Developing options and work plans to guide next steps in WBPHS design and operation with an increased emphasis on sea ducks
Project Number: 177
Year Funded: 2025
Lead Institution(s): Cornell Lab of Ornithology
Project Lead: Orin Robinson
Collaborator(s): Kylee Dunham (Cornell), Nicholas Masto (USFWS)
Location: Atlantic Flyway
Focal Species: Barrow’s Goldeneye (Bucephala islandica), Common Goldeneye (Bucephala clangula), 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: Existing WBPHS survey design in Traditional and Eastern areas limits its utility to derive population estimates and trends for many sea duck species. Specifically, the survey timing is not optimal for sea ducks, geographic coverage of surveys does not capture core breeding areas for most sea duck species, and there is difficulty identifying sea ducks and other boreal nesting ducks to the species- level from an aircraft (i.e., 3 scoter spp., 3 merganser spp., 2 goldeneye spp., 2 scaup spp., and ring-necked ducks). This project will address this issue by developing survey frameworks, in cooperation with SDJV Committee and expert partners, to address one or more of these limitations. The overarching goal is to identify priority areas for a potentially updated survey design that will include a larger proportion of sea duck breeding ranges that the current survey.
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