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

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 coastal New England states as part of the SDJV’s Atlantic and Great Lakes Sea Duck Migration Study. Specifically, this award provides funding to BioDiversity Research Institute (BRI) 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 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, 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 BRI 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, BRI will capture and mark scoters with satellite transmitters at Parker River National Wildlife Refuge, Massachusetts, or nearby coastal areas 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 Parker River National Wildlife Refuge study area and its wildlife, and in particular, white-winged scoters. BioDiversity Research Institute (BRI) has worked closely with the staff at Parker River NWR for the past two years on sea duck capture and sampling studies. They have established the locations of sea duck capture sites and figured out on-site field logistics at Parker River NWR. BRI staff are considered experts in the study of birds along the New England coast and have a proven track record of successful studies of this nature, including sea duck satellite telemetry studies. BRI also has several years of 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, and Canadian Wildlife Service employees, none of whom are available to conduct the work at Parker River. BRI is based in close proximity to the proposed scoter capture site at Parker River NWR making the cost to Service reasonable.