Dead Birds Don t Lie But What Are They Really Telling...

Dead Birds

Don’t Lie

But What Are

They Really

Telling Us?

Julia K Parrish

COASST Executive Director

Univ. of Washington

www.coasst.org

A Brief History of Human-

Seabird Interactions

Introductions, Rats and Mice

Introductions, Fur Trade

Ian Jones

Art Sowls

Graham Robertson Yuri Artukin

Dave Houston

Extractions, Fisheries

E.Melvin

Fishery Effects - Provisioning

©AK Wilderness League

Pollution, Oil

Mind Like Water, Inc.

Ian Jones

David Hyrenbach

Pollution, Plastics and Marine Debris

Climate Change, Sea Level Rise

The Coastal Observation and Seabird Survey Team

check us out @ www.coasst.org

What is COASST?

• COASST is a rigorous citizen science project of the

University of Washington in partnership with state, tribal,

and federal agencies, environmental NGOs, and community

groups.

• Participants survey beaches for beach-cast bird carcasses.

• Participants also collect data on oil, dogs, humans and

vehicles on beaches.

COASST Mission: empower community members to

personalized action through participation in science –

collecting information that makes a difference.

Who is COASST?

10-15 Student Interns

Heidi Pedersen Trainer;

Data Verifier

Charlie Wright Data Verifier

Jenn Ma Graduate Student

Jane Dolliver Seabird

Coordinator

Erika Frost Volunteer

Coordinator

Hillary Burgess Marine Debris Coordinator

Julia Parrish Executive Director

Occupations:

Retired 44%

Science 26%

Education 17%

Business 12%

Health 10%

Student 8%

Self employed 8%

average age = 58 (range=7-93)

Who is COASST?

female 63:male 37

couples, families 40%

in Alaska

Where is COASST?

Why Document Dead Birds?

• There are a lot of them

• They were once alive

• They can be identified by anyone

• They can be thoroughly examined and are easily

photographed

• They contain lots of valuable information

How Does COASST Work?

• Web-based “smart” data input

• Final verification by experts

• Arm them w/ rigorous

protocol,

field guide,

datasheets

•Data analyzed and presented

• Recruit and train local citizens

type foot 1

bill:‘hairline’ to tip of bill

wing: wrist to tip of longest primary

foot: ankle joint to knuckles

2 take 3 measurements

3 photograph w/ scale &

plumage characters

0

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6 7 8 9 10 11 12 1 2 3 4 5

Months

Enco

un

ter

Rat

e (c

arc

ass

es/k

m)

post-breeding mortality winterkill

spring migration

northern Oregon; 2002-2012; 8-23 beaches/month

Total (all spp)

Northern Fulmars

Common Murres

Rhinoceros Auklets

Large Immature Gulls

“Local Breeders” – breed and die (wreck at home) “Migrators” – breed, migrate, and die (wreck when you get there)

Natural History of Dead Birds

So What? establishing a

baseline

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60

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100

J J A S O N D J F M A M

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J J A S O N D J F M A M

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J J A S O N D J F M A M

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J J A S O N D J F M A M

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J J A S O N D J F M A M

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J J A S O N D J F M A M

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J J A S O N D J F M A M

CA - north

OR - south

OR - north

WA - south

WA - north

Bering Sea

CA - M. Bay

Monterey Bay data courtesy of Hannah Nevins

Baselines vs Catastrophes 1000

100

10

1

.1

0

Carc

asses/k

m (

pt,

range)

Unala

ska 2

006

Resur. B

ay 1

993

Citru

s O

S 1

996

EVO

S 1

989

CO

ASST C

CS 0

0-0

7

CO

ASST-A

K P

BS

CO

ASST-A

K B

S

NZ B

BS 9

1-9

3

Oregon North

St. Paul

Cold Bay - BS

courtesy of Reid Brewer, AK Sea Grant

Wrecks (e.g. murres, February 2012, Seward)

Entanglement (e.g. BLKI Aug 2010, Homer) Oil (e.g. COLO April 2011, Juneau)

Imagery ©2013 TerraMetrics, Map data ©2013 Google -

To see all the details that are visible on the

screen, use the "Print" link next to the map.

google maps savoonga - Google Maps https://maps.google.com/maps?oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&chan...

1 of 1 12/8/13 1:06 PM

Imagery ©2013 TerraMetrics, Map data ©2013 Google -

To see all the details that are visible on the

screen, use the "Print" link next to the map.

google maps savoonga - Google Maps https://maps.google.com/maps?oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&chan...

1 of 1 12/8/13 1:05 PM

Nov 20-25th, 2013 Wreck on St. Lawrence Island

Crested Auklet

Murre Spp.

Unid. Bird

Gull Spp./ N. Fulmar

Spectacled Eider

Duck Spp.

898 carcasses found ~18.5 km shoreline

confirmed case of avian cholera COASST protocols used to collect carcass data COASST estimations of “carcass fall”: 6288-6825, ranging up to ~38K

data, maps: Kathy Kuletz, David Irons, Liz, Labunski

participants collect data

participants enter data online

COASST verifies ALL data

www.coasst.org

COASST Reports special projects & data requests

early warning for avian influenza (w/ WDFW)

western grebe population genetics (w/ PRBO Conservation Science)

oil spill baseline (w/ NOAA)

fishery bycatch baseline in the Salish Sea (w/ WDFW, CWS)

harmful algal blooms (w/ OCNMS, UCSC, USGS)

effects of climate (w/ BeachCOMBERS, JISAO, NOAA)

entanglement rates (w/ GFNMS, BeachCOMBERS)

public, scientific, and academic talks

in-community COASST training in-community COASST refreshers

in-community COASST socials

phone, email, facebook interaction w/ COASST

view and/or download from www.coasst.org

participants (e)mail datasheets & photos

to COASST

How Does COASST Work?

LEO and COASST

• Invite COASST to conduct a training in your community.

• Come to a COASST training at the Alaska Forum.

• Adopt COASST materials when making observations for LEO – a future webinar?

How to find us:

info@COASST.org

jparrish@uw.edu

COASST main office:

Me!