November 28, 2013

I've been to Los Banos

Alright, I'm back. I've been computerless in Los Banos, CA for about two weeks now. Working for Point Blue again, I now spend my days in the wetlands of the San Joaquin Valley trapping wintering shorebirds, banding and attaching radio transmitters to them in an attempt to gain a better understanding of their habitat use and needs during this time of their life cycle.

We are specifically targeting Long-billed Dowitchers and Dunlin.
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However, there are the occasional peep by-catches, this one being a Western Sandpiper, I believe, though our most common are Least.
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As well as this Yellowlegs
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The second team of trappers spend most of their time up in the rice fields of the Sacramento Valley, looking a little something like this.
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Whereas, this is our typical morning scenery.
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2 comments:

  1. Cool project! Welcome back to CA.

    Your LESA didn't read a field guide.

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  2. Apparently I didn't either, my coworkers all keep saying they've only seen and caught LESAs, what do you think? Short bill, but pretty gray overall with black legs... To make excuses, this was a very quick 5:30am catch and release in the dark...

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