Pacific coast winter sea duck survey
Project Number: 129
Year Funded: 2010
Lead Institution(s): Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
Project Lead: Don Kraege
Collaborator(s): Tim Bowman (USFWS), Emily Silverman (USFWS), Andre Breault (CWS), Joe Evenson (WDFW), Jack Hodges (USFWS), Bill Larned (USFWS)
Location: Pacific Flyway
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 investigated the feasibility of developing a survey to combine extensive winter range coverage, a statistical sampling plan to quantify precision, and collect distributional information to develop and test hypotheses about impacts of coastal development and activities. The resulting survey would cover important coastal sea duck habitats (e.g., nearshore marine and offshore), as well as provide valuable information on habitat-species relationships. Several exploratory surveys and a risk assessment were conducted as part of this study and ultimately a Pacific Coast Sea Duck survey was considered infeasible given the associated high cost and risks.
Project Reports: