[Nhcoll-l] Request for Mounts: American Badger and/or Sprague's Pipit

[Andrew Dreelin]

Hello,

My name is Andrew Dreelin, and I'm a first-year graduate student in the Jones
Restoration Lab <https://hjones82.wixsite.com/website> at Northern Illinois
University where I study grassland bird communities and their response to
the keystone effects of Black-tailed Prairie Dogs
<https://nationalzoo.si.edu/conservation-ecology-center/news/ecologists-dig-prairie-dogs-and-you-should-too>
under
Holly Jones
<https://www.niu.edu/clas/biology/about/faculty/jones/index.shtml> and Andy
Boyce <https://nationalzoo.si.edu/conservation/andy-j-boyce>.

We are seeking two mounts to use in two separate field experiments during
our upcoming field season in April 2021, and we are hoping to find someone
who has the appropriate specimen mounts that they would be willing to
donate or loan to us.

We are in need of:

1) an American Badger (*Taxidea taxus*), to be used by me in a simulated
predator trial to test the behavioral response of nesting Long-billed
Curlews to predators in areas with and without prairie dogs. This will
examine whether curlews eavesdrop on prairie dog alarm call networks as
early warning systems. The badger mount will be affixed to a durable
remote-controlled car chassis and slowly piloted towards nests where small
cameras will record cryptic & mobbing behaviors. I have attached more
details on the project + methods below.

2) a Sprague's Pipit (*Anthus spragueii*), to be used by Andy Boyce as a
visual lure in association with playback to capture breeding Sprague's
Pipits for a study of their demography and movement ecology at the same
site. The mount will be placed on the ground in conjunction with mist nets
and song playback to capture territorial individuals.

Neither of the specimens needs to be of particularly high quality. We are
also interested in the possibility of obtaining a salvaged specimen which
we could then mount ourselves if anyone comes into possession of a deceased
badger or pipit.

Thank you very much for your attention. I appreciate any help anyone can
provide.

Sincerely,

Andrew Dreelin (He/him/his)
Graduate Student | Jones Restoration Lab
<https://hjones82.wixsite.com/website>
Biological Sciences | Northern Illinois University

Please note I may send emails outside of regular work hours, but there is
no expectation for you to respond.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.yale.edu/pipermail/nhcoll-l/attachments/20201116/e1097dc7/attachment.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: GRFP_RAD_Research Statement Round 2_Final.pdf
Type: application/pdf
Size: 327978 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://mailman.yale.edu/pipermail/nhcoll-l/attachments/20201116/e1097dc7/attachment.pdf>