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A Pubiication of the Pacific Seabird Group

Volume 21 Number 2

Dedicated To The Study And Conservation Of Pacific Seabirds

And Their Environment

The Pacific Seabird Group (PSG) was formed in 1972 out of a need for better communi-
cation among Pacific seabird researchers. The Group coordinates and stimulates the field

of conservation issues relating to Pacific seabirds and the marine environment Group
meetings are held annually and the PSG publication, Pacific Seabirds (formerly the PSG
Bulletin ), is issued biannually. Current activities include involvement in seabird sanctu-
aries, coastal surveys, seabird/fisheries interactions, and legislation. Policy statements are
issued on conservation issues of critical importance. Although PSG ’s primary area of
interest Is the west coast of North America and adjacent areas of the Pacific Ocean, it is
hoped that seabird enthusiasts in other parts of the world will join and participate in PSG.
PSG is a member of the U. S; Section of the International Council for Bird Preservation.
Annual dues for membership are $20 (individual and family); $ 1 3 (student, undergraduate
and graduate); and $450 (Life Membership, payable in five $90 installments). Dues are
payable to the Treasurer, whose address in on the back cover.

Pacific Seabirds

Pacific Seabirds (ISSN 0740-3371) is published twice a year, in the spring and fall, and
contains news of interest to PSG members, including regional seabird research, conser-
vation news, and abstracts of papers presented at the annual meeting. Pacific Seabirds is
an outlet for the results of scientific research, as well as articles and shorter items on seabird
conservation, seabird research activities, and other topics related to the objectives of PSG.
All technical materials and book reviews should be submitted to the Publication Commit-
tee Coordinator, conservation-related material to the Vice-Chair for Conservation, and all
other material to the Editor. Back issues of the Bulletin or Pacific Seabirds may be ordered
from the Treasurer: please remit $2.50 each forissues of Vols. 1-8 (1974-1981) and $5.00
each for issues of Voi 9 and later.

Permanent Address

Pacific Seabird Group
Box 179/4505 University Way NE
Seattle, WA 98105

Donations

The Pacific Seabird Group is a nonprofit corporation organized under the laws of the State
of California. Contributions to the Pacific Seabird Group qualify for tax deductions under
IRC Section 501(c)(3).

Pacific Seabirds

Dedicated to the study and conservation of Pacific seabirds and their environment

Volume 21

Fall 1994

Number 2

2 Forum
8 PSG News
18 Conservation News
21 Regional Reports
29 Book Reviews
31 Abstracts
33 Bulletin Board

5 Kittlitz's Murrelet: The species most im-
pacted by direct mortality from the Exxon
Valdez oil spill?

Gus van Vliet and Mike McAllister examine the evidence.

6 Common Murre on the menu!

Anne Harding on sea otters and murres.

7 The need to distinguish between the Lesser
Black-backed and Heuglin's gulls in the
Pacific

W. R. P. Bourne argues that care is needed when classifying
gulls.

11 The northern Sea of Okhotsk, summer 1994

Vivian Mendenhall shares her experiences in eastern
Russia.

13 PSG goes to Japan: part 3

Harry Carter and Leah de Forest conclude their narrative.

Pacific Seabirds * Vol. 21 No. 2 • Fall 1994

Forum

Oil Spill Rehabilitation: Beware
of Research

Dr. ScottNewman: Wildlife Health Center ,
University of Cal forma ,1126 Haring Hall,
Davis, CA 95616. 916-752-41 67 or send e-
mail to sonewman@ucdavis.edu.

Often, rehabilitation of oiled birds is
criticized as being a waste of time and
money because individual birds do not con-
tribute to the well being of the species or
population few birds survive after rehabili-
tation and release. However, there have
been no conclusive studies which docu-
ment the survivorship or reproductive suc-
cess of post-release birds, A coordinated
effort on behalf of population biologists
and veterinarians who are rehabilitating
seabirds could further our understanding of
oil impacts. Banding projects and annual
sightings of rehabilitated birds with off-
spring will allow assessment of survival
and reproduction years after an oil spill.
The information gained from such studies
would allow the industry, resource man-
agement agencies, the conservation com-
munity, veterinarians, wildlife rehabilitators
and population biologists to come to some
concensus about the efficiency and effi-
cacy of post oil spill wildlife rehabilitation.

If seabird biologists working in coor-
dination with biomedical researchers show
that sublethal or chronic effects of oil per-
sist years after spills, rehabilitation proto-
cols can be adjusted accordingly. Such in-
sights will help wildlife trustee agencies
complete natural resource damage assess-
ments and lead to meaningful compensa-
tion for injuries to marine birds.

Regardless of erne’s viewpoint, the cost
of roughly $10,000 per bird rehabilitated
(Monahan and Mak 1991) is difficult to
justify. On the other hand, if an oil spill
occurred in a region where, for example,
the few remaining breeding colonies of
Japanese Murrelets or Craveri’s Munrelets
exist, I think that most people would agree
that rehabilitation efforts should be made.

If we know that the population of a species
is critically low and 100 birds become oiled,
would it not be worth while to treat and
release as many of these birds as possible?

If for example, out of 1 00 oiledbirds, 50 are
released following treatment, and 10 fe-

males go on to breed a few years after the
spill and they are reproductively active for
the next 5-10 years, an overall contribution
of up to 100 offspring would be expected.
This scenario does not even consider the
reproductive potential of the F2 and F3
generations which could add significant
numbers of birds to the population over
their lifetimes. In addition, the potential
contribution of genetic diversity from these
100 offspring is potentially invaluable to
the survival of the species.

We need to increase our understanding
of oil toxicosis and the effects of captive
management practices while improving
medical protocols for oiled seabirds. This
will allow all birds to receive optimal care
at a price which is more justifiable to the
skeptics of rehabilitation, the industry, the
general public, veterinarians and wildlife
rehabilitators.

For example, research on avian baseline
blood parameters currently under way is
aimed at improving seabird rehabilitation
survival rates and decreasing the costs of
rehabilitation. Once established, avian ref-
erence range blood values will be used in
multiple ways. Upon presentation to reha-
bilitation facilities, triage protocols will
utilize blood values to determine if a bird
should be euthanized or if rehabilitation
should be started because minimal changes
in blood parameters from toxicity exist.
This will help ensure that the time and
money invested into rehabilitation is fo-
cused on those birds with the greatest like-
lihood of survival.

Two other applications of avian blood
baseline values are to monitor birds during
rehabilitation and to determine when sea-
birds have been adequately rehabilitated
and are releasable. Historically, blood tests
were not routinely performed on birds en-
tering an oil spill rehabilitation center or
prior to the release of cleaned birds. If blood
tests were performed, reference range val-
ues were not available to determine if birds
were improving or deteriorating with care.
Blood tests are performed on conventional
veterinary patients to determine if animals
are healthy and can return home. There is
no reason why similar tests should not be
used to determine when birds are healthy
and should be released.

Furthermore, an incomplete under-
standing of oil toxicosis and the avian im-
mune response to oil has led to a multitude
of medical therapies. This often results in

varying costs due to the different methods
used to treat birds. Again, understanding
both normal blood values and the avian
immune response to oil exposure could
lead to effective methods for assessing sea-
bird health and efficient treatment meth-
ods.

Finally, research should be directed at
identifying biomarkers of toxicity.
Biomarkers may include serum chemistry
enzyme levels, hematologic cell param-
eters, acute phase protein levels or cytokine
concentrations. Traditional veterinary medi-
cine utilizes blood test results as diagnostic
indicators of certain diseases or toxicides.
A similar approach needs to be instituted
for seabirds species. By establishing
baseline blood values for healthy birds, we
will be able to potentially document
biomarkers of sublethal toxicity. A simple
blood test could potentially identify popu-
lations which may not overtly be showing
signs of toxicity, but who may truly be
experiencing significant problems. In gen-
eral, we still do not have a firm understand-
ing of other sublethal effects of oil on
seabirds.

In closing, I would like to encourage
anyone interested in becoming involved in
post oil spill banding projects to contact
me. Additionally, if you are involved with
hands-on seabird work, I would like to
discuss the possibility of collecting blood
samples at some point in the future. I am
currently working at the Wildlife Health
Center at the University of California, Davis.
If you have any questions or comments,
feel free tocontactme. Hopefully, the value
of collecting seabird blood samples is clear
and the justification of oil spill rehabilita-
tion for seabirds is comprehensible.

Literature Cited

Monahan, T., and A. Mak. 1991. Exxon

Valdez 1989 Wildlife Rescue and

Rehabilitation Program. Pages 131-

136 in International Oil Spill Confer-
ence, Washington, D.C.

Pacific Seabirds • Vol. 21 No. 2 • Fall 1994

Forum

PSG Conservation: Science,
Advocacy, and Conflict

John Piatt , Chair

Whereas a stated goal of PSG has al-
ways been to conserve seabirds and their
environment, our “hands-on” approach to
this in the past (with some exceptions) has
consisted largely of issuing policy state-
ments and educating others by various
means about conservation issues. This has
had some measure of success. In the past
few years,PSG has taken a more aggressive
approach to seabird conservation. Beyond
advising others about what would seem to
be appropriate conservation activities, we
have taken more direct actions as a group.
Thus, PSG saw urgency in promoting the
plight of the Marbled Murrelet and old-
growth forests, and the Marbled Murrelet
Technical Committee took action to not
only organize symposia and disseminate
information, but to develop protocols for
censusing populations and locating nest-
sites, to criticize managment plans, and to
get actively involved in the decision-mak-
ing process of other organizations. More
recently, PSG has focused similar efforts
on Xantus’ Murrelet, and if the action ap-
pears warranted, we will petition the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to list
this species as threatened or endangered.
PSG has been persistent (annoying?) in
advocating that the USFWS remove intro-
duced predators from seabird colonies in
Alaska and has commented extensively on
plans by th&Exxon Valdez Oil Spill (EVOS)
Trustees Council to study and restore sea-
bird populations in oil-affected areas. In the
face of some inertia on restoration issues
and a perceived need to identify new resto-
ration options, PSG’s Conservation Com-
mittee successfully obtained a $75,000.00
grant from the EVOS Trustees to organize
a symposium on seabird restoration issues,
to be convened in Anchorage in fall of
1995. As an organization, PSG has begun
to take a similarly active role with respect to
Apex Houston Oil Spill restoration efforts.

Seeing an urgent need to promote sea-
bird conservation activities in other Pacific
Rim countries outside the US and Canada,
PSG is also making headway in the interna-
tional conservation arena. We provided
modest funding to assist a seabird conser-
vation program in thePhilippines. The Con-
servation Committee recently obtained a

$25,000.00 grant from the USFWS to be
used for support and training of Mexican
seabird biologists for conservation efforts
in Baja and other areas of importance to
seabirds in Mexico. Generous funding from
private individuals has also been obtained
to support this project. Implementation of
this initiative will get underway in conjunc-
tion with the next PSG Annual Meeting in
San Diego. With modest PSG support, some
PSG members went to Japan in 1993 and
1994 to draw attention to the plight of the
endangered Japanese Murrelet, participate
in and expand upon ongoing murrelet re-
search, and to encourage Japanese seabird
scientists to join in various scientific and
conservation activities of PSG. Similar
opportunities exist for outreach programs
in Russia, China, and Latin America, and
we have begun in these countries by open-
ing communications and/or supporting
travel to PSG meetings for scientists from
these and other countries.

One might think that these PSG con-
servation activities are roundly supported
by its members, but that is not the case.
During the last few years, there has been a
growing debate about the approach PSG
should take on conservation issues. Many
PSG members are drawn to the organiza-
tion largely by their academic interest in
marine birds and by the opportunity to
exchange new research findings and ideas.
For some of these members, conservation
activities are of little concern. Others in this
group think that PSG has an important role
inconservation,but that it should be limited
to communicating scientific information to
management agencies or other wildlife trust-
ees so they can do their jobs, leaving advo-
cacy to individuals or other organizations
that are oriented primarily towards conser-
vation. With this long-standing moderate
goal in the minds of many, PSG has empha-
sized science and communication through
our annual meetings and publication of
symposium proceedings. We can take pride
in the fact that our publications are widely
used for developing marine conservation
strategies by many government, public, and
private organizations. More recently, the
science side of PSG has expanded beyond
traditional academic activities(meetins and
proceedings) to the active development of
Pacific-wide databases on seabird popula-
tions and breeding parameters. These data-
bases will prove to be invaluable for inter-
preting long-term trends in Pacific seabirds

and their marine environment and will ulti-
mately aid in seabird conservation. Finally,
there are those in PSG who think that we
should take a stronger proactive approach
to conservation — as we have on some is-
sues (above).

Few members dispute the importance
of maintaining a strong science agenda in
PSG, but some members are concerned
about the increasingly aggressive and ex-
panding approach to conservation taken by
the PSG. What are these concerns? (1)
Science vs Advocacy— some members
object to an "advocacy" role for PSG, argu-
ing that we must maintain objectivity to
retain our scientific credibility. Will we
alienate those agencies responsible for sea-
bird management and conservation by "butt-
ing in” on sensitive issues? (2) Relative
Importance/Interest — Some members ob-
ject to the increasing focus of PSG meet-
ings on conservation issues by way of sym-
posia, workshops, etc. This takes time and
funds away from scientific activities. (3)
Conflict of Interest — Some members are
wary or concerned about the manipulation
of PSG to promote the agendas of individu-
als or groups who seek to pressure their
own and other institutions to "do the right
thing" (as they perceive it to be) and/or to
fund research of direct benefit to them-
selves. (4) Legal Complications— -As we
become active in the arena of conservation
issues, we are increasingly drawn into a
legal arena as well. Litigation involving oil
spills, forestry practices, endangered spe-
cies, etc., complicate our interests in these
cases. Various scientific data, policy state-
ments, survey protocols, impact assess-
ments, and restoration options suggested
by PSG as a group have already been pre-
sented, and challenged, in some court cases.
We can expect more of this in the future.
Depending on where our conservation ac-
tivities lead us, PSG should also anticipate
the possibility of being sued over state-
ments, policies or actions we make on sen-
sitive issues. (5) Personal Conflicts — PSG
members have diverse and sometimes op-
posing opinions about how conservation
issues should be resolved. In academic de-
bates about seabird ecology and behavior,
one usually welcomes (and more often ig-
nores) opposing opinions. Rarely is more at
stake than egos and pet theories. Debate is
healthy and, in theory, leads in time to
better answers (the Truth?). Conservation
issues, however, often demand immediate

Pacific Seabirds * Vol. 21 No. 2 • Fall 1994

Forum

actions that have political, economic, pro-
fessional, and legal ramifications. Because
so much is at stake, healthy academic de-
bate can degenerate into polarized argu-
mentation. AsPSG members become more
involved in various conservation activities,
as individuals and as a group, we run the
increasing risk of falling into polarized
camps on certain issues. This is already
happening to some degree, and threatens to
tear the fabric of PSG. (6) Procedural Com-
plications — PSG has entered a new phase.
We have recently obtained large grants to
pursue conservation projects (above). We
have also supported some small conserva-
tion initiatives from PSG operating funds.
We have not yet established procedures to
deal with theseprojects. For example, given
a rapid turnover in council members, who
will provide oversight for long- term
projects? Who will be ultimately respon-
sible for tracking use of funds, writing
reports, monitoring progress, evaluating
results, etc. How do we avoid conflict of

interest issues? How do we solicit contracts
for different aspects of the work? We are
working on resolving some of these ques-
tions, but much remains to be decided.

There is no question that PSG will
continue to play an important role in sea-
bird conservation. At issue is the degree to
which conservation efforts consume our
resources, and how aggressive we want to
be in pursuing conservation goals. We need
to find abalance that is acceptable to all the
membership. We need to establish a con-
servation agenda with clearly defined goals.
We need to develop a procedural frame-
work for handling conservation projects.
We need to develop a strategy for dealing
with legal and professional conflicts both
inside and outside the PSG. More than
anything, we need HELP. At present, the
PSG is a completely volunteer organiza-
tion. To accomplish those goals already on
our plate and to expand on both scientific
and conservation activities, PSG needs more
commitment of time and energy from its

membership. Failing this, I believe that
PSG will soon falter and lose the momen-
tum gained over the past few years. If you
are interested, it is time to GET IN-
VOLVED. Ask your PSG committee and
council members how you can help, then
follow through with some action. Provide
some input on issues confronting us. Do-
nate a little money for conservation initia-
tives. Donate a lot of money. Help organize
and run our annual meetings. Help produce
Pacific Seabirds. Submitarticles about sea-
bird research or conservation. Sponsor a
foreign member. Encourage someone to
join PSG. Attend the PSG annual meeting.
Attend Council meetings. Contribute to
symposia. Join a conservation or technical
committee. Identify a new conservation
issue and take some action to address the
problem. Contribute to the Seabird Moni-
toring Database. Debate PSG issues in pri-
vate and public forums. Run for office. Do
something. Start now.

1995 Annual Meeting to be held in San Diego

The 22nd Annual Meeting of the Pacific Seabird
Group will be held in San Diego, California on January 10-
13, 1995. The meeting will include general papers and a
symposium on Island Restoration and Seabird Enhancement
Symposium papers are invited for the following topics:

• Population Assessment

• Predator Control

• Vegetation Management

• Legal Perspectives

• Resource Protection/Oil Spill Prevention Plan-
ning

• Oiled Bird Cleanup/Cost Effectiveness

• Habitat Rehabilitation

• Recolonization/Attraction Studies

•Genetic Studies

• Captive Breeding

This symposium will address methods and strategies for
reStqrin g/re vi ving threatened seabird populations throughout
the world, especially in Mexico, Alaska, Japan, and New
Zealand. Speakers will be invited to attend from these re-
gions. If PSG receives a grant from the United States Fish and
Wildlife Service to host twenty-five Mexican professionals
and students, we will attempt to make training monies avail-
able to a few in vited participants recognized as experts in their
fields of “restoration.”

The meeting will be held at the Catamaran Resort Hotel
situated on Mission Bay in north San Diego. The beach is one
block away and rooms have beach or bay views. Discount
room rates were negotiated for the period of 9-13 January,
1995. Rates are $89 per night for a single, $99 for a double,
and $15 per extra person. Almost half of the rooms come
equipped with a kitchenette. Food is available at the hotel and
other inexpensive eateries in the immediate vicinity.

Airfare to San Diego is relatively inexpensive— add the
delicious and inexpensiveSouth of the Border cuisineand you
have a working vacation that features ocean, sun, and balmy
weather.

Field trips to the Anza Borrego Desert, the Salton Sea,
and the Coronados Islands will make this a memorable PSG
meeting. A complete announcement and call for papers was
mailed in late summer. For more details about the program,
contact the program chair, Mark Rauzon, (Phone: 510-531-
3887: e-mail: mjrauz@aoI.com). For information concern-
ing logistics or volunteering, contact William Everett, chair
of the local committee, (Phone: 619-589-0480; e-mail:
wteverett@aol.com)..

Pacific Seabirds * Vol. 21 No. 2 * Fall 1994

Articles

Kittlitz’s Murrelet: The species
most impacted by direct
mortality from the Exxon
Valdez oil spill?

Gus van Vliet, P.O. Box 210442, Alike Bay, AK 99821 and Michael McAllister, Wildland
Resource Enterprises, 60069 Morgan Lake Road, LaGrande, OR 97850

The term “impact,” as it relates to
species that have suffered the consequences
of a catastrophy such as an oil spill, may
have numerous definitions, often depend*
ing on the spatial/temporal scale being con-
sidered. Here we define “impact” as the
proportionate loss to a species’ estimated
world population. We hypothesize that
Kittlitz’s Murrelet ( Brachyramphus
brevirostris , Alddae), by this definition,
may have been the most impacted species
of the Exxon Valdez oil spill, i.e., having
suffered higher proportionate loss to its
estimated world population than any other
species.

Kittlitz’s Murrelet is considered a Cat-
egory-2 threatened species by theU. S . Fish
and Wildlife Service (USFWS). It is one of
the rarest members of the North Pacific
marine bird community, with an estimated
total world population of under 20,000 in-
dividuals, most of which reside in Alaskan
waters (van Vliet, 1993).

After the grounding of the Exxon
Valdez , 1 1 million gallons of crude oil were
released to the marine environment over a
vast area of some 30,000 sq km from Prince
William Sound, past Kenai Fiords National
Park; up to Kachemak Bay, past Kodiak
Island, along Katmai National Park, and
most of the way down the Alaska Peninsula
coastline and adjacent offshore waters.

This huge impacted area is well known
to be the core of the Kittlitz-’s Murrelet
staging, moulting, breeding, and feeding
range (M. McAllister, unpubl. data; Piatt,
in. prep.), containing peihaps one-half of
the world’s population of this threatened
species (van Vliet, 1993).

During the Exxon Valdez oil spill, a
preliminary total of 67 positively identified
Kittlitz’s Murrelet carcasses was found
among a total of 34,977 carcasses logged in
the USFWS Morgue Database (Ford et. al..

Pacific Seabirds * Vol. 21 No. 2 • Fall 1994

1991; Piatt, et. al., 1990). The numbers of
Kittlitz’s Murrelets picked up and brought
to the recovery centers were:

23 - Valdez recovery center
19 - Seward recovery center
21 - Homer recovery center
4 - Kodiak recovery center
In 1990, G. W. Page and R R. Carter
re-examined a sample of 3378 frozen car-
casses (see Ford et. al., 1991). Of 389
carcasses listed as “bird sp.,” “small alcid,”
or “alcid,” or additions from omitted car-
casses, another 46 Brachyramphus
murrelets were identified, including 5
Kittlitz’s Murrelets, 8 Marbled Murrelets
(B. marmoratus) and 33 murrelets which
could not be identified to species.

A minimum of 446 unidentified
Brachyramphus murrelets were brought to
the recovery centers during the oil spill.
Based on previous survey information, 5 -
10% of unidentified Brachyramphus
murrelets in the sample were probably
Kittlitz’s Murrelets (IsleibandKessel, 1973;
Dwyer et. al., 1975; K. Laing and S.
Klosiewski, unpubl. data). Hence, 22-45
Kittlitz’s Murrelets may be added to the
existing 72 positively identified individu-
als that perished during the spill, resulting
in a total kill of at least 94 - 117 Kittlitz’s
Murrelets. This total may be as high as 150
-200 birds, depending on possible
misidentifications and counting errors.

Since marine bird restoration biolo-
gists estimate that only 10% of small diving
alcids that died as a result of the Exxon
Valdez oil spill were actually picked up and
brought to recovery centers (Piatt et al.,
1990; Ford et. al., 1994,Piatt,pers. comm.),
it appears probable that 1,000-2,000
Kittlitz’s Murrelets were removed through
direct mortality by the Exxon Valdez oil
spill. Indirect mortality of Kittlitz’s
Murrelets due to the cumulative, chronic

effects of oil (e.g., on the digestive, circula-
tory, osmoregulatory, endocrine,reproduc-
tive, and immune systems, reviewed by
Burger and Fry, 1993) may have impacted
this species even further.

The direct mortality of 1000 - 2000
Kittlitz’s Murrelets represents 5 - 10+% of
the species’ estimated world population
(van Vliet, 1993),andsuggests thatKittlitz’s
Murrelet indeed may have been the most
impacted organism of the Exxon Valdez oil
spill, since no other species population is
known to have been reduced to such an
extent. This intriguing result was predicted
prior to the spill by King and Sanger (1979),
who calculated that Kittlitz’s Murrelet had
the highest degree of potential exposure
and impact to major oil spills of any seabird
in Alaskan waters.

Species that have been identified by
agencies as worthy of substantial research
efforts as a result of the Exxon Valdez ofl
spill all apparently were reduced by less
than the 5-10+% estimated for Kittlitz’s
Murrelets (i.e., <5% of the estimated world
populations of Common Murre (Uria
#u/ge)/Thick-billed Murre ( Uria lomvia).
Black Oystercatcher ( Haemotopus
bachmam). Harlequin Duck {Histriomcus
histrionicus ), Marbled Murrelet
( Brachyramphus marmoratus ), Pigeon
Guillemot ( Cepphus columbd)> Harbor
Seals (P hocus vitulina). Killer Whales
(Orcinus orca ), and Sea Otters (Enhydrus
lutris).

Significantly, despite a host of studies
to assess and mitigate the impacts of the
Exxon Valdez oil spill, not one study has
focused on the assessment of damage and
restoration of what may be the most im-
pacted species, the Kittlitz’s Murrelet

Recommendations:

1. The highest priority is to locate,
retrieve, analyze, and publish known
transect data and observations of Kittlitz’s
Murrelets in the spill area collected before,
during, and after the spill. Several known
data sets that have yet to be analyzed and
published contain survey information from
immediately prior to the Exxon Valdez oil
spill in the high impact areas of Kenai
Fiords National Park and western Prince
William Sound. These data are unique and
are critical to any proper assessment of the
status and activity of Kittlitz’s Murrelet at
the time of the spill.

2. The U. S. National Biological Sur-

Articles

Alaska. Unpubl. Report, U. S. Fish King, J. G. and G. A. Sanger. 1979. Oil
Wildlife Service, Anchorage, Alaska.

Ford, R. G., M. L. Bonnell, D. H. Varoujian,

G. W.Page,B.E. Sharp, D.Heinemann,

vey and the U. S. National Park Service
need to undertake cooperative assessment
studies on Kittlitz’s Murrelet marine distri-
bution and abundance, particularly along
the coasts of Kenai Fiords and Katmai
National Parks (impacted areas), and
Wrangell/S L Elias and Glacier Bay Na-
tional Parks (unimpacted areas). As sug-
gested by van Vliet (1993), the U. S. Na-
tional Park Service - AlaskaRegion is quite
likely the steward for fully one-half of the
estimated total world population of Kittlitz’s
Murrelet during the breeding season.

3. The U. S. Fish and Wildife Service
needs to initiate a comprehensive survey of
Kittlitz’s Murrelet in the Prince William
Sound Region and along the north-western
Gulf of Alaska coastline in order to charac-
terize and safeguard the species’ current
“hot spots” (i.e„ high density areas deemed
critical to the species* survival for moult-
ing, migrating, feeding, and breeding pur-
poses).

and J. L. Casey. 1991. Assessment of
direct seabird mortality in Prince Wil-
liam Sound and the Western Gulf of
Alaska resulting from the Exxon
Valdez oil spill. Unpubl. Report* Eco-
logical Consulting, Portland, Oregon.

Isleib, M. E. and B. Kessel. 1973. Birds of
the North Gulf Coast - Prince William
Sound Region, Alaska. Biological Pa-
pers of the University of Alaska 14: 1-
149.

vulnerability index for marine oriented
birds. United States Fish & Wildlife
Service, Wildl. Res; Rep. 1 1 .*277-289.

Piatt, J. F., C. J. Lensink, W. Butler, M.
Kendziorek, and D. R. Nysewander.
1990. Immediate impact of the “Exxon
Valdez” oil spill on marine birds. Auk
107: 387-397.

van Vliet, G. B. 1993. Status concerns for
the “global” population of Kittlitz’s
Murrelet: is the "Glacier Murrelet” re-
ceding? Pacific Seabird Group 20: 15-
16.

Common Murre on the menu!

AnnHar ding,NationalB iological Survey, 1 01 1 E. Tudor Road, Anchorage, Alaska 99503

4. The U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service

and the U. S. National Marine Fisheries Members of an Anchorage Audubon reported at Amchitka Island, Alaska, and
Service need to conduct a more in-depth Society field trip to Seward, Alaska, ob- 20 off the coast of California. The most
analysis of historical and current losses of served a sea otter {Enhydra lutris) catch frequently captured bird in California was
Kittlitz’s Murrelets through commerical and eat a Common Murre (Uria aalge) on the Western Grebe (Aechmophorus
fisheries incidental bycatch, particularly the 26th of February, 1994. Near the load- occidentalism but other species included
gill-nets. Based on anecdotal information ing dock in Seward Harbor, we observed a Surf Scoter (Melanitta perspicillata), cor-
but limited data, 25 years of intensive gill- number of goldeneyes {Bucephala sp.) morants {Phalacrocorax sp.), and gulls
net fishing in Prince William Sound (par- mergansers (Mergus sp.) and Common (Larus sp.). Otters typically dive under a
ticularly in the Unakwik Inlet region) and Murres swimming approximately 50meters floating bird and grab it ftom underneath
off the CopperRiverDeltamay havechroni- offshore. Among these scattered birds were (Riedman and Estes 1990).
cally impacted Kittlitz’s Murrelets to an two sea otters. One of the sea otters dived The amount of nourishment sea otters

even greater degree than the acute loss due under a lone Common Murre and snatched derive from seabirds is unknown. It has
to the Exxon Valdez oil spill. it from underneath. The otter surfaced al- been shown that the flesh from cormorants

Acknowledgements: We would like to
thank Harry Carter, Jim King, Ed Murphy,
Richard Gordon, John Piatt, Dan Roby,
Alan Springer, Vernon Byrd, and Richard
Macintosh for providing suggestions and
comments on various drafts of this note.

Literature Cited

Burger, A. E. and D. M. Fry. 1993. Effects
of oil pollution on seabirds in the north-
east Pacific. In The status, ecology,
and conservation of marine birds of the
North Pacific. K. Vermeer, K. T.
Briggs, K. H. Morgan, and D. Siegel-
Causey (eds.). Can. Wildl. Serv. Spec.
Pub!., Ottawa.

Dwyer, T. J., P. Isleib, D. A. Davenport,
and J. L. Haddock. 1975. Marine bird
populations in Prince William Sound,

most immediately with the murre’s head
held firmly in its mouth. The otter floated
on its back for about One minute, while
continuing to hold the murre’s head. The
trapped murre frantically flapped on the
otter’s chest, but soon became calm. The
sea otter then grasped the bird in its front
paws and held it underwater as it swam . The
otter’s back was visible above the surface
as it slowly swam about 15 meters. The
otter then rolled onto its back, and finally
released the murre’s head. There was no
visible surface damage to the now motion-
less murre. The sea otter floated among the
other birds and started to chew on the Com-
mon Murre’s head, eventually working it’s
way down through the murre’s body. Sur-
rounding birds remained undisturbed.

Riedman and Estes (1990) reviewed
previous observations of sea otter preda-
tion on seabirds. Three cases have been

{Phalacrocorax sp.) and Emperor Geese
{Chen canagica); fed to a captive otter
passed unaffected through the digestive
tract (Kenyon 1969). Kenyon concluded
that birds appear to be eaten only under
stress of hunger, particularly in winter.

Male otters appear to be responsible
for the majority of seabird captures. A
tendency for males to feed upon warm-
blooded prey is observed in other mamma-
lian species, such as chimpanzees and some
pinnipeds (Riedman and Estes 1990). Par-
ticular individuals may prey repeatedly on
seabirds. One otter atPointLobos, Califor-
nia, was believed to have killed up to six
birds. It is suspected that only a few sea
otters are responsible for most seabird kills.
Riedman and Estes (1990) suggest that new
foraging strategies, such as preying on sea-
birds, are leamedby otters when they ob-
serve each other’s feeding behavior.

Pacific Seabirds • Vol. 21 No. 2 * Fall 1994

Articles

Acknowledgements: I thank John Piatt for
his assistance in preparing this note, and
Brenda Ballachey for discussions and lit-
erature about sea otter foraging behavior.

It should perhaps be pointed out in
connection with the interesting report by
Gus van Yliet et al. (1993) of a “Lesser
Black-backed Gull Larus fuscus...( race
graellsii)” mtttbToedmg, with a Herring Gull
(L. argentatus) in Alaska that this area
might also be visited by the extremely simi-
lar gulls of the heuglini group of Siberia,
now also considered a distinct species by
Russian ornithologists (Stepanyan 1990;
Filchagovetal. 1992; Bourne 1993), which
apparently winters from Arabia to the west-
ern shores of the Pacific. Thus an immature
bird presumably belonging to the moder-
ately dark-backed raceL. taimyrensis ringed
at the mouth of the Bikada River (E. Taimyr)
on 30th July 1977 and found on north
Sakhalin on the following 5th November
(Filchagov 1992), an adult in wing moult in
the British Museum (Natural History) col-
lected atFoochow, China, in January 1 896,
and birds seen passing through Hong Kong
on spring migration in March identified as
L. cachinnans % mongolicus by Kennerley
(1987) also seem likely to belong this form.

Gus van Vliet has kindly sent some
photographs of his Alaskan gull, which I
have also shown to Pierre Yesou, who is
studying Herring, Yellow-legged (L. c.
michahellis ), andLesserBlack-backed gulls
in their area of overlap in western France
and has visited the central Eurasian breed-
ing areas. I have also seen birds from this

Literature Cited

Kenyon, K.W. 1969. The sea otter in the
Eastern Pacific Ocean. N. Am. Fauna
No. 68, Bureau of Sport Fisheries and
Wildlife, Washinqton, D.C.

Riedman, M. 1990. Sea otters. Monterey

area in the Persian/Arabian Gulf in the
winter. It is obviously much darker on the
back than its Herring Gull mate, and only
two forms are markedly darker there while
still showing a clearcontrastat the wingtip —
small graellsii (including intermedins), and
large nominate, western L. heuglini . Other
forms of the heuglini group are smaller and
neutral grey above, little darker than L.
cachirmans and indeed American Herring
GullsL. a. smithsonianus . The wing pattern
of the bird in question thus agrees with both
graellsii and heuglini , but the elegant sil-
houette, head shape, and small size, indi-
cate a Lesser Black-backed Gull.

Therefore, it seems highly desirable to
record as many details as possible of the
appearance of such birds, and if it can be
achieved without undue disturbance, catch,
measure, photograph, collect feathers and
tissue samples, and band them, to discover
which populations(s) they belong to before
this is obscured through hybridization with
local gulls, and their subsequent history
and movements.

Literature Cited

Bourne, W JIT. 1993. The relationship be-
tween the Armenian and Heuglin’s
Gulls. Pages 57-58 in Aguilar, J.S., X.
Monbailliu, and A. Paterson (editors.).
Status and conservation of seabirds:

Bay Aquarium Foundation, Monterey,
California. 80 pp.

Riedman, MJL. and J.A. Estes. 1990. The
sea otter (Enhydra lutris): Behavior,
ecology, and natural history. Biol. Rep.
90(14). U.S. Fish and Wildlife Ser-
vice, Washington, D.C 127 pp.

Ecogeography and Mediterranean ac-
tion plan: Proceedings of the Second
Mediteireanean seabird symposium,
Calvia, 21-26 March 1989. Sociedad
Espanola de Omitologia, Madrid.

Filchagov, A.V., V.V. Bianki, A.E.
Cherenkov,and V.Y. Semashko. 1992.
(Relation between Lesser Black-
backed Gull Larus fuscus and West
Sibserian Gull Larus heuglini in the
contact zone.) Zool. Zh. 71(10): 148-
152.

Filchagov, A.V. 1992. (On the winter dis-
tribution of Taimyrian gulls. Pages 72-
74 in Zubakin, VA., and E.N. Panov, (
The Herring Gull and related forms:
distribution, systematics, ecology.)
Stavropol. (Russian. English transla-
tion provided by author.)

Kennerley, P.R. 1983. Ms, leg and mantle
colour of Mongolian Yellow-legged
Gull. Dutch Birding 9: 29.

Stepanyan, L.S. 1990. Conspectus of the
ornithological fauna of the USSR.
Moskow, Nauka. Page 726. (In Rus-
sian.)

van Vliet, G., B. Marshall, D. Craig, and J.
Egolf. 1993. First record of nesting
activity by a Lesser Black-backed Gull
(Larus juscus) in North America. Pa-
cific Seabird Group Bulletin 20(2): 21.

The need to distinguish between
the Lesser Black-backed and
Heuglin’s gulls in the Pacific

W. R. P. Bourne, Department of Zoology, Aberdeen University, Tillydrone Avenue,
Aberdeen AB9 2TN, Scotland

Pacific Seabirds • Vol. 21 No . 2 • Fall 1994

PSG News

The Seabird Restoration
Committee

I. Introduction: In recent years, damages or
potential damages to seabirds and other
marine wildlife resources from various per-
turbations in the marine environment have
resulted in much-increased concern to con-
servationists and resource-management
agencies. Although the extent and degree
of damages in the past, as well as the
estimated times that it takes seabird popu-
lations to recover such perturbations have
been somewhat controversial (ex. Pacific
Seabird Group Bulletin 20(2): 58-60), and
perhaps also even site-specific, the need for
sound decisions, resulting in ecological
action and management as well as restora-
tion, if necessary, is clear.

Wildlife and environmental law en-
forcement efforts (such as done through
restoration programs and trusteeships) have
recently provided substantial potential sup-
port to be dedicated to the restorations of
seabird and other marine wildlife popula-
tions impacted by various perturbations. It
is imperative that resource managers have
the best advice possible regarding the lands
of remediation and management that will
be most efficient and effective. Marine
wildlife researchers, managers, and con-
servationists are in the best position to
evaluate, recommend* and advocate en-
deavors which will fullfill the intent of the
“restoration imperative.” Members of the
Pacific Seabird Group are in a unique posi-
tion to comment, evaluate, and recommend
actions following environmental perturba-
tions that affect seabird populations.

Individual case-histories should be con-
sidered and synthesized from the viewpoint
of the lessons learned from them and a
synthetic approach sought-after. Intenstive
restoration efforts should not begin until

that natural recovery will not restore wild
populations within a reasonable time.

II. Premises: Regarding seabird restoration
and management following perturbations
such as oil spills, chemical spills, and other
potential population-reducing phenomena,
there are several premises which must guide
a panel of experts such as the PSG Restora-

8 "

tion Committee:

1 . The first and foremost consideration
is to ensure self-sustaining, free-living
marine bird populations and their envi-
rons — THE WILD RESOURCE SHOULD
ALWAYS RECEIVE THE FIRST CON-
SIDERATION! Recommendations mustbe
ecologically sound, with a biological end-
point in mind.

2. A group of technical experts pro-
vides the best evaluations of what and how
to do this; and in open and free discussion
and debate, can develop the evaluations,
the action-plans, or recommendations on
the necessary steps that will be best for the
continuation and health of this resource.

3. Colleagues are entitled to their opin-
ions as long as they are open and honest;
diverse opinions and options will be heard.

4. Assessment, development, and ac-
ceptance of remediation and remediation-
techniques requires statistical definitions
and rigorous study designs.

III. Objectives: More specifically, the goals
of the PSG Restoration Committee are:

1 . To gather and review existing pub-
lished and unpublished information and
case-histories regarding various
remediation and restoration efforts result-
ing from past perturbations of seabirds and
their habitat

2. To consolidate experts who have
technical experience with seabirds, their
ecological characteristics, their responses
to remediation, and restoration techniques
used to remediate population perturbations
of seabirds.

3. To examine various technological
processes and management objectives with
thepuiposetoachievebiological end-points.

membership (and to trustee agencies if re-
quested or if deemed necessary) regarding
if, when, and what types of restoration are
indicated. To advise the PSG Chairperson
and Conservation Committee Coordinator

and workshops to be released through the
auspices of various PSG outlets; to assist in
other information transfers.

6. As appropriate, to recommend re-
search activities designed to evaluate the
needs for restoration; to recommend re-
search activities to further develop effec-
tive restoration technologies and/or alter-

native strategies.

7. To identify additional means
whereby PSG can play a role in the sound
ecological restoration of damaged seabird
populations.

NOTE: The additional notes attached pro-
vide some initial guidelines and questions
related to the objectives above and this
committee’s approach to restoration activi-
ties. It is intended that these items be further
refined through the activities of the com-
mittee. These outlines provided a basis for
the initial discussions at the 1993 Annual
Meeting of the PSG (Sacramento, CA; 25-
28 January 1994) when the Restoration
Committee was originated by the PSG Ex-
ecutive Council.

Prepared By: Restoration Committee Co-
ordinator

Daniel W. Anderson
Department of Wildlife, Fish, & Con-
servation Biology
University of California
Davis, CA 95616

(916) 752-2108 (phone)

(916) 752-4154 (FAX)
dwanderson@ucdavis.edu (e-mail)

Initial Membership of the PSG Restoration
Committee*

Daniel Anderson, Coordinator
Hairy Carter
George Divoky
Frank Gress
Craig Harrison
Paul Kelly
Kenneth Warheit
Marie Rauzon, ex officio

sideration on this committee; contact D. W.
Anderson at the numbers ^yen above;

7 September 1994

Note: Dan Anderson is stepping down as
coordinator of the restoration committee.
Ken Warheit has been appointed as
interim coordinator.

John Piatt, Chair

Pacific Seabirds • Vol. 21 No. 2 * Fall 1994

agencies and/or organizations along with
the scientific community have determined on restoration matters.

5. To organize and conduct symposia

4. To make general recommendations
to the PSG Executive Council and general *PSG seeks additional volunteer for con-

PSG News

BIOLOGICAL QUESTIONS ASKED WITH RESTO-
RATION IN MIND

1 . What are the research needs?

A. Baseline data— this is an old MMS axiom that is
as important today as it was 20 years ago, espe-
cially important is understanding natural vari-
ability in ecological systems and components

B . Determining the ecological relevance of:

(1) the perturbation and

(2) the restoration effort itself

C. Determining the effectiveness of management
through followup studies (“wildlife manage-
ment and conservation biology as research tools”)

D. Techniques development and evaluation:

(1) prediction of risk (before) or success
(after)

(2) damage assessment models (biological
and economic)

(3) develop and test a variety of restoration
techniques and strategies

2. What are the management needs?

A. Modify and implement management plans:

(1) ESA recovery plans

(2) state/federal special status plans

(3) watershed and ecosystem management
plans

(4) other management plans

B . Apply the best techniques available and afford-
able:

(1) individual health restoration

(2) ecological “health” restoration

(a) habitat protection and/or restora-
tion

(b) population protection and/or res-
toration

C. Risk analysis application

D. Cost-benefit analysis and evaluations

E. Retributions

COMPLICATIONS REGARDING ENDPOINTS OR
OUTCOMES OF RESTORATION

1 . What is the working definition of ecological function-
ing?

2. What is equilibrium?

3. What is meant by a “healthy” ecosystem?

4. What time frames do we want to work in?

5. How much does individual health restoration mean to
population “health” restoration?

6. What is the inevitable “restoration” result?

Steady State l+n t Steady State t=0

Steady State t+n - Steady State t=0

Steady State i Steady State la8

7. What is acceptable, what is not?

8. When might intensive intervention cause more harm than
good?

SOME STRATEGIES CURRENTLY USED IN RESTO-
RATION ACTIVITIES INVOLVING SEABIRDS

1 . Do nothing, wait for natural recovery or accept a defined
degradation

2. Set up an enhanced research and/or management capabil-
ity (“beef-up” current operations)(termed “fringe ben-
efits” by some):

A. Develop and start new management and research
efforts

B. Step up enforcement

C. Step up monitoring

D. Step up an ecological research effort (obtain more
“baseline” data for future needs)

E. Assist other programs (university, other agency,
etc.)

F. Enhance an educational effort

3. General or specific control of some competitors or non-
nativepredators, compensate some place else where popu-
lation enhancement is more manageable

4. Protect habitat

A. General or specific land purchases

B. Enhance or protect forage and other critical habi-
tat factor

C. Mitigate other depredating factors not previously
acted-upon

5. Create new habitat

6. Use artificial methods to restore, enhance, or create natural
populations:

A. Captive breeding and release

B. Induce recolonizations of habitat

C. Rehabilitate individuals

8. Create compensations or tradeoffs: accept buy-outs (or
pay-offs) (i.e., unrelated programs are enhanced)

Corresponding memberships
in PSG: A proposal

The Pacific Seabird Group has been
expanding its cooperation with seabird re-
searchers and conservationists throughout
the world. At the last annual meeting, there
was interest in offering memberships to a

Pacific Seabirds • Vol. 21 No. 2 - Fail 1994

limited number of people, particularly in
developing countries, to increase this coop-
eration in areas where little is known of the
status of seabirds and where cooperation
would bebenefidaL Examples of suchpeople
includeRoberto Schlatter (seabird researcher
in Chile) and Wang Hui (who has important
observations on seabirds in China). This ef-

fort will also let more people know about
PSG. Following the last meeting, John Piatt
sanctioned a small committee (Malcolm
Coulter (organizer), Craig Harrison,Leopoldo
Moreno, John Piatt, Mark Rauzon, and Ken
Warheit) to explore ways of offering such
memberships to key people in a way that
would also be most cost-effective.

PSG News

At the next annual meeting, we will
propose thatPSG sponsor a limited number
of Conesponding Memberships to involve
key seabird researchers and conservation-
ists in PSG. These members will receive
Pacific Seabirds and in return will be re-
quired to submit a brief report on seabird
issues in their country or part of the world
at least every two years. To minimize costs,
we consider only the cost of printing extra
copies of Pacific Seabirds and surface mail-
ing.

In order to to be in position to follow
through with this most effectively at the
next meeting, we request members to
suggest individuals who should be con-
sidered for Corresponding Member-
ships. Please send the name of the sug-
gested person, the address, and a brief para-
graph explaining how this individual and
PSG would benefit from this involvement
to: Malcolm Coulter, P.O. Box 48,
Chocorua, New Hampshire 03817, USA.

Call for papers

Scientific Program of the Pacific Sea-
bird Group will be held from January 10-
1 3, 1995. The theme of the conference will
be SEABIRD ENHANCEMENT
THROUGHPREDATOR AND VEGETA-
TION MANAGEMENT. A symposium
will address methods and strategies for
restoring/reviving seabird populations
throughout the world, especially in Mexico.

Predator and vegetation management
are becoming increasingly important to in-
crease seabird populations as they are im-
pacted away from their colonies by fisher-
ies and oil developments. We will explore
the successes and failures of these manage-
ment techniques as well as offer a training
workshop for Mexican biologists and stu-
dents. Some training money and opportuni-
ties will be available to invited participants
and recognized experts in the fields of is-
land restoration/pest management through
a grant from the USFWS.

The keynote speaker will be Dr. Alan
Saunders, Manager of Threatened Species
Unit, Dept, of Conservation, Wellington,
New Zealand. He will address the factors
weighed in management decisions to con-
trol or not to control; factors of need, effec-
tiveness, degree of success, cost, public
perception. Also scheduled to attend is Dr.

I. A. E. Atkinson, one of the premiere island

restoration experts, who has written exten-
sively on the facets of restoration and preda-
tor management. Addressing the practical
aspects of management will be Brian Bell,
a consultant with Wildlife Management
International who has dialogued with Mexi-
can authorities about rats on Rasa Island.
He is currently involved in translocating
shearwaters and eradicating mice from
Marion Island, South Africa. Also attend-
ing will be Dick Veitch, the New Zealand
Department of Conservation cat specialist
He has eradicated cats from Little Barrier
Island, perhaps the most important island
in New Zealand where the endangered Owl-
parrots and black petrels reside.

Prospective participants in the sympo-
sium or the general paper sessions should
complete the call for papers form and mail
it to Mark Rauzon, Box 4423, Berkeley,
CA 94704 (Phone: 510-531-3887; e-maik
mjrauz@aol.com). Poster presentations on
all seabird topics are encouraged. A 3* wide
X 4 " high surface will be provided for each
poster presentation. Materials should be
prepared with “S” hooks, no push pins or
double-sided tape.

Seabird groups join forces

The Colonial Waterbird Society and
Pacific Seabird Group wil hold a joint
meeting in Victoria, British Columbia,
Canada 8-12 November 1995. The scien-
tific meetings will be held in the new Con-
ference Centre in downtown Victoria. The
theme will be “Behavioral Mechanisms of
Population Regulation.’’ Invited plenary
speakers, workshops, and paper and poster
sessions are planned for three days. A spe-
cial symposium on seaducks will also be
held. Other symposia can also be arranged.
Victoria is one of the best locations for
birds in Canada, and November is one of
the best months to see them. Seabirds*
seaducks, and marine mammals abound
along the shores of Victoria. Field trips to
see wildlife and take in the scenery are
planned. For more information regarding
the scientific program contact James
Kushlan, Department of Biology, Univer-
sity of Mississippi, MS 38677, US A, Phone
(601) 232-7203, FAX (601) 232-5144 or
William Everett, Department of Birds and
Mammals, San Diego Natural History
Museum, San Diego, CA 92112, USA
(Phone: 619-589-0480; e-mail:

wteverett@aol.com). For information on
other matters contact local Committee
Chairpersons Rob Butler, Pacific Wildlife
Research Centre, Canadian Wildlife Ser-
vice, Box 340 Delta, BC V4K 3 Y3 , Canada,
Phone (604) 946-8546, e-mail

butlerr@cwsvan.dots.doe.ca or Ron
Ydenberg, Department of Biosciences,
Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BCV5 A
1S6, Canada, Phone (604) 291-4282

Report of the Marbled Munelet
Technical Committee

Marbled Murrelet Recovery Team - U.S.

The draftRecovery Plan is nearcomple-
tion. The recovery team is making revi-
sions based on discussion at their October
research meeting and comments from the
new Regional Director. It is expected that
the final draft will be available for public
review by early 1995.

MarbledMurrelefRecovery Team - Canada
The National Recovery Plan for the
MarbledMuireletwas published May 1994.

Publication and Report Updates
Biology of Marbled Murrelets: Inland and
At Sea (S. Kim Nelson and Spencer G.
Sealy , Eds.) is in press. These proceed-
ings of die 1993 Pacific Seabird Group
Marbled Murrelet Symposium will be
published in Northwestern Naturalist
vol. 75(3). Included are 15 valuable
papers on breeding biology and nest-
ing habitat (8papers),populations, dis-
tribution, and activity patterns at sea
(3), inland distribution (1), and meth-
ods for studying (3) Marbled Murrelets.

tional Recovery Plan for the Marbled
Murrelet 1994. Gary W. Kaiser, Hugh
J. Barclay, Alan E. Burger, Dennis
Kangasniemi, David J. Lindsay, Will-
iam T. Munro, William R. Pollard,
Robert Redhead, Jake Rice, and Dale
Seip. Report No. 8 Ottawa: Recovery
of Nationally Endangered Wildlife
Committee. Copies of this publication
may be obtained from the Canadian
WildlifeFederation, 2740 Queensview
Drive, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, K2B
1A2; telephone 1-800-563-9453; FAX
613-721-2902.

Nancy Naslund, Coordinator

Pacific Seabirds * Vol. 21 No. 2 • Fall 1994

PSG News

The northern Sea of Okhotsk,
summer 1994

Vivian M . Mendenhall , U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 1011 E. Tudor Rd., Anchorage >

AK 99503, U. S. A.

After five years of cooperation with
seabird biologists in the Russian Far East, I
finally had the privilege of visiting the area.
I spent two months in the northern Sea of
Okhotsk as a guest of Alexander (Sasha)
and Luba Kondratyev of the Institute of
Biological Problems of the North, Russian
Academy of Sciences, Magadan.

I flew to Magadan by a direct flight on
Alaska Airlines on June 23, 1994, and was
met by Sasha. We spent several days in
Magadan before leaving for the field. Sasha
used the time to complete arrangements for
our transportation, which involved lengthy
conversations with the captains of the two
suitable vessels that were in port I used the
time to read articles on our study areas and
to look around town. Magadan was founded
in 1933 to serve Stalin’s prison camps. The
buildings range from wooden cottages on
the outskirts of town to ranks of concrete-
slab apartment houses. Perestroika and its
aftermath have given rise to many lively
and colorful small street markets that carry
items from local produce and bread to pack-
aged goods from America, Colombia, and
Vietnam. However, food and other sup-
plies are extremely expensive in relation to
Russian salaries, and stocks are not reli-
able.

I was fortunate to have several oppor-
tunities to watch birds in the forests near

own, as I’m used to doing in Anchorage.
The woods closest to town now have mug-
gers in them, and getting to rural areas
meant taking a crowded bus or finding a
friend with a car.) By the end of the trip I
had seen 23 new species of birds. Wood-
land species included Pallas’ Warbler
(Phylloscopus proregulus),Mugimaki Fly-
catcher ( Muscicapa mugimaki ), and Yel-
low-breasted Bunting ( Emberiza aureola).

On 1 July we took the 6-hour cruise
southwest from Magadan to Talan Island.
From the sea the island looks like a thick
mud pie. It is 2.5 km long, with a tundra
plateau above talus slopes and spectacular

Pacific Seabirds • Vol. 21 No. 2 * Fall 1994

granite cliffs up to 200 m high. Black-
legged Kittiwakes (Rissa tridactyla ), Com-
mon and Thick-billed murres ( Uria aalge
and U. lomvia ), Pelagic Cormorants
(Phalacrocorax pelagicus), Slaty-backed
Gulls (Larus schistisagus ), Peregrine Fal-
cons (Falco peregrinus ), and two pairs of
Steller’s Sea-Eagles (Haliaeetus pelagicus)
nest on the cliffs. Tufted and Homed puf-
fins (Fratercula cirrhata and F.
corniculata ), Spectacled Guillemots
(Cepphus carbo ), Ancient Murrelets
{Synthliboramphus antiquum ), andapproxi-
mately a million Crested Auklets (Aethia
cristatella) (but almost no Least Auklets A.
pusilla) breed in the talus.

The Kondratyevs have maintained a
field station on the island since 1988. The
permanent crew in 1994 consisted of Sasha
and Luba Kondratyev, Julie Edlund, a vol-
unteer from Massachusetts who was sent
by Scott Hatch of the National Biological
Survey, and technicians Alexei Ilyechev
and Mikhail Kondratyev. Sasha Kitaiski
visited at the end of the summer to conduct
metabolic studies on alcid chicks as part of
his Ph.D. work at the University of Califor-
nia atlrvine. The station is on a small grassy
bench just above sea level at the north end
of the island. Small cabins made of planks
and tar paper provided comfortable private
sleeping quarters. We cooked, ate, and did

were cooked cooperatively; most camp
chores were done by Mikhail and Alexei.
Once a week the banya (sauna) was heated
up so that people could bask and wash
themselves, hair, and clothes. Water came
from two ponds. It had to be boiled before
drinking, but this seemed normal, since city
water also must be boiled in Russia. Most
food was simple camp fare made from
dried and canned goods. However, Mikhail
and Alexei took a gill-net to the mainland 8
km away andcaughtpink salmon, andLuba
sometimes prepared pirogi, delicious deep-
fried pies.

My three separate visits in early July,

late July, and mid-August gave a good
perspective on the passage of the breeding
season, and I was able to watch or assist in
the monitoring of most species. Kittiwakes
had fairly poor success in 1994, although
some chicks were close to fledging in mid-
August Work on reproductive success was
still underway when I left Talan Island is a
superb place for research on seabirds; study
plots can be established for almost all spe-
cies within half an hour’s easy walk of
camp. And the surroundings are incompa-
rable — the sea on every side, wild flowers
underfoot; Steller’s Sea-Eagles soaring
among thousands ofkitti wakes below one’ s
observation point; the Crested Auklets’
morning cacophony and evening aerobat-
ics; Ancient Murrelet chicks blundering
past the cabin during the night like black-
and-white lemmings (except that the sea is
their salvation). Admittedly, my memories
of Talan Island are colored by the excellent
weather while I was there, mostly warm sun
instead Of the commonplace fog, rain, and
gales.

From 9 to 20 July, Sasha and 1 sur-
veyed seabirds in Zaliv Shelikova (Gulf of
Shelikov; also known as Gizhinskaya
Guba), at the northern end of the Sea of
Okhotsk. This area had never been visited
by ornithologists, and only anecdotal data
existed on seabird populations. We were
joined by raptor biologist Eugene Potapov.
Our ship was a small government freighter
that was taking supplies to remote light-
houses and meteorological stations. We
were somewhat constrained by the route
and schedule of the freighter, but we were
able to disembark with our 4-meter Avon
raft to survey the coast at a number of
places.

The coatst of the Zaliv Shelikova is
lined with rolling mountains and intermit-
tent cliffs. There is forest (primarily larch
and birch) in the southern lowlands, but
most slopes were tundra-covered. We re-
corded over 300,000 seabirds. Most were
small colonies of Slaty-backed Gulls, Pe-
lagic Cormorants, and Spectacled Guillem-
ots on minor headlands along the coast At
the northern end of Zaliv Shelikova, how-
ever, we encountered two large colonies of
murres and kittiwakes. Tens of thousands
of birds were crowded onto the sloping
rocks and ledges of small islands and the
nearby mainland cliffs. We were thrilled at
the opportunity to record colonies of this
magnitude for the first time (even though

Magadan, thanks to my hosts and their laboratory work in three prefabricated build-
friends. (It isn’t easy to stroll out on one’s ings, which also provided storage. Meals

PSG News

we had to count them in persistent rain and
wind.) In North America the era is past
when one expects to discover major con-
centrations of seabirds thathave never been
seen by biologists. The raptor nests that we
found also constituted range extensions for
those species in the Okhotsk Sea. It was not
possible to survey the Penzhinskaya Guba,
the northernmost tip of the Okhotsk Sea,
during our cruise. Hopefully this area can
be visited in the near future.

After the cruise we returned to Talan
Island, with a brief excursion to Magadan
to meet my husband Jim Johnston and bring
him to the island. We visited one other area
in early August, a commercial fishing camp
on the coast near Talan Island. This area is
densely forested; in fact, it was the site of a
Gulag forestry camp during Stalin’s era.
Jim conferred with his fellow commercial
fishermen. I spent the time on the shore,
since the shorebird migration was in full
progress. Among the new species I saw
were Long-toed Stint ( Calidris subrrdnuta )

(half an hour of stalking allowed me to see
the bird’s toes at close range). Wood Sand-
piper ( Tringa glareola), and Little Ringed
Plover ( Charadrius dubius).

We returned to the United States on 1 3
August This was my birthday, which as it
turned out entitled me to several birthday
parties during my last week in Russia. The
Kondratyevs produced a cake and the gift
of a china cat on Talan Island, which was
not only a delightful gesture, but an amaz-
ing achievement, given the materials at
hand after 2 months on a remote island.
Back in Magadan, a close friend whom I
met on the cruise made another special
meal and gave me an amber necklace. My
friendships in Russia, and the beautiful and
remote areas where we worked, both make
me hope to return.

A word should be added about the state
of ecological science in Russia. Govern-
ment support for science is dwindling rap-
idly. Biological field work is possible now
only for scientists who can get funding

from the West Some biologists studying
seabirds and other marine species have
been forced to give up their careers during
the last year because their jobs were elimi-
nated, or because their salaries were too
low to support their families. The scientists
who remain are extremely apprehensive
about their future. Not only their careers,
but the entire fields of ecology and conser-
vation in Russia, are at risk. In addition,
seabirds and marine mammals themselves
are threatened by expanding development,
such as overfishing and oil exploration. Itis
to be hoped that the seabird populations of
the Sea of Okhotsk can be fully described
before uncontrolled development begins to
affect them — and that governments and
corporations can somehow be persuaded to
include modest measures for the protection
of seabirds in their plans. Unfortunately,
Russian scientists are very pessimistic about
the future of their marine ecosystems.

1995 Annual Meeting to be held in San Diego

• Population Assessment

• Predator Control

• Vegetation Management

• Legal Perspectives

• Resource Protection/Oil Spill Prevention Plan-
ning

• Oiled Bird Cleanup/Cost Effectiveness

• Habitat Rehabilitation

• Recolonization/Attraction Studies

•Genetic Studies

•Captive Breeding

This symposium will address methods and strategies for
restoringfreviving thibatehed seabird populations throughout
the world, especially in Mexico, Alaska, Japan, and New
Zealand. Speakers will be invited to attend from these re-
gions. If PSG receives a grant from the United States Fish and
Wildlife Service to host twenty-five Mexican professionals
and students, we will attempt to make training monies avail-
able to a few invited participants recognized as experts in their
fields of “restoration.”

The meeting will beheld at the Catamaran Resort Hotel
situated on Mission Bay in north San Diego. The beach is one
block away and rooms have beach or bay views. Discount
room rates were negotiated for the period of 9-13 January,
1995. Rates are $89 per night for a single, $99 for a double,
and $15 per extra person. Almost half of the rooms come
equipped with a kitchenette. Food is available at the hotel and
other inexpensive eateries in the immediate vicinity.

Airfare to San Diego is relatively inexpensive — add the
delicious andinexpensiveSouth of the B order cuisine and you
have a working vacation that features ocean, sun, and balmy
weather.

Field trips to the Anza Borrego Desert, the Saitoh Sea,
and the Coronados Islands will make this a memorable PSG
meeting. A complete announcement and call for papers was
mailed in late summer. For more details about the program,
contact the program chair, Mark Rauzon, (Phone: 510-531-
3887: e-mail: mjrauz@aol.com). For information concern-
ing logistics or volunteering, contact William Everett, chair
of the local committee, (Phone: 619-589-0480; e-mail:
wteverett@aol.com)..

Pacific Seabirds • Vol. 21 No. 2 • Fall 1994

PSG News

Pacific Seabird Group goes to
Japan:Part 3 (continuing
efforts)

Harry R. Carter 1 and Leah de Forest 2

National Biological Survey, California Pacific Science Center, 6924 Tremont Road,

Dixon, CA 95620

2 P. 0. Box 3958, Lihue, HI 96766

(This third and last part of a three-part
article is continued fromPSGf?it//eri>i 20(2):
14-17 [Part 1] and PS 21(1): 17-21,25
[Part 2]).

On 29 April 1993, afterretuming from
the Izu Islands (where we visited a Japa-
nese Murrelet, Synthliboramphus
wumizusume , colony at Tadanae Island),
we had a meeting with Dr, H. Higuchi (then
Research Director of the Wild Bird Society
of Japan [WBSJ]) and several officials from
the J apan Environment Agency. We started
with a presentation of a packet of PSG
materials (letters of introduction, PSG Bul-
letins, PSG symposia, etc.), followed by
Marbled Merlot (thePSG wine). The WBSJ
and PSG then indicated their joint interest
in promoting the need for research and
conservation of the rare Japanese Murrelet
and other seabirds in Japan, especially the
Long-Billed (=Asiatic Marbled) Murrelet
(Brachyramphusperdix) which may nest in
sm all numbers in Hokkaido. We mentioned
our plan to form a team of Japanese and
North American PSG biologists to address
the many research needs of the Japanese
Murrelet in different parts of Japan. Envi-
ronment Agency officials thanked us for
our efforts and also indicated their concern
for seabirds which they had been little aware
were facing problems. In addition, they
provided some recent literature and gov-
ernment documents about the official sta-
tus of the Japanese Murrelet Dr. Higuchi
was an invaluable translator on many planes.

The next day I returned to California.
Leah returned to Hawaii a day later. We
both became immediately swamped with
our other studies. Soon Japanese Murrelets
seemed far away. But the seed had been
planted.

In July, Jason Minton of the WBSJ

travelled to Hokkaido and conducted the
first inland surveys for the Long-billed
Murrelet in Hokkaido, near where an adult
had been discovered on the forest floor in
1961 at Ml Mokoto. Dr. Higuchi had ear-
lier requested information on murrelet sur-
veys, a copy of the PSG protocol, and a tape
of Marbled Murrelet vocalizations that were
provided courtesy of Kim Nelson. No birds
were heard or seen during two days of
surveys. Jason wondered whether they
nes ted in trees or on the ground in Hokkaido.

We sent letters to Japanese biologists
to inform them of our trip to Japan, to
indicate PSG’s interestin forming a team to
study and protect the Japanese Murrelet,
and to invite researchers to attend the PSG
meeting in Sacramento in January 1994.
The first to respond was Koji Ono. Gno is
a Ph.D. student at Toho University and is
studying Japanese Murrelets for his thesis
research under the direction of Dr. H.
Hasegawa. While Hasegawa is more well-
known for his work on the endangered
Short-tailed Albatross (Diomedea albatrus )
at Tori Island, he also has had an interest in
Japanese Murrelets for many years. Ono
has worked with Hasegawa for several years
including several trips to murrelet colonies
in the Izu Islands. In 1992, he began his
doctoral research at Kojine Reef, in the
southern Izu Islands. In 1993, he switched
his study site to Biro Island, off the east side
of Kyushu, after hearing about the site from
Yutaka Nakamura. Nakamura lives in
Miyazaki, near Biro Island, and had been
studying murrelets at Biro Island for years
in a low level fashion. Ono and Nakamura
had teamed up for extensive research at
Biro Island, wanted to work with PSG, and
planned to attend the PSG meeting! In
particular, they would present a paper on
the status of the Japanese Munelet in the

Rare Alcid symposium being planned by
John Piatt.

Over the summer and fall, a PSG team
that would visit Japan in 1994 to conduct
cooperative research coalesced from many
different directions. I was already hooked.
John Piatt had long envisioned work in
Japan and would somehow make it Leigh
Ochikubo had visited Japan several years
before, had conducted seabird research in
California for several years, was complet-
ing her undergraduate degree at the Univer-
sity of California (Davis), and was consid-
ering possible futuregraduate research. John
Fries had lived in Japan for 5 years, spoke
fluent Japanese, had begun a Master’s de-
gree program in Ecology (also at U.C.
Davis), and was searching for a research
project in Japan related to conservation.
Unfortunately, Leah would not be able to
join us in 1994 due to financial constraints.

In October 1993, Ono held a special
symposium on the Japanese Murrelet at a
meeting of the Japan Ornithological Soci-
ety in Tokyo. He brought several Japanese
researchers together to discuss research and
conservation activities in many areas. He
printed up a summary of the proceedings
and passed them along to us. Fries trans-
lated the proceedings, making their results
and the status of the species known to us,
finally.

Ono and Nakamura came to the 1994
PSG meeting in Sacramento, as scheduled.
They contributed significantly to the Rare
Alcid symposium and showed some amaz-
ing video footage of murrelets at Biro Is-
land. We were honored to have these pio-
neering researchers at the meeting, as well
as their fellow countryman. Dr. Y.
Watanuki. We had met Watanuki at the
WBSJ office in April 1993 and told him
about the upcoming PSG meeting. He has
conducted research in Antarctica and has
begun a research program in Hokkaido.
Since then he had had contact with other
PSG biologists, especially Bill Sydeman,
and decided to attend. He has now become
the PSG representative for the Seabird
Monitoring Committee. Prior to this meet-
ing, only one Japanese researcher had ever
been to a PSG meeting and that was some
time ago: Dr. Haruo Ogi. Clearly, PSG’s
interest in Japanese i ssues has become more
evident and has gone beyond seabird mor-
tality in Japanese gill nets in the North
Pacific (one of Ogfs interests). We wel-
come further attendance by Japanese re-

Pacific Seabirds • Vol. 21 No. 2 * Fail 1994

PS G News

searchers and government officials at PSG ral History Museum), also our companions to be high predation at nesting colonies by
meetings and involvement in PSG activi- in 1993. AtSanbondake Reef, we would be Jungle Crows (Corvus macrorynchos).
ties around the Pacific. Surely, this in vita- joined by Dr. Jack Moyer (Miyakejima Large numbers of these crows are attracted
tion applies to all Pacific Rim and other Nature Center), long renowned for his ef- to colonies to feed on refuse left behind by
interested individuals but it will often take forts to study and protect Japanese Murrelets large numbers of recreational surf fisher-
a special effort to inform other non-English in the 1950s. On these short visits, we men which use the rocks. Evidence of egg
speaking people of the goals of PSG and would examine nesting habitats and make a predation (i.e. broken eggshells) was found
how we can help seabird research and con- quick survey and assessment of the status on all islands. Other predators (i.e., snakes
servation in other countries and political of the Japanese Murrelet at each colony, and Peregrine Falcons [Falco peregrinus ]
systems. We can no longer rely solely on Two colonies (Onbase Reef and also may be affecting small remnant num-
PSG participation in other organizations to Sanbondake Reef) had not been surveyed bers of breeding birds at colonies. Addi-
address international seabird conservation since Moyer’s visits in the 1950s. tional mortality probably is occurring in

issues in the western Pacific. This 1994 research was funded com- gill nets near colonies during the breeding

By the January 1994 PSG meeting, we pletely by the participating individuals and season as well as far out to sea in the non-
had put together an itinerary for our 3-week occurred as planned with very interesting breeding season. Japanese biologists (in-
trip to Japan in March-April 1994 and dis- results which will be available in an up- eluding Dr. H. Higuchi) and PSG further
cussed our plans with our many Japanese coming report. Long-term research is very recommended to the Japan Environment
cooperators, especially Ono and Nakamura, feasible and desirable at Biro Island where Agency that these three colonies should be
Our plans included: a significant colony occurs. PSG recom- protected within wildlife refuges at a To-

- Meeting with Dr. Higuchi and others mended to local government officials kyo meeting on 15 April 1994. At this
to continue the formation of our team. (Kadogawa-cho Board of Education) and meeting, we provided a summary of PSG

- Visiting Biro Island, the largest Japa- the Japan Environment Agency that this goals and present and expected future co-
nese Murrelet colony in the world. We colony should be protected as a wildlife operative research in Japan. Japanese and
would gain an appreciation for the breeding refuge and that a research station should be PSG efforts received significant media at-
ecology and nesting habitats at this impor- built there to facilitate research efforts. The tendon in local and national newspapers
tant colony by examining nests and birds Kadogawa-cho government has already and television throughout the spring and
and participating in research being con- begun a program to educate the public summer of 1994. (See the article by Jack
ducted by Ono and Nakamura. Fries would regarding the status, importance, and con- Moyer reprinted in this issue of Pacific
return in mid April to complete cooperative servation problems of the Japanese Seabirds).

studies of breeding biology for the remain- Murrelet. At the Izu Islands, we were able PSG should continue to assist Japa-
der of the 1994 breeding season. to obtain additional information which in- nese efforts for the research and conserva-

- Visiting the next three largest colo- dicated that the Japanese Murrelet is de- tion of the Japanese MuneleL However, it
nies in the Izu Islands. Here, we would be dining there. In the past, consumption of will not be possible to continue efforts
accompanied on visits to Tadanae Island eggs and birds may have been a significant witlioutfunding.PSG must investigate new
and Onbase Reef by Mutsuyuki Ueta problem. The main current terrestrial prob- mechanisms to carry out this and other
(WBSJ)andDr. M.Hasegawa (Chiba Natu- lem in the Izus (and atBiro Island) appears important organizational missions.

14 Pacific Seabirds * Vol. 21 No. 2 • Fall 1994

PSG News

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Pacific Seabirds • Vol. 21 No. 2 * Fall 1994

PSG News

Japanese Murrelet Revisited

Dr. Jack T. Moyer , Special Advisor and Ecologist, Miyake Nature Center, Akakokko
Station, 4118 Tsubota, Miyake-Mura, Miyake-Jima, Tokyo 100-12, Japan

On an average day, one does not ex-
pect to experience the emotions of
Urashimataro or Rip Van Winkle. But,
April 1 1th, 1994 was not an average day. I
was to travel with Miyake-jima’ s
Akakokko-kan rangers, Y utaka Kobay ashi
and Yutaka Yamamoto, by fishing boat
from Miyake-jima to Kozu-jima to meet a
group of seabird scientists [PSG biologists
Harry Carter, Leigh Ochikubo, and John
Fries} who had come all the way from
North America solely for the purpose of
studying Kanmuri-umisuzume [Japanese
Murrelet] in its natural habitat I would
return to the uninhabited island of Tadanae,
off of Kozu-shima, for the first time in 36
years and then stop off at Onoharajima
(Sanbondake), an isolated reef well known
as a breeding site of Kanmuri-umisuzume,
to search for nests of the rare, endemic
seabird before returning to Miyake-jima.

Way back in 1958, 1 had visited each
and every mujin-to [uninhabited island or
reef] in the Izu Islands, from Udone-jima
to Koji-ne at Hachijo-Koshima, in search
of Kanmuri — umisuzume, and in the pro-
cess I had discovered previously unre-
ported nesting colonies of Umineko [Black-
tailed Gull] at Tadanae and Koji-ne; of
Kanmuri-umisuzume at Onbase, near
Kozu-jima; and of Oosuton-umitsubame
[Sooty Storm-Petrel] at Tadanae and
Onbase. Shortly after my seabird expedi-
tion, I plunged full time into a life of
research and conservation of coral reefs
and coral reef fishes. Although I never lost
interest in birds, my research did not per-
mit time to visit seabird colonies, and I
completely lost track of Kanmuri-

umisuzume and the ecological changes
that were affecting its life.

Now, as a member of the staff at the
new Miyake-jima Shizen Center,
Akakokko Kan, my assignment again in-
cludes seabirds, and on April 11, as we
approached Tadanae, memories of the an-
cient past flooded my mind. It was truly
and Urashim ataro/Rip Van Winkle situa-
tion.

Harry Carter, of the North American
group, had brought copies of letters I had
written 36 years ago to the University of
Michigan Natural History Museum, de-
scribing in detail my experiences while
discovering 29 nests of Kanmuri-
umisuzume in only one and a half hours at
Onbase. Using information in my ancient
letters, the American group was able to
locate only nine nests, thus proving that
Kanmuri-umisuzume is still nesting on
Onbase, but apparently in significantly
fewer numbers.

Returning to Miyake-jima by way of
Sanbondake, our group found a similar
situation. Whereas I had reported 20 nests
and 29 eggs in April, 1957 at Sanbondake,
we were now able to locate only 9 nests
with 1 1 eggs. Unquestionably, the popula-
tion has dropped significantly at both loca-
tions in the past 36 years.

Drift net fishing in the North Pacific
Ocean in the 1980s certainly took hun-

Pacific Seabirds • Vol. 21 No. 2 • Fall 1994

dreds of Kanmuri-umisuzume. It was only
in the late 1980s that scientists became
aware of the presence of Kanmuri-
umisuzume in drift nets, but many had
probably been previously confused with
the closely related Umisuzume [Ancient
Murrelet],

Perhaps a more serious threat is crows
at the nesting sites. Attracted to abandoned
lunch scraps and fish bait left behind by
sports fishermen, crows are now abundant
at all mujinto from Hokkaido to Kyushu.
During periods of rough weather in April
and May, crows feed on the eggs of
Kanmuri-umisuzume. I had witnessed such
predation in 1957, when crows were rare at
such sites.

My experiences on April 1 1, 1994 have
convinced me to return to my long-aban-
doned studies on Kanmuri-umisuzume. In
the coming year, I hope to begin research on
population densities of the bird in the Izu
Islands and try to collect convincing data
on the causes of its decline. In the mean-
time, bird watchers can easily observe
Kanmuri-umisuzume in April and May at a
rich feeding ground off of the southwest
coast of Miyake-jima that I first discovered
and reported in 1953.

Moyer, J. 1994. Japanese Murrelet Revis-
ited. Wild Bird: 27. (English transla-
tion by Jack Moyer. Wild Bird is a
monthly publication of the Wild Bird
Society of Japan.)

Conservation News

Conservation

News

Feral Cat Protection

RonJurek

Conservation Editor's note: feral cats are
a serious problem for seabirds on many
colonies, including Christmas Island (Pa-
cific) and Ascension Island.

Animal rights organizations and some
humane groups are intensively promoting
programs to humanely manage and protect
local populations of feral cats. Hundreds of
local cat-care organizations are promoting
and establishing managed "feral cat colo-
nies” across the U.S. for feral cat popula-
tion control and protection. The interna-
tional movement started in Europe in the
late 1970s, and the crusade in the U.S. has
been escalating in recent years. Recently in
Virginia, the national animal rights group
“Alley Cat Allies” brought suit against
National Park Service to stop them from
removing feral cats from a National Park-
way.

The cat management method is often
referred to as “TTVAR” (Trap, Test for
disease. Vaccinate, Alter, and Return). It is
also called “controlled colony” or “neuter
and return”. Some of the feral cats trapped
can be tamed and adopted, and others must
be euthanized because of disease or injury.
Most, however, are sterilized and vacci-
nated, and are returned to the capture site
and routinely fed.

Care-givers typically manage for per-
petuation of a certain number of cats at the
site, but when challenged, the groups claim
that cblony management is being done to
humanely eliihinate the feral catpopulation
through attrition. Groups will sometirhes
relocate a colony to a farm or other rural
setting, where cooperators manage the cats
in an environment deemed safer for cats
than the original site. Some relocation ar-
eas, called feral cat sanctuaries, are private
wildland parcels with scores pf free-living,
rescued feral cats that are managed under
TTVAR. '

According to proponents, the colony
becomes territo/ial, keeping away
unsterilized cats," helping to alleviate cat

overpopulation. Because, they claim, the
cats are well-fed and healthy, they are not a
serious threat to wildlife (except harmful
rodents). Typically, supporters argue that
feral cats serve a useful purpose in the
ecosystem. They claim , too, that this method
has been proven conclusively to be more
effective, less costly, and more humane
than traditional eradication methods. The
“no-kiir method is touted as a humane
alternative to trap-and-remove programs
and to euthanasia by animal shelters.

Theevidencefor success of this method
is primarily anecdotal and many of the
claims are clearly unfounded. Yet these
groups have been extremely successful in
convincing local administrators of packs,
hospitals, campuses, etc. , to accept the strat-
egy. In California hundreds of colonies
have been established in recent years by
dozens of cat-care groups (e.g.. Happy
Trails, Streetcat Rescue, Forgotten Felines,
StanfordFeral CatNetwork, San Diego Cat
Coalition). Many colonies have been in
wildlife habitats, such as county and state
parks, riparian areas, coastal wetlands, and
nesting areas of vulnerable endangered
birds. City and county authorities havebeen
persuaded to adopt, or are considering, or-
dinances identifying cat colony manage-
ment as an appropriate use of open space
(e.g.. Golden Gate Park).

Feral cat colonies and cat feeding sta-
tions pose threats to local wildlife in city
and county parks, urban-fringe wildlife
sanctuaries, and other wildlife habitats. For
more information about this international
crusade for feral cat protection, please con-
tact Ron Jurek, Bird and Mammal Conser-
vation Program, California Department of
Fish and Game, 1416 Ninth Street, Sacra-
mento, California 95814; (916) 654-4267.

Changes in Administration of
Endangered Species Acf

Craig S. Harrison

The Clinton administration announced
the following policy directives regarding
the implementation of theEndangered Spe-
cies Act (ESA) in the Federal Register (July
1 , 1994). The policies affect the U.S. Fish &
Wildlife Service (FWS) and the National
Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS). Interior
Secretary Bruce Babbitt stated that these poli-
cies preclude any need to amend the ESA.

1. Ensure that ESA decisions are
based on sound science. NMFS and FWS
now require the use of independent scien-
tific peer review in the listing and recovery
planning processes to insure the best scien-
tific information available. The agencies
have standards for scientific information
used in making ESA decisions, and for
review and evaluation of that information.

2. Expedite completion of recovery
plans and minimize social and economic
impacts that may result from implemen-
tation. Recovery plans will minimize any
social or economic impacts and will be
completed within 30 months of the date of
listing. NMFS and FWS will involve af-
fected groups with more opportunities to
participate in recovery plan development
and implementation. Recovery teams will
include more state agencies, private indi-
viduals and organizations, commercial en-
terprises and other parties that are affected.

3. Provide greater predictability con-
cerning effects of listings on proposed or
ongoing activities. FWS and NMFS will
identify, to the extent known, specific ac-
tivities that are exempt from or that will not
be affected by the prohibitions of the ESA
concerning “take” of listed species. A single
point of contact in each region will assist
the public in determining whether a par-
ticular activity would be prohibited under
the ESA.

4. Avoid crisis management through
cooperative approaches that focus on
groups of species dependent on the same
ecosystem. FWS and NMFS will empha-
size cooperative approaches to conserva-
tion of groups listed and candidate species
thatare dependent on common ecosystems.
Group listing decisions will be made where
possible and recovery plans will be devel-
oped and implemented for areas where
multiple listed and candidate species occur.
Federal, state and private efforts in coop-
erative multi-species effort under the ESA
should be integrated.

5. Increase participation of state
agencies in ESA activities. FWS and
NMFS recognize the ESA requires coop-
eration with states. The federal agencies
recognize that state fish and wildlife agen-
cies:

• Possess primary authority and re-
sponsibility forprotection and management
of fish, wildlife and plants and their habi-
tats, unless preempted by federal authority;

* Possess scientific data and expertise

Pacific Seabirds * Vol. 21 No. 2 • Faul 1994

Conservation News

on the status and distribution of species;

• Are essential to achieving the goals of
the ESAEWS and NMFS will use state
expertise and information in pre-listing,
listing, consultation, recovery and conser-
vation planning. FWS and NMFS will en-
courage the participation of state agencies
in the development and implementation of
recovery plans.

These new policies may soon be used
by the Pacific Seabird Group, since PSG
will likely file a petition to list the Xantus’
Murreletas threatened or endangered. Hope-
fully, PSG will have an important role in
working with federal and state agencies in
conservation planning and the development
of a recovery plan.

Seabird Conservation in the
Australian Antarctic Territory

Conservation Editor’s note: the following
is the summary from Eric J. Woehler’s
" Antarctic Seabirds: Their Status and Con-
servation in the AAT t ” published as a
supplement to Wins span (December 1993).

Ten species of seabird breed in the
Australian Antarctic Territory (AAT) [about
42% of Antarctica]. These species are rep-
resentative of the avifauna of the Antarctic
Continent Breeding populations of Adelie
Penguins are increasing at many localities.
However, populations of Southern Giant-
Petrels have decreased at three of the four
Antarctic Breeding localities and the de-
crease is at least partly attributable to dis-
turbance associated with visits by station
personnel. Recentdata indicate AdeliePen-
guins may also be susceptible to distur-
bance from visitors. The population data
for other species of seabirds are insufficient
to indicate long-term population trends.

Accidental entanglement in fisheries’
longlines provides a risk to birds at feeding
grounds, but the scale of this problem to
Antarctic seabirds is presently unknown.
No species is currently threatened by the
presence of the stations or the activities
associated with them in the AAT. The ma-
jor impact has been the localized loss of
suitable nesting habitat for ground-nesting
petrels,particularly Wilson’s Storm-Petrels
and Snow Petrels, by the construction of
station buildings and the activities associ-
ated with the operation of the stations.
Management plans for Australia’s stations

Pacific Seabirds • Vol. 21 No. 2 * Fall 19?

exist; these incorporate the necessary man-
agement and monitoring protocols for the
long-term conservation of the seabirds
breeding within the AAT.

NOAA’S Armada Surrounded by
Icebergs

TheNational Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA) is having diffi-
culty in selling to Congress its $1.9billion
plan to refurbish its fleet The bulk of
NOAA’s aging 24-vessel fleet was built in
the 1960’s, including the Surveyor (1960),
Townsend Cromwell (1963), Discover
(1966) and Miller Freeman (1968) that
have served as platforms for seabird re-
search in the Pacific. The average age of
NOAA’s research vessels is now almost 30
years, the typical useful life of a research
ship.

A lengthy article in Science (July 8,
1994) describes the criticisms of NOAA’s
fleet replacement and modernization plan,
which may be the largest ship building
program in the history of oceanography.
NOAA’s proposal would buy eighteen new
ships and convert six others originally built
for the Navy. Among the criticisms are
NOAA’s refusal to consider more cost-
effective data-gathering options such as
chartering private ships, contracting out
research tasks and using aircraft as plat-
forms for research. Given the budget cli-
mate in Washington, D.C., it seems un-
likely but Congress will approve NOAA’s
ambitious plans.

According to NOAA, the fleet is expe-
riencing increasing breakdowns and lack
sufficient space and facilities to be modem
research platforms. The Marine Board of
the National Research Council (National
Academy of Sciences) reviewed NOAA’s
plan and concluded in April that it is unre-
alistic and a waste of taxpayer money. For
now, it seems that NOAA must go back to
the drawing board.

NSF Funds Biological Inventory in
Antarctica

The National Science Foundation has
given a major grant to the Oceanites Foun-
dation, which was established by PSG mem-
ber Ron Naveen. Ron will inventory sites of
biological importance, including seabird

colonies, in Antarctica, as part of the U.S.
government’s implementation of the 1991
Environmental Protocol to the Antarctic
Treaty. Ron will be conducting fieldwork
from November through January and the
results of his efforts will probably be incor-
porated into BirdLife International’s Im-
portant Bird Area project.

Senate Fails to Act on Biodiversity
Treaty

President Clinton signed the United
Nations Framework on Biodiversity in June
1993, a treaty that most nations signed in
Rio de Janeiro a year earlier. Under theU.S.
Constitution, all treaties must be ratified by
a two-thirds vote in the U.S. Senate. The
Senate failed to ratify the treaty before it
adjourned in early October, although a vote
may still be possible in a special session of
Congress scheduled for November. It is
fairly common for the Senate to refuse to
ratify international agreements entered in
to by presidents.

Among the concerns expressed by op-
ponents of the treaty are (1) uncertainties of
U.S .financial contributions; and (2) vague-
ness of convention language. For example,
a farm organization has questioned whether
cattle and wheat may be deemed to be
“alien species” under the treaty so that
American fanners might be required to pay
royalties to the countries where those spe-
cies originated (Science 265:859). A re-
lated concern is that the treaty might cause
more litigation than all other treaties en-
tered into by the U.S. combined. Those
arguing against ratification also state that
the treaty misappropriates ecosystems as a
regulatory tool and assumes that ecosys-
tems are real. This view calls ecosystems
“nothing more than mental constructs” and
argues that the concept of ecosystems was
formed in the 1930s as a research tool for
ecologists and should not be used as a
geographic guide for regulating.

Siena Club’s Treasury Declines

According to the San Francisco'Exam-
iner, the Siena Club has lost $6.8 million
during the past four years, and is now $2.9
million in debt. The Sierra Club has kept
afloat by borrowing against its $10 million
endowment, a move that is apparently

Conservation News

against its bylaws. The Sierra Club’s an-
nual operating budget is about $40 million.
While details are absent, the Examiner and
others are reporting that donations and
memberships have sharply dropped for other
large environmental organizations in the
U.S., including Greenpeace, the Wilder-
ness Society, the National Audubon Soci-
ety, Natural Resources Defense Council
and the National Wildlife Federation.

News from Northern California

The Apex Houston oil spill case was
recently settled between the United States
government. State of California, and Apex
Gil Company, among others. A $6.4 mil-
lion settlement was reached ending nearly
five years of litigation. The oil spill oc-
curred in early 1986, when over 25,000
gallons of oil spilled from the leaking oil
tank bar gt Apex Houston as it made its way
along the coast from San Francisco Bay to
the Long Beach harbor. The spill caused
damage to marine life from San Francisco
south to the Big Sur area, killing approxi-
mately 9,000 seabirds, including Common
Murres, Rhinoceros Auklets, and smaller
numbers of loons, grebes, cormorants,
shorebirds, gulls. Marbled Muirelets, and
other alcids. The bulk of the settlement
funds ($5,416,430) will be devoted to two
seabird restoration projects: the Marbled
Muirelet Habitat Project and the Muire
Recolonization Project Therest of the settle-
ment amount will be directed toward civil
penalties and reimbursements for damage
assessments and cleanup costs. A Memo-
randum of Understanding has been signed
by the three Trustees, which establishes the
Apex Houston Trustee Council. Represen-
tatives on the Council include: representa-
tive Dan Welsh (USFWS in Sacramento)
and alternate Jean Takekawa (SFBNWR);
representative Don Lollock (CDFGOil Spill
Prevention and Response office in Sacra-
mento) and alternate Paul Kelly (same of-
fice); and representative Ed Ueber (Gulf of
the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary,
NOAA) and alternate Miles Groom (NOAA
in Washington D C.). The Council has de-
veloped a draft plan titled, “Restoration of
nearshore breeding seabird colonies on the
Central California coast.” The plan will be
published in the Federal Register shortly.
Comments on the plan are encouraged.

Salaries of Natural Resource Chief Executive Officers

Organization

Who’s in Charge

Salary

National Wildlife Federation

Jay Hair

$232,640

World Wildlife Fund

Kathryn Fuller

$185,000

The Nature Conservancy

John Sawhili

$185,000

National Audubon Society

Peter A. A. Berle

$178,000

U.S. Department of the Interior

Bruce Babbitt

$148,400

Natural Resources Defense Council

John Adams

$145,000

Conservation International

Russel Mittermeir

$125,000

Environmental Defense Fund

Frederick Krupp

$125,000

The Wilderness Society

G. Jon Roush

$120,000

U.S.FWS, Region 7

Vacant

$115-144,600

TNG, V.P. Asia/Pacific and Hawaii

Kelvin Taketa

$113,340

U.S. National Park Service

Roger Kennedy

$108,200

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Mollie Beattie

$108,200

Defenders of Wildlife

Roger Schlickeisen

$104,121

Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund

Victor Sher

$104,000

California Department of Fish and Game

Boyd Gibbons

$95,052

U.S. FWS, Region 1

Michael Spear

$92-115,700

Sierra Club

Carl Pope

$90,000

Washington Fish & Wildlife Department

Robert Turner

$87,434

Hawaii Dept Land & Natural Resources

Keith H. Ahue

$85,302

Alaska Department of Fish and Game

CarlL. Rosier

$83,844

Oregon Fish and Wildlife Department

Rudolf Rosen

$83,964

Greenpeace USA

Barbara Dudley

$64,000

Source: Information concerning private organizations is from Outside Magazine

March 1994 and IRS Form 990. Information concerning public officials is from the

agency.

PSG acts to restore and protect seabirds in
Southern California

PSG has begun an initiative to restore and protect seabirds in Baja California and
the Gulf of California. We thank the following patrons and sponsors who have

at our San Diego meeting.

Patrons

Biological Journeys

Theodore L. Cio^s

Mr. and Mrs. Henry H. Coming

Craig S. Harrison

Karl W. Kenyon

Warren B. King

Sponsors

Judith Latta Hand
Victor Emanuel
Thomas R. Howell

Please send checks payable to the Pacific Seabird Group to Craig Harrison, 4001
North 9th St, #1801, Arlington, VA 22203.

Pacific Seabirds • Vol. 21 No. 2 • Fall 1994

Regional Reports

Regional

Reports

PSG members are urged to sendinformation
on their activities to their regional
representatives. Addresses and phone
numbers of regional representatives are
listed on the: back inside cover of each issue
of Pacific Seabirds .

Alaska and Russia

University of Alaska, Fairbanks (U AF)
graduate student Brian Lance and assis-
tant professor Dan Roby are in the second
year of a study of the relationship of diet to
chick development in Red-legged and
Black-legged kittiwakes on St. George
Island, Pribilofs. Brian is in the midst of
laboratory analyses of the composition of
adults, chicks, and chick meals from the
two species andplans tocomplete his thesis
by this summer. Graduate student Alex
Prichard and Dan are using Pigeon
Guillemots nesting in Kachemak Bay as
bioindicatorsofneaishoreecosystemhealth.
Alex recently completed this first field sea-
son and biochemical analyses of biomarkers
in blood collected from guillemot chicks
and adults are underway.

Studies on Sl George I. by UAF also
include the following. S. Dean Kildow,
assisted by Rachel Schindler, continued
field studies of the comparative breeding
ecology of Red-legged and Black-legged
kittiwakes. This was the second year of his
3-year field study. Sharon Loy assisted by
Will Fehringer, conducted the second year
of her study of the use of fresh water lakes
by Red-legged Kittiwakes and of Red-
legged Kittiwakes roosting on the new
airstrip on the south side of the island. Tara
Gurry and Christine Brainard studied the
breeding ecology of Thick-billed Murres
and the behavioral responses of murres to
aircraft traffic near the breeding cliffs. This
was the third and final year of fieldwork for
this study.

Suzann Speckman (UAF) spent the
summer on Oomera Island in the northern
Sea of Okhotsk studying the breeding biol-
ogy of Spectacled Guillemots in collabo-
ration with Alexander Kondratyev. Alan
Springer (UAF) continued long-term moni-

Pacific Seabirds • Vol. 21 No. 2 * Fall 195

toring of seabird diets on the Pribilofs this
summer.

George Divoky (UAF) monitored
Black Guillemots on Cooper Island, where
fox predation on eggs reduced productivity
for the second time in three years.

Scott Hatch (National Biological Sur-
vey, NBS) continued seabird monitoring
studies on the Semidi Islands and Middleton
Island in the Gulf of Alaska and (with
Alexander Kondratyev) at two sites in the
northern Sea of Okhotsk. He also con-
ducted a pilot study in 1994 of at-sea move-
ments by Common Murres using satellite
telemetry. John Piatt (NBS) and Tom van
Pelt completed a fourth year (1991-1994)
of puffin diet sampling at numerous colo-
nies in the Gulf of Alaska and eastern
Aleutian Islands. Keith Hobson also joined
the puffin cruise and obtained seabird tis-
sues (4th year) for stable isotope studies of
seabird feeding ecology. Also on the cruise
were Gus van Vliet, Leigh Ochilenko and
Jay Pitocchelli. John and Tom also contin-
ued studies of Kittlitz's Murrelet in
Kachemak Bay and both Kittlitz’s and
Marbled murrelets in Glacier Bay Na-
tional Park.

Personnel with the Alaska Maritime
National Wildlife Refuge (USFWS) had a
busy summer. G. Vernon Byrd, Jeff Wil-
liams, Lisa Scharf, Joe Meehan, Dan
Boone, and Jim Schneeweiss conducted a
seabird census on Bogoslof I., an active
volcano. Numbers of Black-legged Kitti-
wake have increased since a similar survey
20 years ago and several species (murres
and puffins) have nested on the 1992 vol-
canic dome which is still smoking. Addi-
tional information on productivity was col-
lected for 2 species. Seabirds were also
counted on Koniuji I. and murres were
counted on Kasatochi I. Greg Thompson,
Toby Burke, Laura Olson, and Jeff
Wraley counted nearly 50,000 murres on
the cliffs on the colony at Kagamil I.

Joe Meehan, Jeff Williams, Lisa
Scharf, Lisa Meehan, and Manuel
Pacheco conducted dawn counts for
Marbled Murrelets at Adak L, ran a sur-
vey route to add information to an existing
population index database, and conducted
nestsearchesforbreedingmurrelets. They
also conducted surveys for nesting Tufted
Puffins to determine density, occupancy
rates, and burrow persistence in established
plots. Work began on installing a series of
artificial burrows at a nearby colony to

eventually evaluate productivity.

Julian Fischer, Scott Hall, Peter
Duley, and Wendy Cruso continued a
long-term monitoring program of 14 sea-
bird species at Buldir I. They also counted
birds on index plots and collected produc-
tivity information on Red-legged and
Black-legged kittiwakes; Thick-billed
and Common murres; Least, Crested,
Parakeet, and Whiskered auklets; Pe-
lagic Cormorants, Glaucous- winged
Gulls; Fork-tailed and Leach’s storm-
petrels; Tufted and Horned puffins. Work
continued on a program to evaluate Red-
legged and Black-legged kittiwake sur-
vival rates through band-resighting.

Angela Palmer and Susan Woodward
monitored population and productivity
trends of Black-legged Kittiwakes and
Common Murres at Agattu L Leslie Slater,
Barbara Blackie, and Jeremy Bahr con-
ducted a seabird monitoring program for all
common breeding species on St Lazaria
Island. Long term monitoring plots were
established for burrow nesters and murres.
Leslie Slater and Tony DeGange moni-
tored seabirds, particularly burrow nest-
ers at Forrester, Lowrie, and Petrel islands.
Leslie Slater, Vernon Byrd and others
monitored Black-legged Kittiwake and
murre populations at Gull I. and 60-ft
Rock in Kachemak Bay. Leslie Slater and
Gary Montoya counted kittiwakes and
murres at Chisik and Duck island in Cook
Inlet as part of a Minerals Management
Project to assess potential impacts of issu-
ing new oil leases in the area.

Art Sowls and Vernon Byrd counted
Red-legged Kittiwakes at St. Paul Island,
and Art Sowls gathered information on
kittiwake productivity. Don and Belinda
Dr a goo continued the ongoing seabird
monitoring program at St. George where
annual data are collected on the productiv-
ity of Red-legged and Black-legged kitti-
wakes arid Common and Thick-billed
murres. Both Pribilof crews implemented
a program to assess the use of seafood
processing outfalls by gulls and other birds.
Art Sowls continued to oversee a rat pre-
vention project in the Pribilofs. Winter
monitoring of seaduck populations, includ-
ing Harlequin Ducks and elders, contin-
ued in the Aleutian (Jeff Williams and Joe
Meehan) and Pribilof Islands (Art Sowls).

D.G. Rosenean and A.B. Kettle com-
pleted another successful season collecting
population and productivity data on Com-

Regional Reports

mon Murres in the Barren Islands. The
work centered at East Amatuli and Nord
islands. The study was funded by the Exxon
Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council as part of
their on-going restoration monitoring pro-
gram in Prince William Sound and the
northern Gulf of Alaska. Ed Bailey and
assistants removed foxes from Simeonof
and Chemabura Islands which makes the
refuge-owned Shumagin Islands now fox-
free. Working with Ed Bailey, Andrew
Durand and Kurt Schmidt surveyed
Black Oyster catcher and Pigeon
Guillemot populations in the outer
Shumagin Islands to assess the response of
these species to removal of introduced arc-
tic foxes. This project was funded by the
Exxon Valdez restoration program as a way
to restore populations of these and other
seabirds.

In a cooperative effort between NPS,
MigratoryBird Management, TogiakNWR,*
and Yukon Delta NWR, Lisa Haggblom
collected population and productivity data
at Cape Peirce, Alaska, 1994, for Black-
legged Kittiwakes, Common Murres, and
Pelagic Cormorants. Wholecolony counts
were also conducted by boat, as well as
colony documentation from Bethel to
Dillingham.

Vivian Mendenhall, Migratory Bird
Management (MBM) (USFWS), had the
privilege of visiting the Russian Far East
She spent two months in the northern Sea of
Okhotsk as a guest of Alexander (Sasha)
and Luba Kondratyev of the Institute of
Biological Problems of the North, Russian
Academy of Sciences, Magadan. They
censused seabird colonies in the northern
Sea of Okhotsk and found several large,
previously unrecorded alcid and kittiwake
colonies. Other previously-unsurveyed
coastline from northeastern Kamchatka
north to the Gulf of Anadyr was censused
by Peter Vyatkin and others. These sur-
veys were suj^orted by the USFWS, Rus-
sian Academy of Sciences, and a grant from
the U.S. Department of State through the
ITS . Fish and Wildlife Service.

Vivian Mendenhall and the
Kondratyevs are continuing their coop-
eration on the Beringian Seabird Colony
Catalog. Luba Kondratyev worked with
Vivian and Shawn Stephensen (USFWS)
during February 1994 to learn the database
procedures. Published and unpublished
colony data for the Russian Far East will be
entered in Magadan during the coming year.

Marine contaminants in north and east
Russia are being assessed by the Office of
Naval Research (radionuclides) and
NOAA’s National Status and Trends Pro-
gram (organochlorines and heavy metals).
Scott Hatch arranged for collection of in-
tertidal sediment and mussels on Talan
Island, in collaboration with Sasha
Kondratyev and Vivian Mendenhall.

In the summer of 1994, the Marbled
Murrelet oil spill restoration project (K.-
Kuletz, D. Marks, N. Naslund, MBM,
UFSWS), joined by Lynn Prestash and
Rick Burns of British Columbia, studied
the foraging behavior of Marbled
Murrelets in Prince William Sound. They

radio-tagged and tracked47 adultMarbled

Murrelets over 6 weeks. Five nest areas
were found and over 400 resightings were
made by air and boat One of the nests
fledged a juvenile, which was radio-tagged
and followed over 16 days. They also re-
peatedly monitored juvenile and adult
ratios in two areas to develop a protocol for
indexing reproductive success and post-
breeding movement

Bev Agler, Steve Kendall, Pam
Seiser , and several other observers (MBM,
USFWS) conducted a seabird and sea otter
survey of Southeast Alaska. Data were also
collected on seabird colonies. John Lindell,
(Ecological Services, USFWS) in Juneau*
completed a seabird survey of Icy Strait
during August 1994 is the second year of
area specific, at-sea waterbird surveys,
which compliment the southeast wide sea-
bird surveys initiated by FWS this year.

As part of a MBM, USFWS project
funded by iheExxon ValdezOil Spill Trustee ,
Council, Lindsey Hayes and a crew of five
(Mary Cody, Kirk Lenington, John
Maniscalco, Bev Short, and Ed Vorisek)
studied the breeding and feeding ecology of
Pigeon Guillemots at Naked Island and
Jackpot Island in Prince William Sound.

Bill Ostrand is investigating the role of
prey availability in a larger project that is
looking into the question: is food limitation
impairing the recovery ofpiscivorous avian
species injured by the Exxon Valdez oil
spill?

There isalsoan ongoing study of Glau-
cous Gull predation on goslings and duck-
lings on the Yukon Delta, conducted by
Tim Bowman, (MBM, USFWS).

In addition to annual waterfowl breed-
ing pair surveys conducted throughout the
state by MBM, USFWS, the following on-

going studies focus on sea ducks in Alaska:
a Steller’s Eider spring migration popula-
tion survey on the coast of western Alaska,
a winter Steller’s Eider population survey
of Kodiak Island, Spectacled Eider popu-
lation surveys of staging and wintering
areas in the Bering Sea using satellite te-
lemetry data from a study described below,
and a Spectacled Eider breeding pair sur-
vey of the North Slope, all conducted by
Bill Larned, MBM, USFWS; a Steller’s
Eider breeding pair survey on the North
Slope, conducted by Karen Laing, MBM,
USFWS; Steller’s Eider nesting study at
Barrow, conducted by Lori Quakenbush,
Ecological Services, USFWS and Robert
Suydam,North Slope Borough; Spectacled
Eider satellite telemetry study to identify
staging and wintering areas, conducted by
Margaret Petersen,NBS; a study to evalu-
ate the extent of lead poisoning in Spec-
tacled Eiders on the Yukon Delta, con-
ducted by Margaret Petersen, Chris
Franson, and Paul Flint, NBS; Spectacled
Eider nesting ecology and adult survival
studies on the Yukon Delta, one conducted
by Barry Grand, Paul Flint and Marga-
ret Petersen, NBS; and another conducted

by Brian McCaffery and Tina Moran,
Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge;
nesting ecology of Spectacled Eiders on
the Indigirka Delta, conducted by Dan
Esler, John Pearce and Margaret
Petersen; Spectacled Eider studies on
abundance, movements and production in
the central Beaufort Sea area, conducted by
Troy EcologicalResearch Associates; Har-
lequin Duck summer population surveys
conducted by Denny Zwiefelhofer, Kodiak
National Wildlife Refuge and by Brian
McCaffery, Yukon Delta National Wild-
life Refuge; and a study of breeding Harle-
quin Ducks in Prince William Sound, con-
ducted by Dan Rosenberg, Alaska Depart-
ment of Fish and Game.

Beringian Seabird Bulletin - The sec-
ond ^ue (1994) of the Beringian Seabird
Bulletin is available now to anyone inter-
ested in Alaskan-Russian Far East seabird
activities. Please contact Kent Wohl,
USFWS, 1011 E. Tudor Road, Anchorage,

AK 99503, if you would like a copy.

Dave Irons

Pacific Seabirds * Vol. 21 No. 2 • Fall 1994

Regional Reports

Circumpolar Seabird Bulletin

The first issue of the Circumpolar
SeabirdB ulletin was published recently
and is available upon request Please
contact Kent Wohl, USFWS, 1011 E.
Tudor Road, Anchorage, AK 99503, if
you would like a copy. The primary
purpose of the Bulletin is to improve
communication and coordination be-
tween scientists, managers, indigenous
peoples, and conservationists interested
in northern seabirds. The Bulletin is a
joint effortbetween theeightarcticcoun-
tries signatory to the Declaration on the
Protection of the Arctic Environment
The firstBulletin contains contributions
by Canada, Finland, Iceland, Norway,
and USA. The Bulletin also contains a
summary of the first Circumpolar Sea-
bird Working Group meeting which oc-
curred in January 1994.

Circumpolar Seabird Working
Group

The Conservation of Arctic Flora
and Fauna (CAFF) program is one of
four program components of the Arctic
Environmental Protection S trategy. The
S trategy was adopted by ministerial dec-
laration in 1991 by the eight Arctic
countries. CAFF represents a distinct
international forum of Arctic scientists,
resource managers, indigenous peoples,
and conservationists with objectives to
share information on Arctic species and
habitats,protect the Arctic environment
from human threats, and seek develop-
ment of more effective laws and conser-
vation practices.

During the second CAFF meeting
in 1993 the US A presented proposals to
create a Circumpolar Seabird Working
Group (CSWG) to facilitate, among
other things, developing an International
Murre Conservation Strategy, a Cir-
cumpolar Seabird Colony Catalog, and
a Circumpolar Seabird Bulletin. The

CSWG proposal was approved.

The first CSWG meeting occurred
in Sacramento just prior to the 1994 PSG
meeting. Participants addressed five
main topics during the inaugural meet-
ing: overview of seabird resources of the
arctic countries, murre conservation
strategy, seabird colony catalog data-
bases, circumpolar seabird bulletin, and
new seabird initiatives. The new CSWG
initiatives for 1994-95 include: circum-
polar seabird monitoring network, sea-
bird hunting and harvesting regimes,
incidental take of seabirds in commer-
cial fisheries, coordination of seabird
banding programs, directory of arctic
seabird experts, and guidelines to mini-
mize human disturbance of seabirds at
colonies.

The country representatives to the
CSWG are listed below:

John Chardine, Canadian Wildlife Ser-
vice, St. John's, Newfoundland
Tony Gaston, Canadian Wildlife Ser-
vice, Hull, Quebec

Martti Hario, Finnish Game and Fisher-
ies, Helsinki, Finland
Aevar Petersen, Icelandic Museum of
Nat History, Reykjavik, Iceland
Peter Nielsen, Dept, of Health andEnvi-
ronment, Nuuk, Greenland
Vidar Bakken, Norwegian Polar Insti-
tute, Oslo, Norway

Alexander Golovkin, Ministry of Ecol.
and Nat. Resources, Moscow, Rus-
sia

Alexander Kondratyev , BiologicalProb-
lems of the North, Magadan, Russia
Stanley Senner, National Audubon So-
ciety, Boulder, Colorado
Kent Wohl, USFWS , Anchorage, Alaska

The second meeting of the CSWG
is scheduled for March 1995 in Oslo,
Norway.

Canada

Following a fairly extensive round-up
on Canadian seabird activities in the last
bulletin, this account covers only a meeting
of British Columbia seabird researchers.

Pacific Seabirds • Vol. 21 No. 2 * Fall 1994

hosted by the Wildlife Chair atSimon Fraser
University and held there on 16 September
1994. Our intention was to improve coordi-
nation among the substantial number of
research projects now ongoing on marine
birds in B.C.

The following were present: Doug

Bertram, Friday Harbour Lab., Univ.
Washington: tel (206) 378-2165, E-mail
bertrairt@ fhl.washington.edu; Alan
Burger, University of Victoria: tel 479-
2446, E-mail aburger@uwm.uvic.ca; Kim
Cheng, Univ. B.C. - Animal Science: tel
822-2480, fax 822-4400, E-mail kmtc@
unixg.ubc.ca; J. Clowater, Simon Baser
Univ.: tel 598-4570, E-mail

clowater@sfu.ca; Fred Cooke, Simon
Baser Univ. - Wildlife Chair tel 291-
5610, E-mail fcooke@sfu.ca; Andy
Derocher, BC Forest Service: tel 341-
4058,E-mailaederoch@mfor01 .gov.bc.ca;
Tony Gaston, Canadian Wildlife Service*
Ottawa: tel (819) 997-6121, fax 953-6612;
Grant Gilchrist, Univ. B.C. - Zoology: tel
822-3363 or 875-8499; Ian Goudie, Cana-
dian Wildlife Service, Pacific and Yukon:
tel 946-8546; Anne Harfenist, Canadian
Wildlife Service, Pacific and Yukon: tel
946-8546; Ian Jones, Simon Fraser Univ.
- Wildlife Chain tel 291-5435; Gary Kab
ser, Canadian Wildlife Service, Pacific
and Yukon: tel 946-854 6; Hugh Knechtel,
Simon Fraser Univ.: tel 732-5466; Irene
Manley, Simon FraserUniv.: tel 534-6678;
Yolanda Morbey, Simon FraserUniv.: tel
291-3988, E-mail ymorbey@sfu.ca; Ken
Morgan* Canadian Wildlife Service, Pa-
cific and Yukon: tel 363-0623, fax 363-
0775; Joanna Smith, Univ. Victoria: tel
731-7102, E-mail

joannasm@uvvrn.uvic.ca; Terry Sullivan,
Univ. B.C. - Animal Science: id 255-975 1
or 822-6848; Tony Williams, SimonFraser
Univ. - Wildlife Chair, tel 291-4982, E-
mail tdwillia@sfu.ca.

Tony Gaston introduced the proceed-
ings by noting that there was much more
research and monitoring activity this year
in BC relating to marine birds than had
been true in the past This provides an
opportunity to improve our understanding
of the “big picture” of regional events
affecting marine birds through communi-
cation and sharing of data among partici-
pating researchers. He noted that in the
past meetings relating to marine bird re-
search had been dominated by CWS, but
with theestablishmentof the WildlifeChaif
at Simon Fraser University this was no
longer the case. He encouraged attendees
to contribute information to the Pacific
Seabird Group monitoring programme,
invited comments on the document "Con-
servation issues and CWS priorities for
marine birds” and urged everyone to en-

Regional Reports

w uuiw tt vjiv iUiJV/WCU uy

accounts of 1994 fieldwork in several on-
going seabird studies.

Ian Jones described the main seabird
initiative being undertaken by the Wildlife

— uuu vcjs, tuuiuinaiea

by Alan, are being carried out at 40 sites in
BC and provide information on rates of
oiling (10% so far; low by international
standards) and on periodic die-offs. He also
mentioned ongoing work on diving perfor-
mance of alcids, mainly conducted in con-
junction with students, and the research of
aron Dechesne, who is studying the
validations of Marbled Murrelets.

Ian Goudie described his current re-
search on sea-ducks, especially Harlequins.
It has been possible to band large numbers
of HADU andresightings indicate that some
birds from the US move north to winter in
BC waters. He presented a tentative model
for Harlequin populations, suggesting that
they are capable of sustaining only a very
low hunting mortality, probably only a few
percent annually.

Ken Morgan described surveys that
he is carrying out on ships of opportunity to
fill in gaps in our knowledge of offshore
distributions. He is also investigating the
effects of offshore seamounts in concen-
trating marine birds. In addition, he is car-
rying out counts every six weeks in the

f™* nest s * tes ’ °f which 6 have so far been

opportunity. Trudy Chatwin of the B.C. Ms may have been caused b/tot£ coordinated

intendSl 0 ^ 11 ^ 11 ” 1611 * ™ te8t8arein progress. She would be interested

intending to produce a manual of tech- to hear of similar obsetvahons elsewhere.

mques for censusmg and monitoring ma- Anne Harfenist oudined an ongoing

Zt * ose interested should con- reseaichprogrammeon the demography of

T 7 . . . . Cassin’s Auklet atFrederick Island. Seven

main from diverse observaS orSr Shar0n DeCheSne ’ who * *W*g the

tound^dthero^ofphenomenasuch vocali.ahons of Marbled Murreiete.

” bland and those being conducted by 1
Bnush Columbia He dso described the Laskeek Bay Conservation Society at Reef
work of the Laskeek Bay Conservation Island. y

fn^teW^° ,inESeabird r U ! ati0nS Andy Derocher described aproject to

35 311 e f™. ple , of what capture Marbled Murrelets at Delation
couHtedone by non-professionals Sound, which is being earned out in con-

Fred Cooke gave a broad outline of junction with Gaiy Kaiser and Kathy Mar-
e programme being pursued by the new tin. This year 176 MAMU were caught in
Wddhfe Chair at Simon Fraser University 22 trapping nights and 43 were eqjpped
and emphasized the importance of survival with radios. One nest was found by radkh

Un ,f rSt T dlng pop “ lation tracking in the Moumain Hemlock zone
ynamics, especially m the context of re- and some information was obtained on for-
cently developed software that allows more agingpattems
toib'eanalysisofrapnu-e-recapturedata. Gary Kaiser gave a summary of the
The introductory talks were followed by current rat-eradication project afLangam

Island This summer, brodifacum was used lying out counts every six weeks in the
ml P S Straits of Georgia and weekly counts from

„ __ ^ ttuaulc ^ aV,OUr was 38 pre - the Victoria feny. He is involved in discus-

Chair; a research station on Triangle Island was actively 2 Sen f T ° ns over ^ establishment of marine

undertaking population studies o/breeding S f P National Wildlife Areas in BC, with

researchers was constructed, boardwalks out of ciVht , as a candidate.

were laid over sensitive areas, and banding to determine thffate of ^ a 777 Sun,T3n > 8 studying the diet

and breeding biology studies were initi- was taken hv ...ik t, , ^ S6 f' None 3311 chlck growth of cormorants in the

ated, concentrating™ Cassin’s AukJet, Str ^ of Georgia.wilh a view m improv-

Rhinoceros Auklet and Tufted Puffin, dined by about 90 ? dnrincr!h7 a ™ ^ 7 g the understanding of analyses for toxic

r«=2KS.*£ sfS SXs pss SMSTSiltT

-w-hwSS SSISiS'J^SSA

^ iS ^ 8ymptodcc ;hic* : tnass. He also mentioned

Alan Burger described a series of dif-
ferent studies with' which he is involved.

. 7" ' ~ J Regular boat transects on the Vancouver

project on the growth and departure age of Island shelf are designed to analyse coarse

the vIT 1x5 ‘ estin g scale variations in seabird abundance. In-
to Ytalterg model of fledgrngbeund- shore boat transects in Ilarcley Sound are

S predictio^^Sp^ — e studies, e^ecIaiTwheTe

growth rates to age at fledging. Field work ***** Solved. It was sug-

this year, as part of the Tangle Island gested that each study select indices appro-

study V involved measuring the growth of a decade ago Obsei^tinm^r i T ? mte 10 deteCt inter 'y ear variation in feed-

several hundred chicks and some manipu- i ty of MAMUs are being made in Carm mg COndilions and contri bute the informa-

latipns of date of hatching. Many chicks ml ^ bon to an annual compilation, in the form of

developed symptoms described as “sh uteye prcfercnce ,d lon^^^ Tr^rt^

Leach’s Storm-Petrels. Diet studies were
carried out for the auklets and puffins.
Moira Lemon, of the GWS, repeated sur-
veys of the permanent monitoring plots Set
up in 1984.

YolandeMorbey described her M Sc.

mass. ne aiso mentioned
the ongoing interest of John Elliot and Phil
Whitehead in studying toxic chemicals in
manne birds arid the possibilities for col-
labbratioii

Following the research talks, there was
a round-table discussion on ways to im-
prove communication and increase inte-
gration among studies, especially where

Pacific Seabirds* Vol. 21 No. 2 • Fall 1994

Regional Reports

information could be contributed to the
P.S.G. Monitoring Programme. Problems
of selecting indices, ensuring comparabil-
ity, and accuracy and possible publication
formats, including an electronic bulletin-
board were discussed. It was agreed that
there would be an annual meeting of the
group in (or about) November each year, at
which annual indices would be compiled.
Methods for dissemination would be re-
viewed, but initially some kind of hard-
copy formal would be employed. Fred
Cooke offered to have the Wildlife Chair
host the meeting. A good time was had by
all.

Tony Gaston

Northern California

Paul Kelly and Dave Jessup (Califor-
nia Department of Fish and Game) are
overseeing a variety of contracts for the
Department’s Oil Spill Response and Pre-
vention Program. The following individu-
als or organizations are under contract to
CDFG-OSPR to collect baseline informa-
tion on Califomiamarine wildlife resources
and develop injury assessment protocols
for future oil spills: Harry Carter (NBS),
Dan Anderson (UCD), Mike Boimell, Ken
Briggs, Breck Tyler, and Dave Lewis
(UCSC); University of California School
of Veterinary Medicine; Hobbs Seaworld
Inc. , and PointReyes Bird Observatory (for
more details see below, under each organi-
zation).

Gerry McChesney of California State
University, Sacramento is concluding his
Master’s thesis. His study is on the breed-
ing biology of Brandt’s Cormorants at
San Nicolas Island, California and is part of
a joint NBS (California Pacific Science
Center)/U. S.Navy (Mugu Naval Air Weap-
ons Station) project.

Dr. Andrew Thompson of Santa Clara
University, with support from the Elkhom
Slough Volunteer Program, is studying how
sexual selection operates in monogamous
birds, using the Plain Titmouse as an ex-
ample.

Pam Brynes is continuing her Master’s
thesis through Moss Landing Marine Labo-
ratories (MLML) on egret foraging behav-
ior, correlating habitat use with prey popu-
lations.

Jennifer Parkin, MLML, is focusing
her thesis on a new Caspian Tern rookery

Pacific Seabirds • Vol. 21 No. 2 * Fall 1994

in the Reserve restored marsh. There were
187 nests, up from 80 nests on the island
last year. This increase is attributed in part
because Parkin mowed weeds from the
nesting area to increase nesting habitat.

Andrew De Vogelaere and Steven
Kimple,ESNERR, have developed an aerial
balloon photography technique to observe
the mixed Great Egret and Great Blue
Heron rookery on the Reserve. The rook-
ery has grown from 1 nesting pair of herons
to 61 egret pairs in 1993. Extensive nesting
use appears to be affecting the Monterey
pines; several have fallen or are dying.

Mark Silberstein is woridng with Ri-
chard Zimmerman and Randy Alberti,
Hopkins Marine Station, on a seagrass res-
toration and biology project in the Elkhom
Slough Reserve.

Deborah Jaques and Craig Strong
are completing the final report of a two year
project assessing disturbance to Brown
Pelicans at Pt. Mugu Naval Air Weapons
station for the Navy in contract with NBS-
CPSC. The project also includes aerial and
ground surveys of pelican roost sites
throughout southern California.

Under Dan Anderson (UC Davis),
Jaques and Strong and continuing their
coastal State Park Marine Bird and Mam-
mal Project. The focus of this project is a
resource inventory and description of sea-
bird and mammal habitats in state park
units and current management issues.

Jim Harvey and John Mason (Moss
Landing Marine Laboratory) continue to
monitor the monthly distribution and abun-
dance of seabirds in Monterey Bay using
strip survey methodology. One fixed
transect and two random transects are at-
tempted each month. These data will be
compared with previous years and with
oceanographic conditions. Accompanying
these transects are weekly surveys of three
2-km sections of beach. Beachcast bird
number and species will be compared with
the data from ocean transects.

Harvey and Mason are also conduct-
ing seabird and mammal surveys at the
Naval Disposal Site west of the Farallon
Islands to determine the effect of dredge
disposal on distribution and abundance of
birds and mammals in this area.

Student Jamie Scholten is examining
the nesting ecology, behaviors, and ocean
distribution of cormorants off Monterey.

National Biological Survey biologists
Harry Carter, Darrell Whitworth, Leigh

Ochikubo, Gerry McChesney, and Mark
Pierson (Minerals Management Service)
conducted surveys of Xantos’ Murrelets,
Ashy Storm-petrels, and certain other spe-
cies and colonies in the Channel Islands.
Several important colonies were discov-
ered using new survey techniques, espe-
cially at Anacapa, Santa Cruz, and San
Clemente islands. This work was fundedby
the U. S. Navy (Legacy Resources Man-
agement Program) and conducted in coop-
eration with the Pl Mugu Naval Air Weap-
ons Station (Tom Keeney). Surveys will
continue in 1995.

McChesney continued to work with
thePoint Mugu Naval Air Weapons Station
(Tom Keeney) to study and monitor sea-
birds at San Nicolas Island, focusing on
Brandt’s Cormorants. Deborah Jaques
and Craig Strong completed a two-year
study of roosting Brown Pelicans at Point
Mugu as well as surveys throughout the
Channel Islands (also see Jaques and Strong
report). These projects have been funded
by the Point Mugu Naval Air Weapons
Station (Environmental Division) and
through the Legacy Resource Management
Program.

NBS (CPSQ and USFWS (San Fran-
cisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge) con-
tinued annual surveys for Common
Murres, Brandt’s Cormorants, and
Double-crested Cormorants in 1994. Al-
most all coastal colonies in northern, cen-
tral, and southern California were surveyed
using aerial photography. In addition, sev-
eral inland colonies of White Pelicans,
Double-crested Cormorants, and Cali-
fornia Gulls were surveyed in cooperation
with the Point Reyes Bird Observatory
(Dave Shuford). Funding to date has been
provided by the California Department of
Fish and Game (Oil Spill Prevention and
Response), the U. S. Fish and Wildlife
Service, and the U. S. Navy.

Roger Hothem (NBS/Pacific Research
Group) is currently summarizing studieson
contaminants and reproductive success in
Snowy Egrets and Black-crowned Night
Herons in two colonies in San Francisco
Bay. Carolyn Mam and Joe Skorupa
continue to investigate reproductive suc-
cess in many species of waterfowl and
shorebirds in the Tulare Basin in agricul-
tural drainwater areas.

Harry Ohlendorf continues to spe-
cialize in wildlife toxicology with a special
interest in the effects of contaminants on

Regional Reports

aquatic birds. Several current projects in-
volve ecological risk assessments at
Superfund sites and other locations where
contaminants are of concern because of
their potential effects on birds (as well as
other animals and plants). He is also work-
ing on projects related to broader issues of
wetlands and environmental enhancement

Kristin Schmidt and John Hunter
(S ix Rivers National Forest), C. John Ralph
and Sherri Miller (Redwood Sciences Lab-
USFS), Howard Stauffer (Humboldt State
University-Dept of Mathematics), and
Lynn Roberts (USFWS-Sacramento Of-
fice) have been cooperatively developing a
proposal for a study to better define the
range and distribution of the Marbled
Murrelet at far inland sites on federal lands
in northern California.

Craig Strong, Jeff Jacobsen, Ron
LeValley, Brian Smith and others carried
outpopulation and productivity assessment
cruises for Marbled Murrelets from the
Oregon border to PL Arena, California, in
June and July. In August and early Septem-
ber this crew on productivity assessment
cruises near Crescent City and Trinidad,
California. By using abdominal body molt
and wing molt, we were able to obtain age-
ratio data (fledgling/after hatch-year) into
September. Craig Strong, Bill Mclver,
Ian Gaffney, and Chuck Striplen carried
out productivity assessment and distribu-
tion cruises for Marbled Murrelets along
the length of the Oregon coast in AugusL
Murrelets were concentrated near rocky
points and headlands this August, in con-
trast to their predominance off sandy shores
earlier in summer (1992, 1993). The pro-
portion of fledglings was generally over
0,05, but we are still awaiting final analysis.

POINT REYES BIRD OBSERVATORY
A. Farallon National Wildlife Refuge and
Gulf of the Farallones.

Bill Sydeman, Peter Pyle, David
Ainley, and Elizabeth McLaren continue
to monitor breeding seabirds and marine
mammals at the Farallon Islands. They are
continuing demographic and dietary stud-
ies on Western Gulls, Brandt’s Cormo-
rants, Cassin’s Anklets, Common
Murres, Pigeon Guillemots, and Rhinoc-
eros Anklets on Farallon NWR. Winter
colony attendance by Common Murres
and Western Gulls also is being investi-
gated. Continuing in 1994, Sydeman,
Walter Jarman, McLaren, Pyle, Keith

Hobson, and Lloyd Kiff worked to analyze
data for studies of contaminant levels,
trophic structure, and bioaccumulation of
contaminants in marine birds and mam-
mals in the Gulf of theFarallones. Sydeman
and Nadav Nur are developing a spatially
explicit population model for Common
Murres in Califomia with funds from the
California Department of Fish and Game
Office of Od Spill Prevention and Response.
Sydeman and Tom Schuster are developing
the Oil Spill Response Team for California.

David Ainley, Larry Spear, and Sa-
rah Allen continue to investigate pelagic
distribution of seabirds in relation to prey
and other habi tat features in central Califor-
nia, using GIS and remote sensing tech-
niques. The study is being conducted in
conjunction with theNational Marine Sanc-
tuary and National Marine Fisheries Ser-
vice. They devised a separate report on the
Marbled Murrelet for the U. S. Forest
Service.

Sydeman and Michelle Hester are
restoring and monitoring the Rhinoceros
Auklet population on Ano Nuevo Island,
Sydeman and Jack Feldman monitored
population size and breeding success of
gulls, cormorants, and Xantiis Murrelet
on Santa Barbara Island in 1993 with fund-
ing from Channel Islands National Park.

B. Coast and Estuaries.

Gary Page, Lynne Stenzel, Dave
Shuford, and Janet Kjelmyr continue a
shorebird ecology project, coordinating
spring, fall, and winter shorebird surveys in
coastal and interior wetlands of all states
west of the Rocky Mountains. Staff and
research associates continue to monitor
breeding success and juvenile dispersal of
Snowy Plovers along Monterey Bay. They
are also conducting winter population sur-
veys along the west coast of the United
States. John andRicky Warriner and Gary
Page are participating in a project to protect
plover nests from mammalian (red fox)
predation using predator exclosures (see
under USFWS - SFBNWR).

D. Mono Lake.

Christine King and Dave Shuford
continue studying breeding success and
population size of California Gulls,

E. Other Regions.

David Ainley,Larry Spear, and Chris
Ribic (University of Wisconsin) continue
studies of pelagic seabird communities in
the eastern equatorial Pacific. Ainley and
Richard Podolsky (with Greg Spencer

and Leah DeForest) are investigating popu-
lation stability and effects of human-in-
duced mortality on Newell’s Shearwaters
and Dark-rumped Petrels on Kauai;
Nadav Nur is helping with development of
demographic models of these species.

SANTA CRUZ MINSMURRELET GROUP

The Singers, working in cooperation
with David Suddjian and a team of volun-
teer biologists, continue to investigate new
and old Marbled Murrelet nest sites and
associated flight and vocalization behavior
in Big Basin Redwoods State Park. This
year, murrelets were found nesting in the
same nest as was used in 1991.

With the support from the California
Department of Fish and Game and San
Francisco State University* Steve Singer is
continuing a project that will locate all
areas of remaining old-growth forest in the
Santa Cruz Mountains and survey as many
as possible for murrelet activity .This effort
has revealed several new areas being uti-
lized by murrelets, including at least one
new probable breeding locale.

SANFRANCISCOBAYBIRDOBSERVATORY

SFBBO continues to monitor colonial
nesting birds in south San Francisco Bay,
including Caspian and Forster’s terns,
herons, egrets, and California Gulls.

USFWS/SAN FRANCISCO BAY NWR

Jean Takekawa participated in aerial
seabird surveys throughout central and
northern California as part of a coastal
California seabird survey (see NBS-CPSC
above).

Mike Parker and other Refuge biolo-
gists continued to work with PRBO to evalu-
ate the effectiveness of predator exclosures
around Snowy Plover nests at Salinas River
NWR and many other sites along Monterey
Bay. Predator management was initiated in
early 1994 throughput a large portion of the
Monterey Bay area. Work was conducted
by USDA - Animal Damage Control and
the Refuge. Joint funding was provided by
USFWS, State Parks, and County Parks.
The program was directed at reducing pre-
dation of selected predators, with aprimary
focus on non-native red foxes. Preliminary
results indicate that theprogram was highly
effective. PRBO reports that Snowy Plo-
ver reproductive success in 1994 was the
highest since the monitoring program be-
gan in the early 1980s in the Monterey Bay

Pacific Seabirds • Vol. 21 No. 2 • Fall 1994

Regional Reports

area. The use of predator exclosures will be
evaluated in the coming year. Funding is
being sought to continue predator manage-
ment in 1995.

Mike Parker (USFWS-SFBNWR),
and Harry Carter and Gerry McChesney
(NBS-CPSC) conducted a survey for Ashy
Storm-petrels and other crevice and bur-
row nesters on the North Farallon Islands.
They are preparing a report summarizing
this effort

California Clapper Rail monitoring
and studies in San Francisco Bay are con-
tinuing. Population increases observed in
1993 were sustained in early 1994. Contin-
ued predator management (primarily non-
native red fox removal) appears to be a
major contributing factor in recent popula-
tion increases. Joy Albertson , Cooperative
Education student with the Refuge, is com-
pleting her Master’s research on factors
affecting reproductive success in Califor-
nia Clapper Rails, focusing on contami-
nants and predation.

Stephani Zador and other Refuge bi-
ologists, in cooperation with the San Fran-
cisco Bay Bird Observatory, are develop-
ing a program to use decoys to encourage
restoration of colonial nesting bird colonies
that were destroyed by red fox predation on
the SFBNWR. Decoys will be used to en-
hance Caspian Tern and heron and egret
nesting colonies.

As part of a nationwide effort, the
SFBNWR Complex is evaluating all sec-
ondary uses on refuges within the complex,
to assess whether they are compatible with
the purposes for which each refuge was
established. The impacts of hunting, boat-
ing* and trail use on roosting Brown Peli-
cans and other waterbirds and shorebirds
are being evaluated at Salinas River NWR.
Public input is currently being solicited to
be used to develop a public use plan and
draft environmental assessment A similar
evaluation will soon be conducted for
SFBNWR.

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, DAVIS

UC Davis graduate students, working
under Dan Anderson, are conducting or
finishing the following projects relating to
seabirds:

Steve Detwiler, behavior and physiol-
ogy of wetland birds species in habitats
contaminated by agricultural chemicals.

Ruth Anne Elbert, population biol-
ogy and behavior of Western Grebes and

Osprey in contaminant-contrasted habitats
in northern California.

Frank Gress, monitoring reproduc-
tive success of Brown Pelicans in the South-
ern California Bight His long term moni-
toring project on Brown Pelicans at
Anacapa Island includes food studies and
breeding biology investigations. He is moni-
toring Brandt’s Cormorants and Pelagic
Cormorants and is studying the effects of
the El Nino on seabirds of Anacapa Island
and in the Southern California Bight Pol-
lutant studies are being written up on Brown
Pelicans and Double-crested Cormorants
from 1977-1993. A paper has been submit-
ted with Dan Anderson with results from
the telemetry study on the effects of oiling
on Brown Pelicans.

Leopoldo Moreno, ecology of White
Pelicans in the Klamath Basin: population
status, feeding ecology, and habitat/water-
use patterns.

Eduardo Palacios, seasonal activity
patterns and genetic variation in contrast-
ing populations of the California Brown
Pelicans.

Anderson is currently conducting ra-
diotelemetry studies on the basic biology of
Brown Pelicans to determine seasonal
movement and activity patterns for oil-
damage assessments. He will also be work-
ing with Bill Sydeman atPRBO to assist
CDFG in establishing baseline data and
conducting damage assessments for Com-
mon Murres, using similar techniques.
Anderson and Palacios will also continue
long-term monitoring of Brown Pelicans
and other seabirds in the Gulf of California.

D. Michael Fry is conducting a toxic-
ity study to exam ine petroleum arid dispers-
ant effects on isolated red blood cells, as a
model for hemolytic anemia of seabirds
exposed to oil. He is continuing his woikon
pollutants in seabird eggs along the Pacific
Coast. A study is in progress on mitochon-
drial DNA sequencing in Marbled
Murrelets and auklets, comparing Cali-
fornia and Alaskan populations. D. Michael
Fry and Dan Anderson continue their te-
lemetry studies on the recovery of Brown
Pelicans following release from cleaning
centers.

Jay Davis is conducting his Ph.D. re-
search with D. Michael Fry on the ecology
and pollutant exposure in cormorants in
San Francisco Bay and the Delta.

Michael Bonnell and Breck Tyler, at
the University of California, Santa Cruz,

Pacific Seabirds • Vol. 21 No. 2 * Fall 1994

are conducting monthly aerial surveys of
marine birds and mammals in Monterey
Bay, the Gulf of the Farallones, and other
state waters. This work is done under con-
tract with CDFG as part of the State’s Oil
Spill Prevention and Response program.
The survey team, which also includes Ken
Briggs, Mark Pierson, Dave Lewis, and
Dan Varoujean, participated in the recent
oil spill “drill” in Los Angeles, providing
real timedataon animal distributions at sea
to facilitate response decisions.

Jean Takakawa

Southern California

Pat Baird and three of her students
presented papers on their foraging ecology
studies on California Least Terns at the
combined AGU/Wilson/Cooper meetings
in Missoula, Montana in June. The study,
funded by the U. S. Navy, continues and
will be expanded in 1995 to include more
colonies. In part because of the detailed
work of four of her students on an ecologi-
cal characterization of southern foredune
habitat in Port Hueneme, a proposal for an
RV paik adjacent not only to a remnant
southern foredune/wetland but also to a
Least Tern colony, was denied by the
California Coastal Commission in Septem-
ber. Roosting Least Terns and nesting
Western Snowy Plovers were to havebeen
displaced by the park. Pat also presented a
poster at the International Ornithological
Congress in Vienna in August

Lisa Ballance just recently received a
second year of funding as an NRC post-
doctoral student She is working in con-
junction with Robert Pitman and Steve
ReDly. They are preparing to go on cruise in
the tropical Indian Ocean from February
through August to study community ecol-
ogy of seabirds and marine mammals and
their prey. Ship time will be paid for by the
NMFS labs. The primary research purpose
of the ship is for oceanographic projects,
and most of time they will be between 20
degrees latitude north and south. They will
be comparing the community ecology of
the Indian Ocean with that of the tropical
eastern Pacific Ocean, with which they are
more familiar. One of the main questions
they will be asking is: are subsurface preda-
tors as important for seabirds in the Indian
Ocean as they are in the eastern Pacific
Ocean?

Regional Reports

Donna Brewer continues on herround-
the-world cniise with her husband on their
sailboat Currently she is somewhere in
between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.

Charlie Collines continues to super-
vise some Least Tern and Snowy Plover
projects in southern California, some of
which are funded by theU. SJSTavy, He also
is “on the circuit,” giving talks at various
Audubon groups throughout the southland.
He has a graduate student studying winter
distribution of skimmers.

Mary Beth Decker still hopes to be
graduating from UCI in March of 1995
with her PhD. She will be continuing her
work on seabird use of fronts around the
Pribilof Islands and will also be studying
auklet foraging at small scale features in
the western Aleutian Islands.

Although still a California resident,
Jan Dierks is been the proud owner of
Columbine Cabins, 30 miles north of Steam-
boat Springs, Colorado. It is an old mining
town which she and her husband are restor-
ing. Probably not a lot of seabirds pass over
but she’s still looking. If anyone wants to
come up for a non- marine retreat from
civilization, apparently this is the place!

Hugh Ellis is finishing up his analyses
on thermoregulation in Brown Noddies off
of Hawaii. He is also studying energy bud-
gets of Eared Grebes at Mono Lake (not an
easy task with so many of them and with the
high predation rates there). Hugh is also
spending many hours heading up the Ma-
rine Studies program at the University of
San Diego.

Bill Everett is still conducting his long-
term studies at the Coronado Islands, the
mouth of the Colorado River and on
Guadalupe Island. Somehow, in between
all of these projects, he is organizing the
January meeting of the PSG in San Diego as
well as spearheading the effort to prepare a
package to propose “endangerged species”
status to the Xantus’ Murrelet

Judith Latta Hand, along with Sheila
Mahoney (Florida Atlantic University),
organized and spoke at the well-attended
“Women in Ornithology” seminar at the
combined AOU/Cooper/Wilson meetings
in Missoula in June. She is currently writ-
ing a book, “The Voice of the Goddess,”
about the- Minoan civilization of Crete,
applying her well-hewn research techniques
in science to those in archeology and pre-
history.

Kathy Keane (married in July to a

geologist), just completed aforaging study of
California Least Terns in Los Angeles Har-
bor. She will soon begin analyzing Least
Tern data from Camp Pendleton, under a
grant from the U.S. Navy, to determine if
there is a difference in survival to adulthood
of chicks produced by two-year olds versus
those produced by more experienced birds.

Lloyd Kiff recently left the Western
Foundation of Vertebrate Zoology.

John Konecny, USFWS, is monitor-
ing Black Skimmers, Caspian, Forster’s,
Elegant, Least, Gull-billed and occasion-
ally Royal terns at the Western Salt salt-
works in south San Diego Bay. He is
colorbanding their chicks. Likewise, not-
ing that Double-crested Cormorants have
built nesting platforms on an old dredge
crane at the Saltworks (the only mainland
nesting of this species south of San Fran-
cisco), he is proposing that similar struc-
tures be built in Mission and San Diego
bays and Long Beach Harbor to encourage
mainland nesting of this species.

Pat Mock is keeping very busy con-
tinuing to supervise research on watefbird
foraging in San Diego Bay and doing
waterbird studies in the Salton Sea. Like-
wise, he is working on regional planning
for biodiversity in general, and for Califor-
nia Gnatcatcher population viability in
specific, in San Diego County, and also on
the effects of helicopter noise on Least
Bell’s Vireos at Camp Pendleton.

Mark Pierson is involved in a popula-
tion study on San Miguel Island, funded by
the U. S. Navy, focusing on Xantus’
Murrelets and storm petrels, mainly
Ashy, Leach’s and Black. With Mike
McCrary, he is studying shorebird distri-
bution along the shoreline of Ventura
County. He is also involved with California
Fish and Game’s OSPR (oil spill preven-
tion and response) group and is currently in
the training phase with Breck Tyler (UC
Santa Cruz). The thrust of this training is to
conduct seabird and marine mammal sur-
veys, in case of an oil spill, collecting real
time data in advance of a slick in order to
assess: impacts.

Paula White is taking a hiatus from
seabirds and is studying spotted hyenas in
eastern Africa with Lawrence Frank (U.C.
Berkeley) for the next six months.

Eric Woehler is finishing his PhD. at
UC Irvine, (which, according to George
Hunt, his major professor, will be done be
3 1 March), looking at food consumption by

high-latitude seabirds in both arctic and
antarctic systems. He is also modeling
bioenergetics of seabirds at sea. With
George, he is studying foraging behavior of
anklets (Least and Crested) in the
Aleutians (Buldir, Kiska, Gareloi) and
physical oceanography of the region.

Pat Bcdrd

Non-Pacific United States

In work by the National Audubon So-
ciety, the Laysan Albatross colonization
project on Kaohikaipu Island (Oahu, Ha-
waii) will begin its second season in No-
vember 1995. During the first season (De-
cember 1993 to May 1994), Stephen Kress
and Richard Podolsky report that alba-
tross were sighted on the island during
28% of observation days, with as many as
four individuals displaying among the de-
coys and sound recordings. On the Maine
coast, Kress began a colonization project
with Razorbills at Seal Island National
Wildlife Sanctuary, and continued similar
studies with Common Murres on
Matinicus Rock. Kress also continued stud-
ies of aversive taste conditioning for reduc-
ing predation of Black-crowned Night
Herons on Roseate and Common Tern
chicks, and studied nocturnal abandonment
of terns in response to night-heron preda-
tion. Studies of tern chick provisioning
continued at six Maine colonies.

At the University of Wyoming,
Clayton Derby and Jim Lovvorn studied
the diets of Doable-crested Cormorants
and White Pelicans on the North Platte
River for a second summer. Cormorants
again fed mainly on suckers, dace, and
minnows from their arrival in spring until
trout were stocked in early June, after which
they ate mostly trout Pelicans, which were
much more numerous, consumed mostly
suckers and dace throughout the spring and
summer.

Jim Lovvorn

Pacific Rim

Significances toration work has begun
at Midway Atoll. With funding from the
U.S. Navy and technical assistance from

Continued on page 3 0

Pacific Seabirds • Vol. 21 No. 2 • Fall 1994

Book Reviews

Bird Migration. A General Survey by Peter
Berthold. 1994. Oxford University Press,
New York x +239 pp., 50 figures. ISBN 0-
19-854692-0, cloth $5150; ISBN 0-19-
854691-2, Paperback $26.50.

Over the last two decades our under-
standing of bird migration has greatly in-
creased. The author, Peter Berthold, is one
of the leading German researchers of mi-
gration. His book is a good overview of the
field. At the same time, it is not a thorough
and detailed text. Written by a European,
the book is, perhaps, lighten the American
literature, but is a good introduction to the
large and impressive work being done in
Europe.

Most studies of migration have in-
volved passerines. This book concentrates
on these birds, with less attention to non-
passerines. Among the larger birds, the
greatest attention is given to the European
White S tork Ciconia ciconia about which a
great deal is known. Seabirds are hardly
mentioned.

The book includes an introduction and
11 chapters of which four are most impor-
tant and make up the bulk of the book. A
chapter on current methods of studying bird
migration summarizes the various methods
used. The phenomena of bird migration
describes the many kinds of movements
from irruptions to nomadic movements to
the seasonal migrations between breeding
and non-breeding areas. The rest of the
hook deals primarily with the movements
between breeding and non-breeding areas.
A chapter on physiological bases and con-
trol of bird migration describes the exciting
work that has been done in Germany on
physiological changes in birds associated
with migration as well as the large-scale
breeding and genetic studies. These in-
clude breeding experiments on partially
migratory populations in which birds were
selected for their tendency to migrate. The
results suggest that with strong selection, it
would take only a few generations for a
population to consist of all migratory or all
sedentary birds. A chapter on orientation
mechanisms describes the various orienta-
tion mechanisms and theories on orienta-
tion. As the author notes, this chapter is
taken largely from a volume on the subject
edited by Berthold in 1991.

Pacific Seabirds • Vol. 21 No. 2 * Fall 199

1 enjoyed the book and thoroughly

recommend it as a summary of the field and

introduction to the large amount of work
being done in Europe.

Malcolm C. Coulter. P. O. Box 48,
Chocorua, New Hampshire 0381 7

Mediterranean Marine Avifauna: Popula-
tion studies and conservation.
MEDMARAVIS & X. Monbailliu (eds.).
NATO ASI Series G., vol. 12. pp. 535,
ISBN 0-387-16092-2. Springer, Berlin.
1986.

In this book we find the proceedings of

the First Mediterranean Seabird Sympo-
sium, held at Algheto, Sardinia in 1986,
called together by the then newly founded
Medmaravis Association with support of
NATO’s research branch. Normally we
would notreview abookprinted eight years
ago, but in our journal we already reviewed
(vol. 2 1 :34) the second symposium of 1989;
the first one before us was an equally im-
portant event It is printed entirely in the
English language, but there is also an Ital-
ian version.

Eight papers deal with census surveys,
and notable is the One (by Meininger and
Baha el Din) on seabirds along the Mediter-
ranean coastofEgyptfrom where there was
hardly any recent information. In the chap-
ter on Data Banks & Census Techniques we

learn by the experience of Hemery,Pasquet,
and Yesou who developed population moni-
toring techniques along the coasts ofFrance.
P.GJH. Evans’s paper on the same subject
but extending it to the whole North Atlantic
Ocean gives methods and data that are
directly applicable to our North Pacific
seabird researches. Our own researchers,
Elizabeth, and the late Ralph Schreiber,
write about pitfalls of census techniques.

The only endemic seabird of theMedi-
terranean, the rare Audouin’s Gull (Lotus
audouini) is seriously threatened by its ex-
panding congener L. cachinnans, and sev-
eral papers deal with this problem. Four
more papers and several poster abstracts
discuss population fluctuations and ecolo-
gies of larids, one, but a very interesting
one, with biometrics of the Mediterranean
populations of Cory’s Shearwater,
Calonectris diomedea, by Massa and lo
Yalvo of Italy. The last nine papers, on
conservation and management problems,
lead to the resolutions concluded by this

important and well attended gathering of
seabird researchers and managers, published
in English, French, Italian and Spanish on
behalf of study and conservation of sea-
birds.

M. D. F . Udvardy, Department of
Biolo gical Sciences, California State
University, Sacramento, California

95819, USA

BirdPopulations: A journal of global avian
biogography . Published annually by The
Institute for Bird Populations. P. O. Box
1346,PointReyes Station, CA 94956-1346,
USA. ISSN 1074-1755. Subscription with
membership in the Institute (taxfree in the
USA) is USD 35 per year.

As the editors state that “A major goal
of Bird Populations is the printing or re-
printing of the annual reports of the major
avian monitoring programs from around
the world,” the bulk of this issue is taken up
by annual reports of various population
monitoring survey reports, eight from the
U.K., and two from the USA. The first
issue, of 1993, contains three research pa-
pers, one of them dealing with a seasonal
coastal seabird, Gavia.adamsiU by M. R.
North.

The 1994 issue, now in the press, will
have two papers of seabird interest Peter
Pyle and David F. Desame are writing
about trends in waterbird and raptor popu-
lations at Southeast Farallon Islands, Cali-
fornia 1974-1993. JanetM. andTimothy C.
Williams’s paper concerns seabird density
observed at two circumnavigations in the
tropic, subtropic, and subarctic Pacific
Ocean.

We wish success to the editors of the
new journal.

M. D. F. Udvardy, Department of
Biological Sciences, California State
University, Sacramento, Calif orna
95819, USA

Books received

A Field Guide to the Birds of Borneo ,
Sumatra, Java , and Bali. 1993. John
MacKinnon and Karen Phillipps. Oxford
University Press. ($85.00 cloth; 489 pp;
color plates; ISBN 0-19-854035-3).

The Birdwatcher's Handbook: A Guide to
the Natural History of the Birds of Britain

Books

Thick-billed Murre masturbating on grass clump

Atypical (?) sexual behavioramong
murres (reverse mounting, several males
mounting the same female simulta-
neously, etc.) is not unusual among
Thick-billed Murres, which seem to
have great enthusiasm for copulation
(see Birkhead 1993, “Great Auk Is-
lands’ 1 ). However, despite aggregating
many hundreds of hours of observa-
tions on the species, we have never
previously witnessed masturbation. On
1 6 June 1 994, while conducting a watch
designed to quantify rates of copulation
in relation to age at Coats Island, NWT,
we both separately witnessed one Thick-
billed Murre repeatedly copulate with a
tuft of grass. The masturbation took
place on an area of grass lm above a
broad ledge used mainly by prospect-
ing murres 2-4 years old. The bird in-
volved was not banded, but seems cer-

tain to have been the same one each
time. On at least four occasions we saw
the bird land on the grass (unusual, be-
cause most birds only landed on the
rocky ledge) and proceed to “tread down”
a grass toft, as though positioning itself
on the back of a female. Facing uphill, it
curled its tail under the tuft, as though
under the females tail, and gave every
indication ofgoing through the full copu-
lation routine, spending several seconds
on each contact We did not examine the
grass for signs of semen (there was a
cliff in the way), so we cannot be sure
that sperm was ejaculated. The fact that
the bird repeated die behavior several
times suggests that it obtained positive
reinforcement from it We believe that
this is the first observation of masturba-
tion in a wild alcid.

Tony Gaston, Kaj Kampp

and Europe. 1994. Paul R. Ehrlich, David
S. Dobkin, Darryl Wheye, and Stuart L.
Pimm. Oxford University Press. ($22.00;
660 pp; ISBN 0-19-858407-5).

Other books of interest

Seabirds on I stands: Threats, Case Studies
and Action Plans. Edited by D. N.
Nettleship, J. Burger, and M. Guchfeld.
Bird Life International, Cambridge, UK.
318 pp. (ISBN 0-946888-23-X)

Proceedings of the Seabird Specialist Group
Workshop held at the XX World Confer-
ence of the International Council for Bird
Preservation, University of Waikato,
Hamilton, New Zealand, 19-20 November
1990.

This book contains articles on major topics
of conservation concern for seabirds. It
brings together the work of some of the
world’s leading seabird specialists and de-
scribes the status of island nesting seabirds
around the world with details of threats and
action plans for conservation. It includes
major papers from the Seabird Specialist

entrap seabirds, wire, and old antennas

birds, sea turtles and Hawaiian monk seals
at Midway.

Ken McDermond

which were dumped along shorelines. Corn-
Group Workshop held in New Zealand, bined with rat eradication this cleanup will
(Part of the New Birdlife Conservation significantly improve conditions for sea-
Series, World Bird Club, Birdlife Interna-

tional, Wellbrook Court, Girton Road, Cam-
bridge CB30NA, UK.)

Regional Reports
Continued from page 29_

USDA Animal Damage Control, the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) has
begun a rat (Rattus ratios) eradication pro-
gram on Eastern and Spit Islands. To date
the program has reduced rat populations by
at least 90%. The Service plans to continue
with this effort until it is complete.

The U. S. Navy has also begun to
identify and cleanup environmental con-
taminants and wildlife hazards at Midway
in preparation for base closure. To date
over 100 underground fuel storage tanks

of the tanks have leaked and efforts are

underway to identify the extent of soil and
ground watercomamination. Miscellaneous
hazards are being removed from Eastern
Island. These hazards include pits which

Pacific Seabirds • Vol. 21 No. 2 • Fall 1994

Abstracts

Abstracts of the 4 1 st Annual
East Pacific Ocean

Conference

The 41st Annual East Pacific Ocean Con-
ference was held September 28 through
October 1, 1994 at the Timberline Lodge,

Mt. Hood, Oregon. Thirty-five papers and
posters were presented covering a wide
range ofbiologial and physical oceanogra-
phy topics. The abstracts of three papers of
possible interest to students of marine birds
appear below. Copies of the full set of
abstracts are available fromS. Speich. [Ab-
stracts should not be cited without the per-
mission of authors.]

Distribution of Zooplankton Biomass in
the California Current during Summer,
1993.

Carin J. Ashjian and Sharon L. Smith
(Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmo-
spheric Sciences, University of Miami,
Miami,EL) , and CharlesN. F lagg (Oceano-
graphic and Atmospheric Sciences Divi-
sion, Brookhaven National Laboratory,
Upton, NY)

The distribution of zooplankton biom-
ass in the California Current was estimated
using the acoustic Doppler current profiler
(ADCP) during two cruises surveying the
current in 1993 (June-July, August-Sep-
tember) as part of the Eastern Boundary
Current program. Both the mesoscale re-
gional distributions and small-scale distri-
butions in individual features (jets, eddies)
were described during this multi-investiga-
tor project The goals of the zooplankton
portion of the program were to describe the
association of the zooplankton biomass with
physical features of the current and to iden-
tify the influence of physical forcing on the
biomass patterns. Additionally, this project
offered the opportunity to compare distri-
butions of zooplankton biomass obtained
using two different methods, the single
frequency ADCP and the Sea-Soar mounted
optical plankton counter, and to compare
these distributions to the physical field and
to the distribution of phytoplankton.

Preliminary examination of areal and
vertical distributions of zooplankton biom-
ass from the two cruises reveals the impor-
tance both of biological mechanisms, such
as diel vertical migration, and physical forc-

Pacific Seabirds • Vol. 21 No. 2 * Fall 1994

ing, such as advection, in determining the
biomass distributions. The effect of physi-
cal forcing was especially evident during
the June cruise, when nearshore water was
entrained in a meander of the California
Current jet, injecting high zooplankton bio-
mass offshore. Although diel vertical mi-
gration produced dramatic and obvious
patterns in the vertical distributions of bio-
mass, changes in biomass associated with
physical features were the dominant signal
in the areal distributions of integrated bio-
mass.

Circulation near Cape Blanco, Oregon.
JA. Barth, RL. Smith and A. Huyer (Col-
lege of Oceanic & Atmospheric Sciences,
Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR)
The coastal upwelling region from
433° to 41.5° N off Oregon near Cape
Blanco was explored using CTD on
SeaSoar, ADCP, satellite SST and surface
drifters from 23 Aug to 2 Sep 1994.For five
weeks prior to the cruise, the normally
strong upwelling favorable winds were more
variable than usual. During the cruise, winds
were upwelling favorable. Dynamic height
topography, subsurface property distribu-
tions and satellite SST show that during the
first part of the cruise there was a connec-
tion of coastal waters with a cyclonic eddy
offshore but within 5 days the connection
was weakened. SeaSoar CTD and ADCP
sections were made across the shelf and
slope to about 60 km offshore at 12 loca-
tions between 43.5° N and 41.5° N shore;
several sections were repeated during the
cruise. Coastal upwelling was evident in all
sections: the temperature at 11m decreased
from > 18 C offshore to 12C or less inshore,
and the 33 isohaline was near the surface at
thecoast but below 80 m offshore of 40 km.
Separation of the coastal upwelling front
and jet from the shelf during the early part
of the cruise was evident in subsurface
property distributions. Additional sections
were made across the front as it swerved
offshore. The intersection of the 33 isohaline
with 55 m roughly marked the location of
the coastal upwelling front and jet Early in
the cruise the 33 isohaline was continuous

on the 55 m surface from over the inner
slope at 43° N to nearly 140 km offshore at
42.5° N, curving back to the coast at 42° N.
In the second part of the cruise the intersec-
tion of the 33 isohaline with 55 m was
within 40 km of the coast from 41.5° to
43.5° N.

Three satellite-tracked surface drifters
were deployed north of Cape Blanco in the
equatorward flowing upwelling jet The
drifter releases spanned the shelf break (20
km offshore) with the most inshore deploy-
ment (over the 100 m isobath) separated
from the most offshore release by only 12
km. After transiting south for 35 km at 40
cm j in the upwelling jet, the three drifters
exhibited very different trajectories consis-
tent with dynamic height topography. The
two outermost drifters swept offshore in the
separating jet reaching speeds > 60 cm 4
along the northern limb of the cyclonic
gyre. This pair remained together for 3 days
reaching over 100 km offshore, after which
one drifter followed weak flow to the NW
and was 300 km offshore 12 days after
deployment, while the other continued to
follow the cyclonic eddy circulation ex-
ecuting at least one revolution around the
roughly 80 km diameter eddy with speeds
20-60 cm ^ . In contrast to the offshore fate
of the outer drifters, the inshore drifter was
carried only 35 km Offshore in the separat-
ing jet, but then swept back onshore south
of Cape Blanco, approaching within 11 km
of the coast at one point This drifter fol-
lowed the dynamic height contours along
the equatorward upwelling jet inshore of
the pinched-off cyclonic eddy and after 11
days was 200 km south of its release point.

Coastal and Large-Scale Circulation of
the Peru-Chile Current System. P. Ted
Strub, J. Mesias and Corinne James (Col-
lege of Oceanic & Atmospheric Sciences,
Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR),
Vivian Montecino and Jose Rutllant
(Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile),
and Sergio Salinas (Universidad Catolica
de Valparaiso, Chile)

OffPeru the equatorward Peru Current
flows northwest into the South Equatorial
Current at the surface, the Equatorial Un-
dercurrent splits at the Galapagos into a
branch that flows along the equator to Ec-
uador to become a poleward undercurrent
(which extends to the surface) and a branch
that comes to the surface and reaches Pem
around 7°S as an offshore Peru-Chile Coun-

Abstracts

tercurrent. Thus, much of the flow off Peru
is poleward and the upwelling system is
primarily confined to the upper 50 m. Up-
welling-favorable winds off Peru are stron-
gest in austral winter and the surface layer
displays a clear response to wind events
around “upwelling centers.” Below 50-60
m depth, there is little correlation between
locals winds and currents and the primary
source of variability over the shelf is the
passage of poleward coastal trapped waves.
The poleward undercurrent is found over
the shelf break (as off N. America) and the
countercurrent (with noN. American coun-
terpart) is found 100-300 km offshore, with
a maximum in austral spring. Both under-
current andoffshore countercurrent flow as

far south as central Chile (35°-45°S),butthe
connection between the undercurrent and
offshore countercurrent off central Chile is
unclear. The regions off Ecuador, Peru and
northern Chile are those affected by warm
ENSO events, in well documented fashion.

Wind forcing is upwelling-favorable

all year but weakoff northern Chile (which

may provide a large-scale analog of the

SouthemCaliforniaBight).Windsarestron-

ger and seasonal off central Chile, but up-
weUing-favorable winds are weaker than
off N. America. The equatorward currents
associated with upwelling stay closer to the
coast off Chile than off N. America at
similar latitudes and are separated from the
larger equatorward flow of the Humboldt
Current by the countercurrent. In summer
the coastal currents carry fresh water from
the south and have been called the Fiord
Current The upwelling system appears to
be deeper off central Chile than off Peru
and brings water to the surface from the
undercurrent, which is extremely oxygen
poor. Upwelling also occurs preferentially
at discrete “upwelling centers” off Chile,
where colder filaments extend offshore 100-
200 km during upwelling events lasting a
week or so. Thus, time scales of these
events are similar to those off N. America
but offshore scales of extentare smaller. A
similar phase relation is found between

wind forcing , nutrient enrichment and chlo-
rophyll increases off Chile as offN. America
(wind and nutrient-enrichment lead chloro-
phyllincrease, which is seen primarily dur-
ing wind relaxations).

Seabird 16

Edited by Sarah Wanless

Produced by The Seabird Group
CONTENTS

Do Great Skuas Catharacta skua respond to changes in the nutritional needs of their
chicks?

aalge from north-west Scotland. .

K C Hamer, D.R. Thompson, A. J. Rundle.s. A. Lewis an
Breeding skuas in Orkney: the results of the 1992 census.

Islands.

TTreSofLurbance on growth rate and survival of young Razorbills A/c<r

torda.

ArrS^Shag

'"/a. M. Si*. c. *. ond r- Wacher

Institute of Terrestrial Ecology, Hill ofBrathrens, Banchory, Kincardineshire,
AB314BX United Kingdom -

5cv*s

tr oi xin 9 * Fall 1994

Bulletin Board

Workshop on the Status and
Management of Cormorants in the
Eastern Pacific

Pacifc Seabird Group Meeting,
January 13, 1995

This is a scoping workshop to identify
issues about Cormorant management that
should be addressed by the Pacific Seabird
Group, conservation organizations , and state
and federal agencies. Cormorant manage-
ment is of interest to both the Pacific Sea-
bird Group and the Colonial Waterbird
Society (CWS), so plans may be made for
a larger workshop at the 1 996 joint meeting
with CWS. Some concerns may be unique
to one organization or another and these
should be identified and addressed if neces-
sary. Suggested discussion topics include:

1) public attitudes towards cormorants:
Myth versus truth and what should be done?

2) Population status of Double-crested,
Brandt’ s, andPelagic cormorants: Are there
concerns? 3) Mitigation and protection ver-
sus control of depredation: policy conflicts
or creative management? 4) Cormorants as
environmental indicators: pros and cons. 5)
Human disturbance of cormorant colonies.
6) Cormorants and fish depredations: De-
velopments over the last year. Lora
Leschner, Washington Department of Fish
and Wildlife, is organizing the two hour
workshop. For more information, please
callherat:(206) 775-1311 ext. 121 or write
to her at Washington Department of Fish
and Wildlife, 1 60 18 Mill Creek Blvd., Mill
Creek, WA. 98012.

Fourth International Conference on
“The Effects of Oil on Wildlife”

April 12-14, 1995
Seattle, Washington

The Fourth Intemation Conference on
“The Effects of Oil on Wildlife” is a multi-
disciplinary conference sponsored by
Alyeska Pipeline Service Company and
hosted by the International Bird Rescue
Research Center. The conference is de-
signed for industry response personnel, fed-
eral and state response coordinators,
gonemment and academic researchers, vet-
erinarians, contingency planners, natural
resource damage assessors, and wildlife

rehabilitators. As an international forum,
the conference will feature speakers from
around the globe and emphasize inter-
agency and industry preparedness, as well
as wildlife rehabilitation techniques. Pa-
pers will be published in the proceedings,
which will be available at the conference.
Pre-conference workshops on Basic Oiled
Wildlife Care, Advanced Oiled Wildlife
Care, and Crisis Management & Media
Relations will be held on April 11, 1995.
For general information call Cathy Rineer-
Garber, (206) 423-3649.

4th Medmaravis PanMediterranean
Symposium Tunisia 11-16 April 1995

The Tunisia Symposium will have four
main sessions: Coastal Biodiversity in North
Africa, Population Ecology of Seabirds in
the Western Mediterranean, Population
Ecology of Seabirds in the Western Medi-
terranean and Black Sea, and Conservation

andCoastalZoneManagement.Languages:

French and English, with simultaneous
translations. A day excursion to Tunisia’s
mostfamous seabird island — Zembra — will
also be organized. Papers and poster pre-
sentations related to the sessions’ titles will
be most welcome. Contact John G.,
Walmsley, Medmaravis BP.2 83470 Saint
Maximin, Fiance. Tel. (33) 94 59 40 69,
FAX (33) 94 59 47 38.

Positions Available

Biological technician . GS-5

The Hawaiian Islands National Wild-
life Refuge is recruiting applicants to fill
positions working on Laysan Island. The
length of the positions vary , but will aver-
age from 3-6 months in duration. The project
is ongoing, with several positions available
over the next year. The incumbents will
spend about 60% of their time on control/
eradication of the alien plant Cenchrus
echinatus and about 40% on habitat and
wildlife monitoring projects. Vegetation
control includes use of herbicides (Rodeo)
and manual techniques. Remote living ex-
perience and experience working with sea-
birds or colonial nesting birds is preferred
but not required. Opportunities exist to
integrate a graduate level thesis project as
part of the work. Laysan Island is a remote
uninhabited island 850 miles northwest of

Honolulu. Technicians liveandworkunder

primitive camp conditions. Work involves
carrying heavy backpacks on soft sand and
exposure to extremes of sun and wind.
Communications with the outside world
are limited to irregular radio contacts with
Honolulu. To apply, send a current SF-171,
a transcript or CSC 1170/17, and Pie-Ap-
pointment Certification Statement for Se-
lective Service Registration. Forms and
more information can be obtained by con-
tacting Marc Webber at the Hawaiian Is-
lands National Wildlife Refuge, P.O. Box
50167, Honolulu, Hawaii 96850 (808-541-
1201). PREVIOUS APPLICANTS NEED
NOT REAPPLY TO BE CONSIDERED.

Volunleer Interns Needed

Volunteer interns are needed for sum-
mer 1995 to work on a variety of seabird
projects in Alaska. Depending on funding,
may need up to 10 people for periods rang-
ing from 3 weeks to 4 months. Field work
in 1995 may include ship-based seabird
surveys in the eastern Aleutians, at-sea and
colony-based seabird surveys and trawl-
net fishing in lower Cook Inlet, and boat-
and land-based surveys in Glacier Bay
National Park. Looking for enthusiastic
people with experience in pelagic seabird
surveys, colony studies, diet studies, fish
identification, and computers. Experience
with small boats a definite asset. Weather is
often cold, wet, and wild. Applicants should
be in good physical condition and able to
work well with others under cramped field
conditions. Lodging, food expenses, and a
minimal per diem are provided. Travel to
Alaska will be covered for longer-term
positions. Possibilities for graduate student
collaboration in research projects on sea-
bird foraging, hydroacoustics, oceanogra-
phy, forage fish, and breeding biology.
Send resumes (with phone numbers of three
references, current address, and contact
numbers) and cover letter expressing your
particular interests to Dr. John Piatt, Na-
tional Biological Survey, 101 1 TudorRoad,
Anchorage, Alaska 99503. Or call 907-
786-3549, FAX 907-786-3636, e-mail
R8AFWRC@MAILJFWS.GOV.

Pacific Seabirds * Vol. 21 No. 2 * Fall 1994

Publications

Published Proceedings of
Symposia of the
Pacific Seabird Group

At irregular intervals the Pacific Sea-
bird Group holds symposia at its annual
meetings. Thepublished symposia are listed
below. For availability of individual sym-
posia contact the Technical Editor of Pa-
cific Seabirds.

Shore birds in Marine Environments. Frank
A. Pitelka (Editor). Proceedings of an In-
ternational Symposium of the Pacific Sea-
bird Group, Asilomar, California, January
1977. Published June 1979 in. Studies in
Avian Biology Number 2.

Tropical Seabird Biology. Ralph W.
Schreiber (Editor). Proceedings of an In-
ternational Symposium of the Pacific Sea-
bird Group, Honolulu, Hawaii, December
1982. Published February 1984 in. Studies
in Avian Biology Number 8.

Status and Conservation of the Marbled
MurreletinNorthAmerica . Hany C. Carter,
and Michael L. Morrison (Editors). Pro-
ceedings of a Symposium of the Pacific
Seabird Group, Pacific Grove, California,
December 1987. Published October 1992
in. Proceedings of the Western Foundation of
Vertebrate Zoology Volume 5, Number 1.

The Status, Ecology, and Conservation of
Marine Birds of the North Pacific. Kees
Vermeer, Kenneth T. Briggs, Ken H. Mor-
gan, and Douglas Siegel-Causey (Editors). .
Proceedings of a Symposium of die Pacific
Seabird Group, Canadian Wildlife Service,
and the British Columbia Ministry of Envi-
ronment, Lands and Parks, Victoria, Brit-
ish Columbia, February 1990. Published
1993 as, Canadian Wildlife Service, Spe-
cial Publication, Ministry of Supply and
Services, Canada, Catalog Number CW66-
124-1993E.

Biology of Marbled Murrelets— Inland and
at Sea. S.K. Nelson and S.G. Sealy (Edi-
tors). Proceedings of a Symposium of the
Pacific Seabird Group, Seattle, Washing-
ton, February 1993. Published in 1994 in
Northwestern Naturalist , Volume 75, Num-
ber 3.

Marine Birds: Their Feeding Ecology and
CommercialFisheriesRelationships. David
N. Nettleship, Gerald A. Sanger, and Paul
F. Springer (Editors). Proceedings of an
International Symposium of the Pacific
Seabird Group, Seattle, Washington, Janu-
ary 1982. Published 1984 as, Canadian
Wildlife Service, Special Publication.

Ecology and Behavior of Gulls. Judith L.
Hand, William E. Southern, and Kees
Vermeer (Editors). Proceedings of an In-
ternational Symposium of the Colonial
Waterbird Group and the Pacific Seabird
Group, San Francisco, California, Decem-
ber 1985. Published June 1987 in, Studies
in Avian Biology Number 10.

Auks at Sea. Spencer G. Sealy (Editor).
Proceedings of an International Sympo-
sium of the Pacific Seabird Group, Pacific
Grove, California, December 1987. Pub-
lished December 1990 in, Studies in Avian
Biology Number 14.

•5p’ v - - ■•T' ' •

Pacific Seabirds • Vol. 21 No. 2 * Fall 1994

PACIFIC SEABIRD CROUP EXECUTIVE COUNCIL 1994

OFFICERS

Chair John Piatt, USFWS, 1013 E Tudor Road, Anchorage, AK 99503, (907) 786-3549,

FAX (907) 786-3636, e-mail: jpiatt@namel.ak.net

Chair Elect Mark Rauzon, P, O. Box 4423, Berkeley, CA 94704-4423, (510) 53 1 -3887, FAX

(510) 451-3208, e-mail: mjrauz@aol.com

Vice-Chair for Conservation Craig S. Hanison, 4001 North 9th Street, Arlington, VA 22203, (202) 778-2240,

FAX (202) 778-2201, e-mail: harrisoncs@aol.com

Treasurer Ken Warheit,P. O. Box 178,Tenino, WA 98589 (U.S. mail only), (206) 264-5886,

FAX (206) 902-2946, e-mail: warheit@u. washington.edu

Treasurer Elect Jan Hodder, e-mail jhodder@oimb.uoregon.edu

Secretary Vivian Mendenhall, USFWS* 1011 E. Tudor Road, Anchorage, AK 99503, .(907)

786-3517, FAX (907) 786-3641, e-mail: mendenhall@lasertone.com

Editor Martha Springer, 1708 Marmot Hill Road, Fairbanks, AK 99709, (907)479-8006,

e-mail: fnams@ acad3.alaska.edu

Past Chair George Divoky, 10535 Interlake Ave, N., Seattle, WA 98133, Phone and FAX

(206) 365-6009, e-mail: divoky@aol.com

REGIONAL REPRESENTATIVES

Alaska and Russia Dave Irons, USFWS, 1011 E. Tudor Road, Anchorage, AK 99503, (907) 786-3376,

FAX (907) 786-3641

Canada Tony Gaston, 1 1-174 Dufferin Rd., Ottawa, Ontario, KIM 2A6, CANADA, 819,

(819) 997-6121, FAX (819) 953-6612

Washington and Oregon Roy Lowe, USFWS, 2030 S. Marine Science Dr., Newport, OR 97365, (503) 867-

4550, FAX (503) 867-4551, e-mail: lower@ext32.oes.orst.edu

Northern California Jean Takekawa, San Francisco Bay NWR, Box 524, Newark, CA 94560, (415)

792-0222, FAX (415) 792-5828, e-mail: maissf@mail.fwS.gov

Southern California Pat Baird, Department of Biology; California State University, Long Beach, CA

90840, (310) 985-1780, FAX (310) 985-2315

Non -Pacific United States Jim Lovvom, Dept, of Zoology and Physiology, University of Wyoming, Laramie,

WY 82071, (307) 766-6100, FAX (307) 766-5625, e-mail: Iovvom@uwyo.edu

Pacific Rim Ken McDermond, P.O. Box 50167, Honolulu, HI 96850, (808) 541-1201, FAX

(80S) 541-1216, e-mail: fhnt@uhunk.uhcc.hawai.edu

Old World Mark Tasker, Nature Conservancy Council, 17 Rubislaw Terrace, Aberdeen AB1

1XE, SCOTLAND, Phone 011-44-224-642863, FAX 011-44-224-64334?

COMMITTEE COORDINATORS

Marbled Murrelet NancyNaslund, USFWS, 101 1, E. Tudor Rd., Anchorage, AK 99503,

Technical Committee (907) 345-7542, e-mail: c/o jpiatt@namel.ak.net

Xantus’ Murrelet Technical William Everett, Dept of Birds and Mammals, San Diego Natural History

Committee Museum, P. O. Box 1390, San Diego, CA 92112, (619) 589-0480, RAX (619) 589-

6983, e-mail: wteverett@aol.cora

Seabird Monitoring Committee Scott Hatch, USFWS, 1011 E. Tudor Rd., Anchorage, AK 99503, (907) 786-3529,

FAX (907) 786-3636, e-mail: r8afwrc@mail.fws.gov

Publications Committee Steve Speich, 4720 N. Oeste Place, Tucson, AZ 85749, (602) 529-1141, FAX (602)

529-2449, e-mail:. smswalIow@aol.com

Restoration Committee Dan Anderson, Dept, of Wildlife, Fish, & Conservation Biology , University of

California, Davis, CA 95616, (916) 752-2108, FAX (916) 7524154, e-mail
dwanderson@ucdavis.edu

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