St. Laurence

Hi St. Laurence!

The citizen scientists came up with several great questions that they would like to ask using the video footage:

1. What do Greater Sage-Grouse do when the see a predator?
2. Do males strut when females are not on the lek?

Since science is a collaborative effort we will work in groups!!

Something to think about for is do you guys want to share your data between groups? Data collection can be time consuming, but if we split up the activity maybe we can make it easier for everyone.

Pro:  Each person potentially will look at less videos.

Con:  Each person will collect more data per video and that data may not be for your question.

Can you think of any other pros and cons?

Video is up! I have a You Tube channel!!

I am in the process of putting up videos onto my You Tube channel - Adventures in Research and Wyoming.

I will have ALL of the video footage from each camera per lek. These are organized in playlists (i.e., Lek 1 Camera 3).

The video names (i.e., 03270032) represent the month, date, media number (i.e. this video was taken on March(03) 27th and was the 32nd media file (pictures or video) created for that camera) . So feel free to stop by and check out videos!

Each video has the date  and time (24 hour). I will be adding the pictures soon as well. The pictures have slightly more information: barometric pressure, whether the pressure is rising or falling, and temperature (Fahrenheit).

To do (5/11/2015) Excel Academy

Hi citizen scientists!

You guys will work in groups for your research projects. But before I assign you groups I want to let you know what three questions you guys picked to investigate.

1. Does weather influence the number of sage-grouse?
2. How often do predators visit the leks?
3. What time of day do the most birds visit the lek?

I want you guys to start thinking about how you would answer these questions using the video footage for each question. What kind of information would you collect (example: Number of birds, date, time)? How different are the information that you want to collect between questions? What information is the same that you would collect for all the videos? There are A LOT of videos. Do you think that you will be able to look at ALL the videos? (If not, how might you decide what videos to watch).


I will be adding videos to my you tube channel today and tomorrow. I also have the pictures that tripped the camera. Do you think those would help you out in answering any of your questions?

Below is an example of a photo that was taken when the animal set off the motion sensor camera:

There is a bunch of information at the bottom of this photo. Can you figure out what that information is and if you think any of it would be useful for answering those questions?

Here is a closer look at the information at the bottom of the picture.

If you have questions, comments, answers to any of these questions, feel free to write in the comments section! I will get back to you as soon as I can (most likely at the end of the day).

Scientist-in-Training: Observations - "I don't know" is a scientific answer

So I have a ton of footage.. a ton! But before I show you some choice videos I wanted to give you a link to sage-grouse information.

There is a lot of information out there on Greater Sage-Grouse and as a field biologist the first thing you would like to get down is identification! Identification is not always easy or clear cut. The first thing you have to be able to say as a citizen scientist is....

"I don't know"

This happens to everyone (even those who are experts). Sometimes identification is something that comes with experience; going out birding and seeing many different kinds of birds to get a sense of what they look like, and how they are similar or different. And sometimes the reason you can't tell whether it is a female or a male has to do with the direction the bird is facing, if it is too far away and you just can't  get a good enough look to make a determination, or maybe it is a young male who doesn't have full adult plumage and isn't displaying. There are many reasons why you might not be able to identify a bird or whether that bird is male or female.

Male Greater Sage-Grouse in the center and two females on either side. Photo

credit: Sage Grouse Initiative

'Unknowns' are an important part of any data set! If a data set doesn't have any "i don't know's" then I am skeptical. Especially with a bird that has the potential to be hard to ID.

Here is a link to the Natural Resource Conservation Service's (NRCS), Sage-Grouse Initiative Greater Sage-Grouse Field Indicator Guide. There are some really great descriptions and photos of male and female sage-grouse. Also, did you know that there are other kinds of grouse found in Wyoming? This guide also gives you a good look at what other kinds of grouse look like, how to use behavior or where you observe them to help determine what kind of grouse it is. They even show you how flight patterns can be different between different types of grouse.

Here is my description: Male and female sage-grouse do look different, but sometimes it is hard to tell them apart. A good indication that a sage-grouse is a male is that it is displaying (puffing up its air sacs and doing a little dance). All males have that white plumage on their chest (it looks like a nice feather boa to me) and yellow above the eyes. Females do not have the white plumage. Often they are seen just hanging out and foraging in the videos. If they aren't facing the camera though you can not be sure whether it is a female or male. And that is okay.

And now for the test:

There are three photos below. Are they male or female sage-grouse?

Photo credit: Katherine Zarn

Photo credit: Katherine Zarn

Photo credit: Katherine Zarn

Now to make some observations!

Lek 1 Camera 1 videos from March 27th and 28th

Happy sciencing!

I'm back!

So I am back and going to continue this blog for a small side project that I am doing using motion sensor cameras on leks. Instead of explaining what is going on I am just going to leave you with a taste of what is to come!

(Make sure you watch what sneaks in from the bottom right corner at the beginning of this video.)

A visit to Heart Mountain

Greater-Sage Grouse feather stuck to some sagebrush on a lek

with Heart Mountain in the background.
Photo credit Amy Pocewicz

One part of my research that is really neat is talking to and working with lots of different stakeholders in sage-grouse management. On any given day I might be working with or talking to development companies, biologists from consulting firms, wildlife biologists for the state and federal government, NGOs (Non-Governemental Organizations) like the Nature Conservancy, and most importantly landowners. (I already posted a blog about getting to go on aerial sage-grouse surveys...). Stakeholders are key to the success of conservation goals. Participation  and buy-in from stakeholders is the only way that large scale conservation can be successful. Also, information from these different stakeholders is valuable! These are the people who are most familiar with these places and the wildlife that are a part of their landscape.

The biggest challenge when working with such a diverse group can be finding common ground to stand on. Luckily in Wyoming you don't have to think hard to come up with common ground between sage-grouse conservation and landowners. Sage-grouse need large areas of sagebrush habitat and ranchers want to keep these large areas intact for grazing cattle.

A Heart Mountain Sunrise.
Photo credit: Amy Pocewicz

This past field season I got to work with an NGO that both does science and works with landowners and others to "protect nature, for people today and future generations": the Nature Conservancy. Four of the field sites that we visited this year were located on or close to the Heart Mountain Ranch, which is managed by the Nature Conservancy and ranch managers Brian and Carrie Peters. This land is managed for the public as a recreation area (you can hike to the top of heart mountain), for wildlife and for grazing cattle.

This lek was a fair distance from any road. So Kevin hiked 

out for presence-absence surveys and we all hiked out 

later to collect feathters.

One reason why I really like working with landowners and land managers is they often know better than anyone else where the birds are strutting and they often know the history of those leks and the general area. These observations are incredibly important! When it comes to my field work, it really helps to meet with these people if there is an opportunity. At Heart Mountain Ranch Brian Peters was kind enough to show us where these sites were, exactly where the birds were strutting, any recent count information, and the best way to get there. Finding these locations can take up a huge amount of time because you never know if the roads on the map are really there or what condition they might be in. Also, on occasion the location data is inaccurate; it can be a viewing point or an old lek location for years past. So it is invaluable when there is someone that can show you how to get to the site and where the birds are! Although, for some leks it doesn't matter; it's a nice hike in (above photo). But it is definitely worth it to collect data!!!

Amy collecting feathers!

Photo credit: Beth Fitzpatrick

The other exciting thing for this trip was that Amy Pocewicz, a TNC scientist and one of my committee members, came out in the field with me! As a committee member for my Ph.D. project Amy is one of my mentors and gives me critical feedback on my project, my plans, and how things are coming together. It is a huge bonus when your mentor is able to come out in the field because they can see how data collection on the ground is done. This is helpful because often the conditions in the field are very different then how you imagine it. Plus it is a bonus for Amy. One of the perks of being a committee member (go and play outside)!


So Amy was able to see what I do on a daily basis out in the field... what's that, you might ask??

Me searching for Greater Sage-Grouse sign

Photo credit: Amy Pocewicz

Well the first thing is to scout out the sites that you plan to see the next day. This helps to figure out if it is logistically possible to get to all sites within the allotted time. This is where Brian Peters was our hero! This year I did a good job of planning more sites than I could logistically go to in a morning. This was great because that meant if a spot was inaccessible for some reason I still had more than enough places to go to.

Next, if there is time, we will look for sign (feathers and scat) from birds at the sites, specifically the sites where birds have been observed recently. Depending on how many birds strut at that site, how much fighting goes on, how wind-swept the area is, that days weather conditions, and the type of vegetation will depend on how many feathers or scat can be found.

Measure ambient sound. Gotta make sure you stay still 

and don't sneeze!

Photo credit: Amy Pocewicz

Then it is break time until it is time to collect ambient sound data. So we relax, eat, and most importantly sleep. We did get up to collect ambient sound and the wind that night was right on the cusp of being too windy, so we went out. Unfortunately after taking several readings the measurements were bouncing around too much due to gusts of wind. The wind travels across the microphone and creates noise. So when the wind is gusty it artificially inflates the sound measurements unevenly across the time we are measuring. This means bad data and we don't collect bad data!!

 On a night that has good weather (no wind) we go to as many sites as possible to collect sound data. We have to stop about one hour before survey time because birds sometimes start congregating on the lek by that time (and if it is a full moon they are often there all night). We really try to not disturb the birds and really try to avoid flushing them (scaring them off the lek).

Looking for sage-grouse with heart mountain in the 

background. This particular site we did observe some

 males strutting!
Photo credit: Amy Pocewicz

So then at first daylight we are out at our first site to look for birds. If we find birds we count the males and females and then we head off to the next site. If we don't see any birds, we walk a 1 kilometer transect stopping at the 0 meter, 250 meter, 500 meter, 750 meter, and 1000 meter spots and listen for birds and we search for birds with binoculars at the 0, 500, and 1000 meter spots. The survey stops once we have spotted strutting males or once we have walked the complete transect and not observed any birds.

I see a lot of sunrises this time of year!

Amy and I did morning surveys together and she got to experience both a site with birds and a site without birds.

Kevin collecting feather data.

Photo credit: Amy Pocewicz

Once we are done with the morning surveys we met up with Kevin (he was off doing some surveys on a different portion of the ranch). If there were sites that we didn't find feathers the day before and we observed birds we will return to that site and collect feathers. That is what happened with two sites that Kevin visited. So we all worked together to collect feathers...







Overall this was an incredibly successful trip! Kevin, Amy,  and I collected a lot of data. I was able to spend some time with on of my committee members. AND I got to meet and talk to another stakeholder in the sage-grouse world and see what the Nature Conservancy does at Heart Mountain Ranch. Pretty cool!

Greater Sage-Grouse body feather. A large portion of the feathers we collect look like this
Photo credit: Amy Pocewicz

Greater Sage-Grouse primary feather. These feathers are great to find because they generally provide really good DNA samples. (Can you guess why?)
Photo credit: Amy Pocewicz

Field stats: May

During May we had some weather that cut our time short, but we still got to see lots of cool stuff... and Greater Sage-Grouse, of course!! 

We went out for 8 days  in May and had some bad weather roll in around May 6th meaning that we were not out in the field as much as we had hoped. Even with this setback we were able to collect various types of data from 28 sites in both the Powder River Basin and Bighorn Basin
Went to 23 sites for presence absence surveys of which 12 had birds
collected genetic samples at 12 sites
collected ambient sound at 9 sites

Sound data was hard to get because this year has been pretty windy. It's Wyoming, I know, but at night you would be pretty surprised how much the wind dies down!

For the whole field season we did pretty awesome!!

We were out in the field for a total of 23 days.
We collected various types of data from 57 sites
We collected presence absence data at 47 sites
Collected genetic samples at 32 sites
and ambient sound data at 18 sites

My goal this season was to get genetic samples from 30 sites within my priority areas....
AND WE DID IT! **High Five**