SEANET BEACHED BIRD SURVEYS

 Seabird Monitoring Program Seeks Volunteers at Long Island, NY

Landmark Program Aims to Protect Aquatic Birds and Prepare for Environmental Emergencies

SEANET training workshops: DECEMBER 9, 2007

at 10 AM in Kramer Science Center, room 027

Dowling College, Oakdale Campus

 

“Because seabirds are so sensitive to petroleum and other pollution, they are excellent indicators of environmental health,” said Julie Ellis, Ph.D., Tufts Department of Environmental and Population Health. “The surveys our volunteers conduct are important because they will help us detect diseases and contaminants that threaten both animal and human health.”

 Noting that regular die-offs of Common Loons have occurred at Long Island during the past couple of years, Ellis hopes that more people will join the SEANET team to help document the timing of these mortality events and determine the causes.  Since initiating SEANET in Massachusetts in 2002, Tufts researchers collaborated with numerous agencies and organizations to establish long-term seabird monitoring from New Jersey to northern Maine and Canada’s Bay of Fundy shores. Researchers are sharing information with communities and agencies to develop regional efforts that will protect aquatic birds and habitats as well as prevent and prepare for future emergencies such as oil spills.

SEANET will host the December 9, 2007  training session and teach volunteers how to identify and measure any specimens they find, as well as provide tips on general survey protocols. In some areas this project has been integrated into school science classes, and is a good way to get students of many ages involved in field research. To register and for specific information about the training schedule, contact Peg Hart (Long Island SEANET Coordinator) at: mhart@amnh.org.

For additional information, feel free to contact Dr. Julie Ellis, 508-887-4933 julie.ellis@tufts.edu
 

CALL FOR VOLUNTEERS!

Wildlife Trust and Tufts Center for Conservation Medicine are working with numerous non-profit organizations and agencies including CRESLI, and the Riverhead Foundation, SEANET is conducting volunteer-based beached bird surveys throughout the NY-NJ-CT coast. Volunteers walk a designated stretch of beach, generally a mile or two, at approximately the same time every month, once or twice per month. We provide a kit for each volunteer including datasheets, a ruler, calipers, and latex gloves. Volunteers record location information, date, conditions, and if they find a bird carcass, as much detail on the specimen as possible, including basic measurements and condition. Trainings on identification, measurement technique, and general protocol will be held for those interested in volunteering. If possible, volunteers take photographs of specimens they find, for confirmation of identification and for possible use in an Atlantic coast guide to beached birds that we are producing. If specimens are fresh enough, and we have identified a nearby collaborating facility, specimens can be collected for necropsy. We also encourage those volunteers with bird ID skills to keep track of live birds seen while doing the surveys.
 
 

SEANET Background

The monitoring system this project creates will be part of a larger regional effort that Tufts has established with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service’s North American Waterbird Conservation Plan, the regional U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, national and state Audubon Society, and others. From 2002-05, volunteers completed a total of 2,278 surveys covering 4,406 km. A total of 716 carcasses were encountered by volunteers.  SEANET volunteers have found a total of 62 different species, with gulls, loons, and sea ducks the most common species encountered. SEANET also compiles various records from wildlife rehabilitators and other observers throughout the northeast to address large scale mortality events, including paralytic shellfish poisoning (red tide), Salmonella outbreaks, and fisheries bycatch incidence. Among birds examined to date, the most common causes of death included starvation, ingestion of fishing line and gear, and gunshot wounds.  

SEANET training workshops:

DECEMBER 9, 2007

at 10 AM in Kramer Science Center, room 027 (basement)

Dowling College, Oakdale Campus