Watershed Wildlife Biologist Certified by The Wildlife Society
The Watershed Company's Senior Wildlife Biologist Suzanne Tomassi has recently been certified by The Wildlife Society as a "Certified Wildlife Biologist", their highest level of certification. The certification represents her "educational background and demonstrated expertise in the art and science of applying the principles of ecology to the conservation and management of wildlife and its habitats". Congratulations, Suzanne!
Watershed Staff Volunteers with Papua New Guinea Bird Study
Senior Wildlife Biologist Suzanne Tomassi spends much of her free time working as an ornithologist with the non-profit organization Puget Sound Bird Observatory, of which she is a founding member and active board member, and traveling to far-away places to study birds. This year she traveled to Papua New Guinea for 6 weeks. She shares a little about her trip below:
This spring I had the great privilege of assisting Dr. Bruce Beehler, Vice President of the Indonesia-Pacific Islands research program of Conservation International, on a climate change study in Papua New Guinea's YUS Conservation Area. The study is looking at a number of taxa, including plants, along an elevational transect on the island. The YUS Conservation Area is the first of its kind, implemented after years of hard work by the Woodland Park Zoo's Tree Conservation Program and Dr. Lisa Dabek. Dr. Beehler's work focuses on birds, and I mist-netted from about 2,400m, to 3,010m, cataloging species occurrences.
The species diversity is not all that high at that elevation. We caught more than 100 individuals on some days, and a total of 910 birds, comprising 42 species. Our captures included many endemics and near-endemics, isolated by the high mountain peaks of the Finisterre range on the Huon Peninsula. Spangled honeyeater, Huon bowerbird, lesser melampitta and Huon Melidectes all ended up in our nets, and we encountered the emperor bird of paradise, Wahnes' bird of paradise, Meyer's goshawk, and many others on our long hikes between camps. Each species was a life-lister for me. Altogether, we recorded 12 species outside of their previously reported range.
The transect runs from sea level to more than 3,000m, and nowhere was that elevation change more evident than along the trails we traversed! Despite having local porters carry our supplies, the walking was challenging, to say the least. There are no roads, and trails are steep, slippery, and subject to landslides, and often cross raging rivers in deep ravines. Our travels were at the whim of the many local clans; fortunately, our hosts were gracious as well as fascinating.
As excruciating as it would become to eat the tubers manioc and 'kao kao' day after day, we were never wanting for new experiences. Whether extracting a new and wholly unfamiliar bird from a net, witnessing a "Sing-Sing" celebration in honor of World Environment Day, awakening to earthquakes five times in one week, or waiting two days with no communication when the bush plane failed to pick me up, every moment was incomparable to anything I'd ever participated in before. I'm grateful that the people of Papua New Guinea are working together to protect the YUS Conservation Area, and I look forward to another trip up the transect to further document the ranges of the Huon's unique avifauna.
In-Water Work
A quick heads-up to our friends in construction - most fish windows for in-water construction end August 31! The Watershed Company can assist with fish removal and exclusion on your projects.
Photo of the Month: Redwing Blackbird Nest
A willow sapling planted as part of a wetland mitigation project creates a suitable perch for this redwing blackbird nest. (Photo taken: summer 2010, Puget Sound Energy -Duvall Park Wetland Mitigation site)
Photo of the Month: Pacific Treefrog
This Pacific treefrog was observed at the Pierce County Landfill Wetland Mitigation site, which The Watershed Company is continuing to monitor. Pacific treefrogs prefer to breed in shallow, seasonal ponds that have low water level fluctuations. More than two dozen such ponds were created at the mitigation site with the intention of providing quality amphibian breeding habitat. The site has exceeded performance standards for amphibian habitat, providing quality habitat for a number of amphibian species, including Pacific treefrogs, red-legged frogs, Northwest salamanders and long-toed salamanders.
