US Fish and Wildlife Service Grant: Great Lakes Sea Duck Migration Study

PURPOSE:

The primary purpose of this award is to facilitate the acquisition, analysis, and dissemination of information for sea ducks marked with satellite transmitters in the Great Lakes as part of the SDJV’s Atlantic and Great Lakes Sea Duck Migration Study. Specifically, this award provides funding to Long Point Waterfowl to capture and mark sea ducks with satellite transmitters and to acquire and process the Argos satellite data from those ducks.

OBJECTIVES:

Primary objectives of the overall SDJV research project are to:
• Fully describe the annual migration patterns for four species of sea ducks (surf scoter, black scoter, white-winged scoter, long-tailed duck) in the Atlantic flyway and Great Lakes by 2014.
• Map local movements and estimate length-of-stay during winter for individual radio-marked ducks in areas proposed for placement of wind turbines (e.g., Maine-Penobscot Bay, Nantucket Sound, Great Lakes, and coastal Rhode Island).
• Identify near- and offshore areas of high significance to sea ducks to help inform habitat conservation efforts.
• Estimate rates of annual site fidelity to wintering areas, breeding areas, and molting areas for all four focal species in the Atlantic flyway

BACKGROUND

The Service and Long Point Waterfowl are partners in the Sea Duck Joint Venture (SDJV), a conservation partnership to improve our knowledge of sea ducks to facilitate more effective management and conservation. The SDJV and partners have embarked on a large scale, multi-year, collaborative project that will use satellite telemetry to document annual migration patterns, and to assess risk to sea ducks in specific areas in eastern North America where offshore wind projects are planned. During winter 2010-2011, Long Point Waterfowl will capture and mark sea ducks with satellite transmitters in Lake Ontario and nearby wetlands and waterways to address habitat use and population delineation of these species, as outlined in the Sea Duck Joint Venture (SDJV) Implementation Plan 2010-13 (SDJV 2010). This study is a part of the larger scale SDJV project #130: Atlantic and Great Lakes Sea Duck Migration Study.

REASON FOR SINGLE SOURCE:

Unique Qualifications – Work at this site requires intimate knowledge of the Great Lakes study area and its wildlife, and in particular, sea ducks. Long Point Waterfowl has established the locations of sea duck capture sites and figured out on-site field logistics in Lake Ontario. Long Point Waterfowl staff are considered experts in the study of birds in the Great Lakes and have a proven track record of successful studies of this nature, including waterfowl satellite telemetry studies. Long Point Waterfowl also has experience capturing sea ducks with floating mist nets, and therefore possesses the specialized equipment needed. The only other entities that currently possess this specialized knowledge and equipment are a few USFWS, USGS, BioDiversity Research Institute, and Canadian Wildlife Service employees, none of whom are available to conduct the work in the Great Lakes. Long Point Waterfowl is based in close proximity to the proposed sea duck capture sites in Lake Ontario making the cost to Service reasonable. Long Point Waterfowl is the only entity that would be appropriate, and authorized, to manage Argos accounts for those birds they have marked with satellite transmitters.