Michael Haramis

USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center
Beltsville Lab
BARC-EAST Bldg 308 Rm 114

10300 Baltimore Avenue

Beltsville, MD 20705

Telephone: 301-497-5651

Fax: 301-497-5624

Email: mharamis@usgs.gov

Research Wildlife Biologist

Primary Responsibilities: 
Conducts applied research in support of USDI land and wildlife managers. Responsibilities include establishing partnerships with federal, state, and academic collaborators, developing research strategies, writing study plans, developing special field/lab investigative techniques, complementing field studies with controlled laboratory or pen studies, solving often difficult field logistical problems, overseeing field research studies, conducting data analyses, presenting results at workshops and symposia, and by authoring formal publications. Mike has spent most of his early careeer conducting field studies of waterbirds, wetlands, and Chesapeake Bay. His work focused for many years on wintering waterfowl ecology, especially on Chesapeake Bay canvasbacks. Current research topics include investigating the role of exotic nutria on marsh loss at Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge, establishing the importance of horseshoe crab eggs to spring migrant shorebirds in Delaware Bay, and investigatinig the population status of Chesapeake Bay diamondback terrapins.

Education/Training: 

M.S., Wildlife Science, Cornell University 1975

Dissertation: Wood Duck Ecology and Management within the Green-Timber Impoundments at Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge 

B.S. Electrical Engineering , Clarkson College of Technology, 1966

Special Achievement Awards 1989, 1994
Quality Service Award 1996
30 years of Federal Service 2006

Active Projects: 

The effect of nutria (Myocastor coypus) on marsh loss in the Lower Eastern Shore of Maryland: an exclosure study

Development of a sience-based monitoring program for nutria in Maryland's coastal marshes: use of remote sensing techniques to estimate detection probabilities and site occupancy rates

Use of stable isotopes to determine the relative importance of horseshoe hrab eggs to long-distance migrant shorebirds in Delaware Bay

Length of stay, survival, habitat use, and migration characteristics of fall migrant Soras (Porzana carolina) on the Patuxent River Marsh as determined by radio telemetry

Restoring wild rice to the Patuxent River marshes  

Selected Publications/Products: 

Haramis, G. M and G. D. Kearns. 2007. Herbivory by resident geese: the loss and recovery of wild rice along the tidal Patuxent River. J. Wildl. Manage. 71(3) 788-794.

Haramis, G. M., W. A. Link, P. C. Osenton, D. B. Carter, R. G Weber, N. A. Clark, M. A. Teece, and D. S MIzrahi, 2007. Stable isotope and pen feeding trial studies confirm the value of horseshoe crab Limulus polyphemus eggs to spring migrant shorebirds in Delaware Bay. J. Avian Biol. 38: 367-376

Haramis, G. M., D. G. Jorde, G. H. Olsen, D. B. Stotts, and M. K. Harrison, Sr. 2002. Breeding performance of Smith Island black ducks. Pages 22-30 in M.C. Perry, ed. Black ducks and Their Chesapeake Bay Habitats: Proceedings of a Symposium. U.S. Geological Survey Information and Technology Report USGS/BRD/ITR-2002-0005. 

Haramis, G. M., D. G. Jorde, S. A. Macko, and J. L. Walker. 2001. Stable-isotope analysis of canvasback winter diet in upper Chesapeake Bay. Auk 118(4):1008-1017.

Jorde, D. G., G. M. Haramis, C. M. Bunck, and G. W. Pendleton. 1995. Effects of diet on rate of body mass gain by wintering canvasbacks. J. Wildl. Manage. 59:31-39.

Haramis, G. M., E. L. Derleth, and W. A. Link. 1994. Flock sizes and sex ratios of canvasbacks in Chesapeake Bay and North Carolina. J. Wildl. Manage. 58:123-131. 

Haramis, G. M., D. G. Jorde, and C. M. Bunck. 1993. Survival of hatching-year female canvasbacks on Chesapeake Bay. J. Wildl. Manage. 57:763-771.

Haramis, G. M. 1990. Breeding ecology of the wood duck: a review. Pages 45-60 in L. H. Fredrickson, G. V. Burger, S. P. Havera, D. A. Graber, R. E. Kirby, and T. S. Taylor, eds. Proc. 1988 North American Wood Duck Symposium, 20-22 February, 1988, St. Louis, MO.

Haramis, G. M. J. D. Nichols, K. H. Pollock, and J. E Hines. 1986. The relationship between body mass and survival of wintering canvasbacks. Auk 103:506-514.

Haramis, G. M. and D. Q Thompson. 1985. Density-production characteristics of box-nesting wood ducks in a northern green-tree impoundment. J. Wildl. Manage. 49:449-454.

Nichols, J. D. and G. M. Haramis. 1980. Sex-specific differences in winter distribution of canvasbacks. Condor 82: 406-416.