Determination of breeding areas, migration routes, and local movements associated with surf and white-winged scoters wintering in the inner marine waters of Washington State.

Project Number: 28

Year Funded: 2006

Lead Institution(s): Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife

Project Lead: David Nysewander

Email:

Collaborator(s): Joseph Evenson (WDFW), Don Kraege (DKK), Eric Anderson (UW), Jim Lovvorn (UW), John Takekawa (USGS)

Location: Washington

Focal Species: White-winged Scoter (Melanitta delgandi)

Project Description: This project, led by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW), used implanted satellite and radio transmitters to better understand the demography and movements of Surf and White-winged Scoters in Washington state waters. This focused work was impelled by the significant declines that occurred in wintering scoter populations in Washington over the last 25 years. Objectives were to document the pattern of use and fidelity to winter and spring foraging areas, night resting areas, migration routes, breeding sites and range, and molting areas of White-winged and Surf Scoters that winter in the inner marine waters of Washington State. The project team implanted a total of 73 satellite PTT transmitters in scoters (47 Surf and 26 White-winged) and 90 VHF transmitters in Surf Scoters. Most of the batteries for the PTT transmitters lasted from 1-1.5 years, but we do have a few that were programmed to last 2 years. In addition, some of our VHF transmitters have lasted longer than one year, giving us some additional insight into inter-year site fidelity. Other research efforts in Baja California Mexico, San Francisco Bay, and the Strait of Georgia in British Columbia deployed satellite PTT and VHF transmitters in Surf Scoters; a certain percentage of these scoters also spend some extended time in the marine waters of Washington State. Our VHF tracking efforts in Washington and nearby British Columbia for the second consecutive year have recorded location data on scoters from all these other winter capture efforts. Data from these combined projects characterized some of the important migration, staging, and molting areas in Washington as well as Southeast Alaska and the Northwest Territories in Canada.

Project Reports:

SDJV28 Interim Report FY03
SDJV28 Interim Report FY04
SDJV28 Interim Report FY05
SDJV28 Final Report FY06

Related Publications

Takekawa, J. Y., S. W. De La Cruz, M. T. Wilson, E. C. Palm, J. Yee, D. R. Nysewander, J. R. Evenson, J. M. Eadie, D. Esler, W. S. Boyd, and D. H. Ward. 2011. Breeding distribution and ecology of Pacific coast Surf Scoters. Pp. 41– 64 in J. V. Wells (editor). Boreal birds of North America: a hemispheric view of their conservation links and significance. Studies in Avian Biology (no. 41), University of California Press, Berkeley, CA http://www.sfu.ca/biology/wildberg/papers/Takekawa%20et%20al%20Studies%20in%20Avian%20Biol%202011.pdf

Lok, E., D. Esler, J. Takekawa, S. De La Cruz, W. Boyd, D. Nysewander, J. Evenson, and D. Ward. 2011. Stopover Habitats of Spring Migrating Surf Scoters in Southeast Alaska. JOURNAL OF WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT 75:92–100. https://doi.org/10.1002/jwmg.5

De La Cruz, S. E. W., J. Y. Takekawa, M. T. Wilson, D. R. Nysewander, J. R. Evenson, D. Esler, W. S. Boyd, and D. H. Ward. 2009. Spring migration routes and chronology of surf scoters ( Melanitta perspicillata ): a synthesis of Pacific coast studies. Canadian Journal of Zoology 1086:1069–1086. https://doi.org/10.1139/Z09-099

Anderson, E. M., D. Esler, W. S. Boyd, J. R. Evenson, D. R. Nysewander, D. H. Ward, R. D. Dickson, B. D. Uher-Koch, C. S. VanStratt, and J. W. Hupp. 2012. Predation rates, timing, and predator composition for Scoters (Melanitta spp.) in marine habitats. Canadian Journal of Zoology 90:42–50. https://doi.org/10.1139/z11-110

Bianchini, K., S. G. Gilliland, A. M. Berlin, T. D. Bowman, W. Sean Boyd, S. E. W. De La Cruz, D. Esler, J. R. Evenson, P. L. Flint, C. Lepage, S. R. McWilliams, D. E. Meattey, J. E. Osenkowski, M. C. Perry, J.-F. Poulin, E. T. Reed, C. Roy, J.-P. L. Savard, L. Savoy, J. L. Schamber, C. S. Spiegel, J. Takekawa, D. H. Ward, and M. L. Mallory. 2023. Evaluation of breeding distribution and chronology of North American scoters. Wildlife Biology 2023:e01099. https://doi.org/10.1002/wlb3.01099

Determination of breeding areas, migration routes, and local movements associated with surf and white-winged scoters wintering in the inner marine waters of Washington State.