Date: 3/15/25 7:01 pm From: via Tweeters <tweeters...> Subject: [Tweeters] WDFW aerial surveys of marine birds
Our invited speakers for this month's Washington Ornithological Society (WOS) meeting were Toby Ross and Matt Farr, discussing the Puget Sound Seabird Survey and the sophisticated methodology used to analyze and translate bird counts into estimated populations and trends. As a bonus, we became aware of an important WDFW survey effort that has annually compiled information about marine birds along the inner coast since the 1990’s (N.B. a decade before that, aerial surveys were performed for NOAA by Dennis Paulson, Terry Wahl and others). Crews of experienced WDFW biologists do systematic flights over Puget Sound and the Strait of Juan de Fuca in mid-winter, a point when most sea ducks and other marine birds are unlikely to be migrating. These surveys monitor abundance and distribution of marine birds and thereby deduce population trends. Such data sets are key for wildlife management and local planning, as well as for scientific and permitting purposes.
