USGS Eastern Ecological Science Center

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10/15/2026

Did you know the Patuxent Research Refuge is the only National Wildlife Refuge created specifically to support wildlife research?

As we celebrate National Wildlife Refuge Week, let's celebrate the Patuxent Research Refuge established in 1936 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The Refuge is home to the USGS Eastern Ecological Science Center, where scientists study both aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems to support conservation across the nation.

At EESC, our expertise spans wildlife health and disease, invasive species, contaminants, species ecology, habitat and stream health, wetlands, geospatial modeling, remote sensing, population monitoring, and structured decision‑making.

EESC on the Patuxent Research Refuge is also home to several nationally and internationally recognized programs:
🔹The USGS Bird Banding Laboratory, central to bird conservation across the Western Hemisphere
🔸 The North American Breeding Bird Survey, guiding wildlife management for nearly 60 years
🔹The USGS Bee Lab, supporting research on native bees.

Science, conservation, and innovation come together here on the Refuge.

Learn more: https://ow.ly/TFXN50ZVRwO

📸: Rising mist and fall colors at Snowden Pond, Patuxent Research Refuge, Laurel, MD. Credit: USGS Public Domain.

10/14/2026

Did you know America’s National Wildlife Refuges protect thousands of species and support healthy communities?

This week is National Wildlife Refuge Week! National Wildlife Refuges provide vital habitat for native wildlife, help reduce flood and wildfire risks, improve air and water quality, offer opportunities for hiking, fishing, wildlife watching, and other outdoor recreation, and generate billions of dollars in economic benefits each year. They’re essential spaces where conservation, community, and nature come together and here at the USGS Eastern Ecological Science Center, we’re proud to conduct research on the Patuxent Research Refuge that helps inform and strengthen these conservation efforts.

Many different species visit us on the Patuxent Research Refuge to include wild turkeys, white‑tailed deer, common five‑lined skinks, sweat bees, or even a palm warbler passing through.

📸1: A Palm Warbler during migration at Knowles Marsh on the Patuxent Research Refuge in Laurel, MD. Credit: Mikey Lutmerding, Permission granted for use by USGS.
📸2:Common Five-lined Skinks with ticks attached. Photo by Michael Lutmerding of the USGS Eastern Ecological Science Center at Patuxent Research Refuge in Laurel, MD. Credit: Mikey Lutmerding, Permission granted for use by USGS.
📸3: Wild Turkeys near Knowles Marsh at the Patuxent Research Refuge in Laurel, MD. Credit: Mikey Lutmerding, Permission granted for use by USGS.
📸4: Lasioglossum sopinci, the undescribed male of this sand specialist, found along some lovely powerline habitat on Patuxent Wildlife Research Refuge. Credit: USGS Bee Lab, Public Domain.
📸5: A male White-tailed Deer at Eastern Ecological Science Center located on the Patuxent Research Refuge. Credit: Mikey Lutmerding, USGS Public Domain.

10/13/2026

What happens when we equip a bird with a small lightweight leg-loop transmitter to learn more about its movements?

Our team recently completed a multi‑year study evaluating whether lightweight transmitters affect the return and nesting rates of adult and juvenile Common Terns (Sterna hirundo).

During the 2021 breeding season, we deployed two types of small leg‑loop transmitters on adults and pre‑fledgling juveniles. Initial observations suggested minimal short‑term impacts, but we needed more data to understand longer‑term effects.

By tracking marked birds from 2022–2025, we found that although none retained their transmitters in subsequent years (highlighting important considerations for tag retention), we were still able to evaluate potential lagged effects.

Here’s what we learned:
🔹Center‑weighted transmitters showed no negative effect on adult return or nesting rates.
🔹Rear‑weighted transmitters were linked to moderate declines in both return and nesting likelihood for adults and juveniles.

These findings help refine best practices for future tracking efforts and support ongoing work to balance technological advancement with wildlife safety and well‑being.

Read more: https://journal.afonet.org/vol97/iss3/art8/

📸: Poplar Island Common Terns. Credit: Prosser, USGS Public Domain.

10/09/2026

Every bird, every observation, every report; Every bit helps!

Tomorrow is World Migratory Bird Day and this year’s theme, “Every Bird Counts – Your Observations Matter,” highlights the incredible impact that community science has on understanding and protecting migratory birds.

From backyard birdwatching to coordinated surveys across continents, public participation helps scientists track species distribution, abundance trends, migration timing, and breeding success. These observations are essential for identifying conservation priorities and shaping effective action plans.

Here at the USGS Eastern Ecological Science Center, we’re proud to support migratory bird science through two cornerstone programs:

🔹The USGS Bird Banding Laboratory: An integrated scientific program that collects, curates, archives, and shares data from banded and marked birds.
🔹The North American Breeding Bird Survey: The primary source of long-term continental data on bird population trends. Thousands of skilled volunteer birders contribute each year, helping us track changes in more than 500 species across North America.

And because migratory birds come in all shapes and sizes, how could we choose just one to celebrate on this feature a species Friday? Enjoy a few migratory species fun facts:

🟡Yellow Warbler: They migrate from Canada and the northern United States to Central and South America, and they sing the sweetest song that is a sure sign of spring migration.
🔵Osprey: Many North American Ospreys migrate thousands of miles each year, traveling from their northern breeding grounds all the way to Central and South America for the winter
🟢Common Loon: They can travel several hundred to several thousand miles during migration, and alternate between swimming and flying.
🔴Canada Goose: Highly adaptable migrants whose flyways stretch thousands of miles across the continent.

Thank you to everyone who helps monitor, protect, and celebrate migratory birds today and every day.

All banding is conducted under a federally authorized Bird Banding Permit issued by the U.S. Geological Survey’s Bird Banding Laboratory.

📸1: Yellow Warbler. Credit: Permission granted to EESC for use by Ikumi Kayama.
📸2: Osprey. Poplar Island, MD. Credit: Rebecca Lazarus, USGS Public Domain.
📸3: Common Loon. Credit: John Mosesso, USGS Public Domain.
📸4: Canada goose (Branta canadensis). Credit: John Pearce. USGS Public Domain.

10/07/2026

Proactive planning can make all the difference. 🦎

Managing emerging wildlife diseases is incredibly complex. There is often a lot of uncertainty and many competing goals to balance. Our team has been working on a transparent, science-based decision framework to help wildlife managers choose the most effective strategies when facing new ecological threats.

We applied this framework to the looming threat of Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans (Bsal), a deadly fungus that could seriously impact North American amphibians. By working closely with managers across the northeastern United States, we explored real-world decision challenges and evaluated different response options.

Our findings are clear: taking proactive action before Bsal arrives is consistently the most effective way to reduce disease risk. At the same time, we found that local conditions matter—meaning the best strategy can vary by location.

Although our work focused on Bsal, this decision framework can be used for many other conservation and biosecurity challenges. It brings together ecological forecasts, structured decision-making, and stakeholder values to support smart, informed actions that help protect our wildlife.

Learn more: https://ow.ly/VzF650ZTcbz

📸: Black-bellied salamander (Desmognathus quadramaculatus). Credit: Alan Cressler, USGS Public Domain.

10/06/2026

Not all sturgeon migrate at the same time and that difference is vital to helping a recovering population.

A 10‑year acoustic telemetry study in the Hudson River uncovered two distinct migration strategies in endangered Atlantic Sturgeon and one of them reveals a hidden threat window.

Scientists tracked 195 individuals and discovered two consistent migration strategies:

🔹Short‑residency sturgeon following the familiar spring spawning run.

🔸 Extended‑residency sturgeon arriving later and staying up to 88 days longer, occupying river areas outside current conservation focus and facing increased risk from vessels, dredging, and changing conditions.

Current management strategies rely heavily on average spawning run timing. But this study shows that a sizeable portion of the population uses the river at different times and faces different risks. Incorporating phenotype‑specific patterns into environmental reviews and seasonal work windows could help better protect this species.

These behaviors remained stable year after year, showing that not all sturgeon follow population‑average patterns. Updating environmental reviews and seasonal work windows to include these extended‑use periods could improve protection for this endangered species.

Read more: https://ow.ly/WJBm50ZSFTy

📸: Atlantic Sturgeon. Credit: Ryan Haggerty, USFWS, Public Domain.

10/02/2026

Scarlet or Summer? Can you tell the difference? Let’s talk tanagers.

October is here and that means we've reached the midpoint of the Bird Banding Laboratory’s Migratory Bird Banding Station monitoring season. Leaves are beginning to change colors, winds are starting to pick up, and drastic changes in temperature are causing many of us across the east to leave home with a jacket. These are signs of autumn, as well as the conditions that herald the imminent arrival of the many migrating species that breed in the far north.

Before they arrive, however, we must give appreciation to the multitude of species that have already passed through on their way south for the winter. From vibrant warblers and ravenously foraging flycatchers, to vociferating vireos and seldom-seen thrushes, we are incredibly lucky to experience such diversity each fall.

Chief among these encounters has been the plethora of tanagers the team has caught this season! Two species of tanager migrate along the eastern flyway: the Summer Tanager and Scarlet Tanager. Both species favor deciduous forests with tall trees during migration, making the area around the banding station at Patuxent Research Refuge prime stopover habitat for them.

Primarily characterized by strikingly red or yellow plumage and incessant vocalizing, these tanagers are an incredible treat to see up close. We can tell them apart by focusing on wing and bill characteristics. The Scarlet Tanager, in all plumages, has darker colored wings and a smaller bill. Sexing is an entirely different story, with great overlap in plumage characteristics amongst individuals. Adult male birds of both species are a brilliant poppy red all over, whereas younger males and females stand out in a different way with various ratios of yellow and red.

Fun Fact: Tanagers found in the United States belong to the cardinal family Cardinalidae. Central and South American tanagers belong to the family of true tanagers, Thraupidae!

All banding is being conducted under a federally authorized Bird Banding Permit issued by the U.S. Geological Survey’s Bird Banding Laboratory.

📸: Summer Tanager. Credit: Matt Rogosky, USGS Public Domain.

10/01/2026

☕First Sip of the Day - Happy International Coffee Day! ☕

Today, we raise our mugs to the mighty brew that fuels early‑morning fieldwork, late‑night data crunching, and every scientific adventure in between. Whether you're tracking wildlife movements, studying coastal change, surveying birds, researching contaminants or analyzing water quality, there’s a good chance a trusty cup of coffee is your co‑pilot.

What’s your go-to coffee before a busy day?

Cheers to coffee lovers and science explorers everywhere!

📸: Featuring a perfectly relatable sleepy‑eyed Weddell seal, because we’ve all felt like that before our first cup.

Credit: William A Link at Erebus Bay, Antarctica. Images were obtained under NMFS Permit No: 1032-1917. USGS, Public Domain.

09/30/2026

Every year, millions of waterbirds travel incredible distances across the Central Asian Flyway and the East Asian–Australasian Flyway. These routes stretch from Siberia and Alaska all the way to Southeast Asia, India, Australia, and beyond.

These migrations connect 47 countries and rely on an enormous network of wetlands, river basins, and coastal habitats.

These birds and their habitats are facing growing challenges. Environmental change, disappearing wetlands, and human activity are affecting where birds can stop, feed, breed, and rest. Some species are even changing their traditional routes, revealing just how dynamic and vulnerable these migration systems are.

This recent publication brings together 12 studies that dig into what’s happening, what new tracking tech is revealing, and what we need to do to help protect these incredible travelers.

Read more: https://ow.ly/xQso50ZQIg0

📸: A male northern pintail duck in Japan. Credit: USGS, Public Domain.

09/28/2026

Science leads to smarter conservation decisions and USGS is helping lead the charge.

The Disease Decision Analysis & Research (DDAR) team at the USGS Eastern Ecological Science Center is helping partners across the country make smart, science‑based decisions to keep birds, deer, amphibians, and other wildlife healthy.

Here’s a quick look at what they’ve been up to:

🔹Tracking avian influenza risks: New tools help pinpoint which bird species are most likely to spread HPAI, guiding early detection and biosecurity efforts.

🔹Preparing for chronic wasting disease: From Vermont’s proactive planning to expanded surveillance in Western states, DDAR is helping agencies stay ahead of this complex deer disease.

🔹Reducing disease risks for elk: A recent workshop evaluated feeding strategies to balance disease prevention with community needs and tribal priorities.

🔹Protecting amphibians: Research on Ranavirus, and fungal pathogens including Batrachochytrim dendrobatidis (Bd.) and B. salamandrivorans (Bsal) is giving managers clearer guidance for detecting and responding to threats in local wetlands.

🔹Strengthening One Health: DDAR shared insights on how decision analysis improves health outcomes across wildlife, people, and ecosystems.

🔹Improving marine bird rescue and response: A new decision tool helps managers choose better survey methods during mortality events.

DDAR scientists continue working with partners nationwide to deliver practical tools, actionable science, and clearer decisions for healthier wildlife and ecosystems.

Learn more about DDARs work: https://ow.ly/SC8V50ZPfsU

📸: Line of bull elk moving across field with snow-covered Wyoming hills in the background. Credit: USGS

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Laurel, MD
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