Gathering reliable measurements of animal populations is a long-standing challenge for wildlife biologists around the world. Estimating population size and density requires researchers to count individual specimens; this is an especially difficult task when working with species that move (sometimes over large geographic ranges) or live in difficult-to-traverse landscapes, like Alberta’s Rocky Mountains or its [...]
This story originally appeared in the Alberta Native Plant Council‘s newsletter, Iris, published November 2014. If a botanist went for a walk in the Lower Athabasca region of Alberta, how likely would it be that he would encounter a rare plant species? How long in kilometres or time would she have to walk to find one? If [...]
This story originally appeared in AEMERA’s Newsletter, published March 31, 2015. “The approval holder shall provide a plan or participate in the development of a plan for the monitoring and mitigation of the Yellow Rail (Coturnicops noveboracensis) by [given date] to the satisfaction of the Director…” – Approval condition for oil sands mine project The [...]
It was a day like any other when Varina Crisfield, the ABMI’s Vascular Plant Taxonomist, showed up for work at the ABMI’s Processing Centre at the Royal Alberta Museum*. Little did she know, she was about to achieve something few Alberta botanists can expect to do these days: identify a new species record for the [...]
There is a moment of panic that comes when you sink through a soft spot in a cattail marsh. Your first thought is, “how deep am I sinking this time?” followed by, “hopefully this water doesn’t go over my waders.” Your next thoughts are focused on getting out: “I’m only in up to my belly-button, [...]
If you missed it, catch up on Part 1 of Cody Pytlak’s series here! Part 2 Spring shifts for ABMI field technicians are a time to wake up early, stumble through forests and bogs, and enjoy the sunrise as we listen to birds and record data. While birding feels like the focus of the spring [...]
Check out ABMI’s guest post on the Nature Conservancy of Canada’s blog, Land Lines, and learn about how we’re monitoring this elusive marsh bird, the Yellow Rail, in the Lower Athabasca region of Alberta! Top photo: Yellow Rail, Dominic Sherony.
“I’m Cody Pytlak, bringing you this morning’s bird calls for June 1st, 2014. It’s sunrise here in Peace River and the time is 5:08 am. Enjoy the birds!” I shout into the microphone, ten feet away, and for the next ten minutes I sit still in a small woodlot, headphones pressed to my ears, listening to [...]