33  Seabird Mortality

Description Monitoring of dead beached birds provides information on the health of seabird populations, ecosystem health, and unusual mortality events, and previous ESRs from the anomalously warm and unproductive years of 2014–2016 noted major seabird mortality events in each year.

In the Northern CCE, the Coastal Observation and Seabird Survey Team (COASST) at the University of Washington monitors beaches in Washington, Oregon, and northern California.

In the Central CCE, the Beach Watch program monitors beaches from Point Arena to Point Año Nuevo, California.

The BeachCOMBERS program conducts surveys of beached seabirds on central and southern California beaches from Point Año Nuevo to Malibu.

Indicator Regions

Ce/So CC

• Species:
  • Brandts cormorant encounter rate (Ce CC)
  • Cassins auklet encounter rate (Ce CC)
  • Common murre encounter rate(Ce CC)
  • Northern fulmar encounter rate (Ce CC)
  • Sooty shearwater encounter rate (Ce CC)
  • Brandts cormorant encounter rate (Ce/So CC) Central
  • Cassins auklet encounter rate (Ce/So CC) Central
  • Common murre encounter rate(Ce/So CC) Central
  • Northern fulmar encounter rate (Ce/So CC) Central
  • Sooty shearwater encounter rate (Ce/So CC) Central
  • Brandts cormorant encounter rate (Ce/So CC) North
  • Cassins auklet encounter rate (Ce/So CC) North
  • Common murre encounter rate(Ce/So CC) North
  • Northern fulmar encounter rate (Ce/So CC) North
  • Sooty shearwater encounter rate (Ce/So CC) North
  • Brandts cormorant encounter rate (Ce/So CC) South
  • Cassins auklet encounter rate (Ce/So CC) South
  • Common murre encounter rate(Ce/So CC) South
  • Northern fulmar encounter rate (Ce/So CC) South
  • Sooty shearwater encounter rate (Ce/So CC) South
• Component Category: Seabirds
• Time Range: NA - NA
• CCIEA Data Contact: tom.good@noaa.gov
• Institution: BeachCOMBERS
• Source Data: Data from BeachCombers, who coordinate a team of trained volunteers that collect effort-controlled survey data on an approximately monthly basis, recording beached bird numbers and identity from survey locations in Central/Southern California. Contact BeachCombers for details on calculations before citing or distributing these data.
• Additional Calculations: Annual mean encounter rates (bird carcasses/km surveyed) aggregated from May to October (inclusive) for each surveyed beach location, and then averaged across all beaches surveyed in that year.

Cape Blanco, OR to Cape Flattery, WA

• Species:
  • Northern fulmar (No CC Oct - Feb)
• Component Category: Seabirds
• Time Range: 2001 - 2023
• CCIEA Data Contact: tom.good@noaa.gov
• Institution: COASST
• Source Data: Data from the Coastal Observation and Seabird Survey Team (COASST), who coordinate a team of trained volunteers that collect effort-controlled survey data on an approximately monthly basis, recording beached bird numbers and identity from survey locations in Northern California through to Northern Washington and into Alaska and the Bering Sea. Contact COASST for details on calculations before citing or distributing these data.
• Additional Calculations: Annual mean encounter rates (bird carcasses/km surveyed) aggregated from October to April (inclusive, with years labelled according to the convention that Oct 2014 to Apr 2015 are labelled as 2014) for each surveyed beach location, and then averaged across all beaches surveyed in that year.

CA-OR border to Cape Flattery, WA

• Species:
  • Cassins auklet (No CC Oct - Feb)
• Component Category: Seabirds
• Time Range: 2001 - 2023
• CCIEA Data Contact: tom.good@noaa.gov
• Institution: COASST
• Source Data: Data from the Coastal Observation and Seabird Survey Team (COASST), who coordinate a team of trained volunteers that collect effort-controlled survey data on an approximately monthly basis, recording beached bird numbers and identity from survey locations in Northern California through to Northern Washington and into Alaska and the Bering Sea. Contact COASST for details on calculations before citing or distributing these data.
• Additional Calculations: Annual mean encounter rates (bird carcasses/km surveyed) aggregated from October to February (inclusive, with years labelled according to the convention that Oct 2014 to Feb 2015 are labelled as 2014) for each surveyed beach location, and then averaged across all beaches surveyed in that year.

Eureka, CA to Cape Flattery, WA

• Species:
  • Common murre (No CC Jun - Dec)
  • Sooty shearwater (No CC May - Oct)
• Component Category: Seabirds
• Time Range: 2001 - 2024
• CCIEA Data Contact: tom.good@noaa.gov
• Institution: COASST
• Source Data: Data from the Coastal Observation and Seabird Survey Team (COASST), who coordinate a team of trained volunteers that collect effort-controlled survey data on an approximately monthly basis, recording beached bird numbers and identity from survey locations in Northern California through to Northern Washington and into Alaska and the Bering Sea. Contact COASST for details on calculations before citing or distributing these data.
• Additional Calculations: Annual mean encounter rates (bird carcasses/km surveyed) aggregated from May to October (inclusive) for each surveyed beach location, and then averaged across all beaches surveyed in that year.

Indicator Download

ERDDAP™ link:

https://oceanview.pfeg.noaa.gov/erddap/tabledap/cciea_B_B_MORT.html

References