From the Field

Monthly Archive: December from

A little piece of the puzzle – Citizen Science works!

Posted: April 16, 2016 - 11:17 , by Nicole Richards
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From the Field
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ROM Ornithologist, Mark Peck describes one of the ways he contributes to Citizen Science

Wildlife Photography: Behind the Camera

Posted: March 15, 2016 - 12:24 , by ROM
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Photography, Nature, Biodiversity, Natural History, From the Field, ROM Research
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A bolt of lightning streaks across a purple sky over the mountains and rainforests of Sri Lanka

Guest Blog written by Environmental Visual Communication students Aisha Parkhill-Goyette and Jeff Dickie

Imagine you are deep in the jungle of Sri Lanka. You find yourself blinded by the pouring rain, knee deep in a rushing river, desperately trying not to fall in. Lightning strikes only meters away, but instead you are worried about the small tickle by your left elbow, and you are hoping that it is not one of the dozens of land leeches that keep falling onto you from the trees above. Not everyone has what it takes to be a wildlife photographer. It takes a special kind of dedication and a special kind of person - someone who is just as wild as the creatures they are trying to capture on camera.

EVC Students Jeff and Aisha interviewed a pair of up-and-coming wildlife photographers who travelled with ROM mammalogist Burton Lim to Sri Lanka last fall, to share some stories about what it's like behind the camera.

The ROM's Very Own Batman Returns

Posted: October 13, 2015 - 14:00 , by ROM
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Natural History, Nature, Biodiversity, ROM Research, From the Field
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The ROM’s very own ‘Batman’, Assistant Curator of Mammalogy, Dr. Burton Lim with "bat wings" outlined with light in a long exposure photo. Credit: Vincent Luk

ROM Biodiversity (@ROMBiodiversity) was in the fields and forests of Sri Lanka for an intense four weeks between Aug 23 - Sept 19, 2015, completing the first comprehensive survey of bats and other small mammals that live on the island in close to 80 years. 

ROM in the Field: Bats, Barcoding, and a Baby

Posted: September 8, 2015 - 16:15 , by ROM
Categories: 
Biodiversity, From the Field, Natural History, Nature, ROM Research, Research
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A tube-nosed bat (Murina cyclotis) in flight. Photo by Vincent Luk

ROM Biodiversity (@ROMBiodiversity) is in the fields and forests of Sri Lanka for an intense four weeks doing the first comprehensive survey of bats and other small mammals in close to 80 years. Follow the South Asian adventure on social media with #ROMSriLanka, and join Burton Lim and the Team LIVE from the field on September 10 at noon: https://www.rom.on.ca/en/activities-programs/events-calendar/hangout-with-our-rom-biodiversity-team-in-sri-lanka  

#ROMSriLanka Kicks off Month-long Expedition

Posted: August 21, 2015 - 12:47 , by ROM
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Biodiversity, Natural History, Nature, From the Field, ROM Research
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photo of a an elephant standing in a wetland in Yala National Park in Sri Lanka with jungle and a mountain in the background

Guest blog written by #ROMSriLanka Communication team member Deirdre Leowinata

The ROM’s own Assistant Curator of Mammalogy, Burton Lim, along with his ROM Biodiversity team, are traversing the planet’s surface to reach the small and mysterious country of Sri Lanka between August and September for one purpose and one purpose only… to study the island's small mammals.

Bug Hunting with Bed Sheets

Posted: June 25, 2015 - 15:44 , by Nicole Richards
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From the Field
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3 people in silhouette look for insects attracted to a light

What would make a couple of insect-keen naturalists lug a car battery, a mercury vapour lamp and a white bed sheet into a forest around midnight? A BioBlitz of course!

The Monastery of St Moses, Syria: The Prehistoric Remains

Posted: December 1, 2014 - 08:52 , by Robert Mason
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World Culture, From the Field, ROM Research
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The largest corbelled structure, in fact a complex of three (Feature 56 - 58), with the Qalamoun mountains in the background.

Since 2004 I had walked the Qalamoun mountains around the monastery of Deir Mar Musa looking for archaeological features to record. In all that time I found one lithic, a stone tool from humanity’s prehistoric past. My colleagues back home that specialised in these objects would say that I just didn’t know what I was looking for. In the last days of the 2009 season, what turned out to be my last season at the monastery, I thought I would reconnoitre the southern part of the field area.

The Monastery of St Moses, Syria: The Cave Survey

Posted: July 11, 2014 - 12:20 , by Robert Mason
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World Culture, Archaeology, Research, From the Field
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This cave would have been a home for one of the monks of the Deir Mar Musa community, the wall at the front of the photograph shows that they had a small terrace outside the cave, either for a living area or for growing food.

The monastery at Deir Mar Musa would not have just comprised the main buildings, the monks would actually have been dispersed in hermitages across the landscape.

The Monastery of St Moses, Syria: The Frescoes

Posted: July 4, 2014 - 12:26 , by Robert Mason
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World Culture, Archaeology, ROM Research, From the Field
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The fresco of the Last Judgement on the West wall of the chapel at Deir Mar Musa.

The third in a series on the monastery of St Moses in Syria comprises a detailed examination of the important cycle of 11th-12th century frescoes found in the chapel.

The Monastery of St Moses, Syria: The Pottery

Posted: June 29, 2014 - 09:38 , by Robert Mason
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World Culture, Archaeology, ROM Research, From the Field
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Pottery with an earthenware fired-clay body, overall white slip, incision through the slip with a broad tool, overall lead glaze, splashed with copper-green, probably mid-14th century.