I am a zoologist and conservationist based out of California who is currently working as a seasonal wildlife biologist. I have a B.S. in Zoology that I received from the University of California, Santa Barbara in the spring of 2022. My current fields of interest include herpetology, ornithology, mammology, community ecology, ethology, conservation biology, and population studies. Specifically, I am interested in understanding the population ecology, community dynamics, biogeography, and conservation of reptiles, amphibians, and birds. In addition to working as a wildlife biologist, I also occasionally assist the Southwestern Herpetologist Society with field surveys and write articles for its newsletter. In the past, I have served as an intern for the Crocodile Research Coalition (https://crocodileresearchcoalition.org/), a volunteer for the Cheadle Center for Biodiversity and Ecological Restoration (https://www.ccber.ucsb.edu/), a Snowy Plover Docent and Reserve Intern at Coal Oil Point Reserve (https://copr.nrs.ucsb.edu/), a field technician and lab assistant for the Briggs Lab at UCSB (https://labs.eemb.ucsb.edu/briggs/cherie/), a general volunteer for the Greater Los Angeles Zoo Association, and a student keeper at the Los Angeles Zoo.

My Personal Website (All about me!)
https://livingtothemax12.wixsite.com/maxroberts

My Nature Photography Website (Designed to be viewed on a computer): https://livingtothemax12.wixsite.com/capturetothemax

My Flickr:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/195836457@N02/

Favorite ways to experience nature:

• Flipping cover objects to look for reptiles and amphibians (You never know what you are going to find. Just make sure to put back everything the way you found it!)
• Encountering a wild rattlesnake
• Birding migrant traps during migration (especially in the deserts during Spring)
• Hiking desert habitats in search of lizards
• Watching/photographing birds at local hotspots
• Seeing any carnivorous mammal in the wild
• Creek walking
• Hawk watching on grassland or desert roads
• Road cruising for snakes and amphibians
• Hiking in the rainforest (day or night)
• Taking a jungle cruise
• Whale watching
• Owling

Primary Taxa Interests:

• Squamates (especially rattlesnakes, colubrids, monitor lizards, and collard lizards)
• Crocodilians
• Salamanders (especially plethodontids and ambystomids)
• Frogs and toads (especially ranids, Anaxyrus toads, and spadefoots)
• Passerine birds (especially warblers and wrens)
• Diurnal raptors (especially Buteos and eagles)
• Owls
• Carnivorous mammals (mostly mustelids, but also felids and canines)
• Scorpions
• Tarantulas
• Dragonflies and Damselflies

For identification, I am mostly familiar with reptiles, amphibians, and birds in California, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, Colorado, and Florida.

Mention me (@tothemax) if you would like my input on an observation or need a response from me. If you don't do this and/or do not make a comment separate from an identification, I will likely not see that you are trying to get my attention.

I try to include as much information as possible about how may individuals were seen in a given area and how they were detected when that is not obvious in the photos. This is meant to improve data quality and increase the number of ways that the data can be used. Please let me know if you have any questions about my observations or have suggestions for future observations.

I also use Herpmapper (https://www.herpmapper.org) and NAHERP (http://www.naherp.com/), so some of my reptile and amphibian observations are duplicated on those databases. I use Ebird to occasionally record full bird walks that I go on, so some of the observations I post on INaturalist may correspond to a bird walk that I recorded on Ebird. I tend to use INaturalist when I am not counting every bird I see or hear (https://ebird.org/home).

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