Megan's Bird Behavior Field Journal

This page is the home of my final project for a program called Animal Morphology, Motion, and Mind (winter quarter 2012) at The Evergreen State College in Olympia, WA. For the project, I kept a field journal on Bird Behavior.
I most of my field observations were at The Evergreen State College beach, which overlooks Eld inlet in South Puget Sound. I focused my observations on wintering Bufflehead diving ducks. The questions that arose from observing the Bufflehead translated into a 10-page research paper on the life and conservation of the Bufflehead. I also made observations of other Gull and diving duck species.
To supplement my observations, I observed birds during a field trip to the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium in Tacoma, WA, and I also prepared a Chestnut-Backed Chickadee wing spread at The Evergreen State College Natural History Collection.

Click here to view my Bird Behavior Field Journal.


Here are some images I took during the course of my project. Click on the images to enlarge them.

Bufflehead female (left) and male (right). I created this image in Photoshop.

Making a Chestnut-Backed Chickadee study skin prep at The Evergreen State College Natural History Collection. 

Unfortunately the skin tore, so I made a wing spread from the specimen.

Gull foraging for clams at the water's edge at The Evergreen State College Beach

The Gulls drop clams from mid air to split them open.

Facing out toward Eld inlet.
I would do most of my observations of the Buffleheads between the two floating docks. 

Eld inlet. There are mostly male and female Buffleheads in this picture,
but on the far right there are a pair of male and female Red-Breasted Mergansers.