Field Trip: MSU's Kellogg Biological Station

This past Friday, our little group of scientists had the opportunity to visit MSU's Kellogg Biological Station. What is a biological station, you ask? Well, I can't speak for any other station out there but this particular site is an impressive collection of ecological research facilities. And by facilities, I mean fields, ponds, forests, rivers, bird sanctuaries, dairy farms, and probably more.

Our first stop at KBS was at their Long Term Ecological Research site. Since the 1980's, the program has been maintaining several fields of various crops and natural vegetation in an effort to understand how humans and landscapes interact.

This is their experimental poplar habitat. These trees are only four years old.

After a tasty taco lunch, we visited a gorgeous bird sanctuary. It houses mostly swans and geese but they also have facilities for caring for injured birds of prey. We got a close look at some hawks, falcons, and even a bald eagle. I couldn't help myself; I took a ton of pictures and I had to put them all up :)

Red-tailed hawk with an amputated wing

Endangered Chinese pheasants

The last stop on the tour was their experimental ponds. These things were weird. 

They have 18 identically shaped and sized ponds for researchers to manipulate and study. It's just such a strange thing to see in a landscape.

So that was Friday! I'm about halfway through my program now, and things are still going pretty well! I just registered for a poster presentation at the end of July so I have a lot of reading to do between now and then.

Also, I AM starting to really like Lansing. That is all.