Our experience at the Klamath Falls FWS office is coming up on the one month mark following the transition from adult sucker sampling with GS, and a surprising amount has been packed into a relatively short time. As the last post (A Sucker for Suckers, cont.) mentioned, a lot of our effort has gone into sampling at a pond where about 200 juvenile shortnose and Lost River suckers were released a year ago after getting trapped in the canals that divert water from Upper Klamath Lake. Recapture rates with the fyke (hoop) nets set overnight have been slow so far, but we’re still testing different net placement strategies and detection techniques, including cast nets and a portable scanner. We have also dealt with an experiment in the lake to examine the effects of gravel substrate size on sucker egg development, and meanwhile at the office I have just begun working on a project to take detailed photos of juvenile sucker specimens that will later be analyzed along with x-rays to identify distinguishing body shape and skeletal characteristics for more accurate species differentiation.

At the Lower Klamath NWR sucker pond. We went beyond the sign.

Cast netting at the sucker pond. Didn't catch anything, but it looks nice.

Our main focus now is on the Modoc sucker, a smaller species that, while restricted to a fairly limited range of streams in southern Oregon and northern California, appears to have improved considerably since its listing with the ESA. Visual surveys are performed by spotlight late at night when the fish tend to be more out in the open and stationary. We found them in substantial numbers throughout the stream reaches that we have surveyed so far, and if this trend continues, a recommendation may be put forth to have the species downlisted to threatened.

In addition to the sucker work, we have performed egg-mass surveys for the Oregon spotted frog (a candidate species for listing that has been severely impacted by hydrologic changes and bullfrog invasions), and nest surveys for bald eagle chicks (as part of a five-year monitoring program required after its 2007 delisting).

Oregon spotted frog

Bald eagle nest (lower right) and parents (side by side at top).

With bull trout electrofishing, vernal pool plant surveys, river delta habitat mapping and bat detection equipment testing (among others) still ahead, this internship is turning out to be an incredible opportunity for sampling a wide array of projects, species, study areas and field methods – not to mention an exercise in organization and time-management.

Oh, and I have to include a compliment to the location:

Tommy Esson

USFWS, Klamath Falls, OR