Post date: Oct 13, 2017 3:04:31 PM
Hello, internet! With no fieldwork to do, it's hard to come up with the kinds of photos and stories that motivate good blog entries, but the subterranean work of analysis and writing continues apace.
I recently started a new position at the University of Rhode Island working with tracking data from sea ducks, so I'm only a part-time pelican hobbyist now. Fortunately, there are several new and continuing research projects focusing on pelicans in the Gulf and South Atlantic Bight, so I'm confident that the pelicans won't be neglected in my absence. In the meantime, I'm figuring out some exciting new modeling approaches for the sea duck data, which I'll talk about as soon as I can pull together some results.
I'm mostly poking my head up to highlight three recent papers that have come out of our pelican research (making five total, which is exactly half of what I'm expecting to publish... oof). The cast, in order of appearance:
The relationship of colony size to the proportion of migrants at a colony (a) and distance migrated (b)
Rather than selecting Gulf mehaden, pelicans foraged on menhaden in relation to their availability. Dark pies are adult and juvenile menhaden; light pies are other prey; and the solid yellow area is the core range of Gulf menhaden.
Migration routes of reddish egrets (top), brown pelicans (middle), and red knots (bottom) across the Tehuantepec Isthmus, Mexico. Fall routes are orange; spring routes are green.
Other recent pelican-adventures have included serving on a panel helping to select a new waterbird colony site in Matagorda Bay, Texas, and presenting at the Waterbirds conference in beautiful Reykjavik, Iceland.
Gratuitous Reykjavik photos...
Next week I'll be traveling to Oilapalooza in Monterey, CA, to discuss the results of our tracking work after the Refugio oil spill. That manuscript should be the next to come out, so stay tuned!