monitoring that Robbins and Dowell initiated ten years ago is sill being continued by Guatemalan scientists. Contact: Dr
Chandler S. Robbins
|
|
|
See Previous HiLites: |
||
