Visibility correction factors for multiple species of sea ducks and diving ducks using an aerial remote sensing approach
Project Number: 160
Year Funded: 2020
Lead Institution(s): USGS Midwest Environmental Science Center
Project Lead: Luke Fara
Collaborator(s): William Beatty (USGS), Drew Fowler (USGS), Taylor Finger (Wisconsin DNR), Kyle Landolt (USGS), Steven Houdek (USGS), Benjamin Finley (USGS), Mark Koneff (USFWS)
Location: Great Lakes
Focal Species: All Sea Ducks, Bufflehead (Bucephala albeola), Barrow’s Goldeneye (Bucephala islandica), Common Goldeneye (Bucephala clangula), Harlequin Duck (Histrionicus histrionicus), Long-tailed Duck (Clangula hyemalis), Common Eider (Somateria mollissima), King Eider (Somateria spectabilis), Spectacled Eider (Somateria fischeri), Steller’s Eider (Polysticta stelleri), Common Merganser (Mergus merganser), Hooded Merganser (Lophodytes cucullatus), Red-breasted Merganser (Mergus serrator), Black Scoter (Melanitta americana), Surf Scoter (Melanitta perspicillata), White-winged Scoter (Melanitta delgandi)
Project Description: This project addresses the following high priority science needs identified by the Sea Duck Joint Venture (SDJV): 1) develop or refine techniques to estimate detection probabilities, misidentification rates, and biases during aerial sea duck surveys and evaluate methods to improve the accuracy and reliability of aerial, boat and ground survey methods, especially aspects relevant to sea and diving ducks and for areas outside of traditional survey areas, 2) contribute to developing and/or evaluating methods for efficiently automating counts of birds in aerial photographs of flocks, including birds with varying distributions and density patterns, and uniform vs. sexual dimorphic plumages, 3) contribute to testing feasibility of determining age and sex ratios (over a broad range) using ground surveys and/or aerial photos on fall/wintering areas to obtain an index of annual productivity for some species, specifically long-tailed ducks, and 4) contribute to identifying and characterizing attributes of key wintering and staging areas for long-tailed ducks at flyway or continental scale. In addition, the project is expected to address the following: 1) support upper Mississippi River and Great Lakes Region Joint Venture research objectives relating to understanding the importance of wintering locations for bird populations that may depend on habitats within the Joint Venture region, and 2) support Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources efforts to increase surveys of waterfowl during the non-breeding period.
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