Nicole Teutschel at UC Santa Cruz, Long Marine Lab--Accountants have tax season, teachers... back to school, malls have the holidays: TOPP biologists are busy now...when many species are ready for tags, all at once! TOPP biologists are busy deploying satellite tags on five species....and that's just today! The members of Dan Costa's lab at UC Santa Cruz are scattered across the oceans, working hard in Northern California at Año Nuevo State Reserve, Southern California on one of the remote Channel Islands San Nicholas, in Antarctica at wild Cape Shirreff, on Tern Island on the Northern Hawaiian Islands, and even all the way across South America at Uruguay's Isla Lobos! 

Tagging is hard work, and these crews are dealing with huge ranges in conditions, weather, and study species! From albatross nesting islands, to rocky sea lion colonies, muddy southern e seal wollows, and sandy e seal beaches. Stay tuned to hear more about the expeditions of TOPP biologists across the globe. 

TOPP Principle Investigator, Daniel Costa, is at Isla Lobos, Uruguay tagging these big Southern sea lions! Southern sea lions are a recent addition to the TOPP Predator family. Photo: Daniel Costa

A tagged California sea lion, Zalophus californianus, just tagged at San Nicholas Island off Southern California. Melinda Fowler, Samantha Simmons, Sara Maxwell and their crew are currently working hard to recapture tagged sea lions over the next few weeks! Melinda says, that's easier said than done! The crew has captured two sea lions so far, and spotted a couple more. These smart critters hang out on algae covered slippery rocks, which are  a breeze for sea lions, but pretty challenging for humans to get to! Photo: Scott Hansen

 Black-footed albatross, another species currently wearning satellite tags! Melinda Conners is spending MONTHS on Tern Island, one of the remote Northern Hawaiian Islands, deploying satellite tags on these amazing marine birds which travel thousands of miles. Photo: Kelli Burkinshaw

A southern elephant seal tagged by TOPP. Doctoral student, Luis Huckstadt, is busy tagging this big seals like this one in the Antarctic! Luis is deploying at least a dozen tags like this one over the next two weeks. Photo: Gitte McDonald

At Año Nuevo State Reserve yet another tagging crew is busy recovery 30 satellite tags, and deploying 22 tags on a new set of adult seals. Check out Elephant Seal Homecoming Days to learn more about this species and the TOPP E Seal tagging program. Photo: Nicole Teutschel