Time for my periodic “Turkey Appreciation Station” moment. Rather than go on and on about all the cool and possibly unexpected things that Wild Turkeys do, I’ll just say… “Enjoy this sexy dinosaur!”
And do check out the PBS Special “My Life as a Turkey”, as well as the book “Illumination in the Flatwoods” by Joe Hutto.
I’ve decided to start putting behavior videos up on YouTube- this is partly so that it’s easier to point people to those clips, and partly because the future structure of my website is a bit up in the air with Apple’s decision to kill the .mac hosting. I guess I also have data archiving on my mind, and these clips will be around longer the more places I put them. So Voila! My channel is born. I’ll slowly be adding more videos to this.
I watched the PBS special on Wednesday night- My Life as a Turkey. Fantastic! It was not an analytically driven program, but that was not it’s purpose. Instead, a beautifully filmed and produced, intimate and emotional portrait of the relationship between Joe and his wild turkey “kids”. One of the surprising results was how this relationship changed Joe’s relationship to the entire ecosystem. As I commented to someone:
Possibly my favorite part of field ecology is the occasional quiet moment, where one can sit under a tree and "disappear"- to stop being an intruder and become immersed in the natural world. I can only imagine the thrill that the narrator felt to actually be invited into that world by means of his companions.
PBS Nature: My Life As A Turkey
I was pleasantly surprised to learn recently that PBS Nature was going to air a show on wild turkeys this month. I was absolutely blown over when I learned the program was to be an adaptation of a fantastic book: Illumination in the Flatwoods by Joe Hutto.
This book is not a scientific book. It details the more than a year that the author spent imprinting and raising some wild turkeys. By raising, I don’t mean keeping in a pen- Mr. Hutto became a turkey mother to these chicks, and spent his days with them exploring the natural areas around his house. While he is not experimentally driven in the tradition of Lorenz or Heinrich, he is, if anything more detailed in his insights into young turkey social behavior and development. The book is beautifully written (and at least in my older edition, filled with great little sketches as well), and quite emotionally charged.
In many ways, the book was everything that my dissertation research was not. The first year of turkey social life is still a black box- we know that male display teams form very early on in life, potentially in the first few days after hatching, but we still have no direct observation of what goes on at this stage. This book’s focus on development in “natural” wild turkeys is the closest we’ve come to uncovering these mysteries.
The PBS Nature show is called My Life as a Turkey, and looks to be a well done re-enactment of things that happened in the book. I don’t know a lot of details, but it looks like they basically repeated the whole context, with an actor instead of the author, who imprints a new batch of turkeys. Check your local listings!
Our request for field interns for the 2012 grouse season is out! If interested, please send me an email.
I’ve posted it at the usual (for us) places-
Ornjobs (which is revamped with real-time postings now)
Texas A&M Wildlife Board
Society for Conservation Biology Job Board
Animal Behavior Society News.
(note that some may take a day or two to go live, so the ad is below).
FIELD ASSISTANTS (3-4) needed approximately March 3 – May 5 for investigations of the behavior and ecology of Greater Sage-Grouse near Lander, Wyoming and the scenic Wind River Range. The projects are part of a larger effort in Prof. Gail Patricelli’s lab at UC Davis to understand how sexual selection and environmental acoustics shape sage-grouse display behaviors- see the lab website for more information (http://www.eve.ucdavis.edu/gpatricelli/). Assistants will use video and audio recording technology to support an NSF-funded study of courtship dynamics and display plasticity on the lek. Duties include maintaining camera and acoustic monitoring equipment, observation of basic courtship behavior and lek counts, GPS surveying, habitat characterization, assisting in the capture of adult sage-grouse, data entry, and some computer and video analysis. Assistants must be flexible in their needs and comfortable living and working in close quarters in a remote field station, and able to work in adverse field conditions (mainly MUD and COLD). Work will be daily and primarily early in the morning, with some afternoon and night work required as well. Applicants must have a valid driver’s license, basic computer skills, and have participated in at least one field biology project in the past. Wilderness First Aid or First Responder, and previous experience/certification with off-road driving and/or ATV’s is preferred but not required. Assistants will receive a total stipend of $1500 plus room and board, but need to provide their own transportation to Lander and their own personal gear. Please send a cover letter, resume, and contact info for two (2) references to: Alan Krakauer, Department of Evolution and Ecology, University of California Davis, One Shields Avenue, 2320 Storer Hall, Davis, CA 95616, or preferably by email to ahkrakauer [at] ucdavis.edu. The positions will remain open until filled, and review of applications will begin immediately.
For any Yolo County folks, this sounds fantastic. I’m pasting in the text of a departmental email I received this morning.
Hello all,
Just an announcement of the details regarding the first annual “Big Read” that EVE/CPB is sponsoring in partnership with the Yolo County Library. Our first book will be “Here is a Human Being” by Duke University Assistant Professor Misha Angrist. This book details many of the personal and public policy issues created by human DNA research such as the possibility of predicting and treating genetic disorders, the commercialization of DNA-based treatments and property/privacy
rights related to personal DNA information. As part of the
partnership, Pop Bio students will be leading group discussions of the book at branches throughout Yolo County and Dr. Angrist has been invited to give a free public lecture. His visit is being supported by the EVE seminar series.We encourage you to read the book, however, more importantly, please spread the word to any non-scientists you know. We will be advertising at various locations throughout the county, but word of mouth is an excellent way for more community members to hear about this. If you know of any existing book clubs or community groups that might be interested, please forward this to them. I have attached the flyer for the event.
We are still in need of volunteers, especially younger students who would be willing to help with the selection and planning for NEXT years book. (Read: Excellent Broader Impacts Opportunity!). Please contact any one of us if you are interested.
Thanks,
Angus Chandler
Patrick Fuller
Olivia Rhoades
Sarah Signor
I think the more that ivory tower academics and the layperson can speak the same language, the better it will be for both. This seems like a really great way for that to happen, especially focused on something as complicated as genomics. Also, I think it’s great to highlight ethical issues related to these new technologies.