2017 and the countdown begins
Wow! It has been quite a while since I have posted anything, but as you read I am sure you will understand why. So, where should I begin? Well, I have the data back from all but 96 eagles which will get sent off this month. I am still working on wrapping up my first chapter of my dissertation which I hope to have to my committee this month at the latest. I do have my dissertation introduction completed so at least I am getting some writing finished. This introduction will also be used for an article in The Wildlife Society’s Wildlife Professional publication, so keep an eye out for that later this year!! Data analysis is going very well for both species and I am definitely grateful to have access to OSU’s super computer as a laptop/desktop is definitely not suitable for these types of analyses. Hopefully, my golden eagle analyses (chapter 2) will be completed this month and I can begin writing chapter 2 next month. I have to have everything finished up in the next few months because I need to graduate in August.
The American Wind and Wildlife Institute’s conference went very well. It was the first time some of our analyses were presented to the public and I think they were very well received. In fact, because of some of the networking we did, we will be receiving some new bald eagle blood samples from states that are currently not represented in our dataset. That is why I have 96 samples left to send off. I am very excited to get these samples to add more resolution into my genetics distribution map for bald eagles (chapter 3).
We have recently entered into a new collaborative project with the Teton Raptor Center. This project has two goals: 1. Determine the gene flow of the 3rd oldest banded bald eagle in the Yellowstone population and 2. Describe the current genetic variation of bald eagles in Yellowstone. This will be an interesting project as the Yellowstone bald eagle population was not involved in any reintroduction efforts. So, as an additional goal, I am interested in seeing how this population compares to other populations that did have reintroductions. I hope to travel to Wyoming this summer to help collect the blood samples from some of the chicks.
I have picked up an ecological niche modeling side project as I took a class on niche modeling last semester. For my class project, I was interested in modeling potential wind turbine sites in Oklahoma vs. habitats that are appropriate for bald eagles. I divided up the bald eagle analysis into a group that only represented nesting bald eagles and a group that represented wintering land use of bald eagles. The results indicated that there will be more overlap between windfarm and wintering birds than windfarms and nesting balds meaning that if migratory birds are getting killed other populations from around the US could be impacted. I am still working on refining my work but I hope to have this manuscript submitted to a journal this semester.
The last month or so I have been running the aviary 100% as the current director is out on medical leave. I never thought when I started my PhD that I would be running the aviary and trying to finish 4 chapters of dissertation work at the same time ( oh and how many side projects, I think I have lost count…). It has definitely been mentally taxing and I imagine it will only get worse as graduation deadline begin to approach. Luckily, I don’t consider my PhD or my job “work” (most of the time haha) as I truly enjoy what I am doing. We had our 21st eagle release a few days ago. Enjoy the picture!
