Dead Bird Quiz answers

Thanks to Libby Rock, who emailed me with a guess on this most recent dead bird quiz. Aside from Libby, I would have felt I were simply flinging these posts into a black, black abyss of non-responsiveness. In any case, Libby was even right–she guessed that Bird A was  a Laughing Gull, and indeed, it is. Bird A is a lovely example of a LAGU in breeding plumage: black head with distinct white eye crescents. The bill on this specimen is mostly black, but many breeding Laughing Gulls will have some red on the bill as well. This guy (or girl, to be fair) is about the size of a Ring-billed Gull (culmen 31mm, wing chord 33cm, tarsus 55mm) but is distinguished by its dark red to black legs (RBGUs have yellow legs) and the dark bill (adult RBGUs having a yellow bill as well).

 

A great shot of an immature LAGU (front) and an adult RBGU. Photo copyright Jeff Poklen.

LAGUs have much more extensive black on the primary feathers as well, as compared with the conspicuous white mirrors of the primaries of RBGUs.

As for Birds B and C in yesterday’s quiz, they too are Laughing Gulls, though both are in serious disrepair. Both appear to be immatures, with Bird C in particular showing the mottled gray and brown on the mantle (or back) of the bird that is characteristic of young LAGUs. Both immature and non-breeding adults lack the black hood seen in Bird A. Young Laughing Gulls also have a broad black band on the tail that gradually diminishes with age (the black tail tip is visible on the young bird in the photo). Adult birds have an entirely white tail.

Finally, thanks also to Libby for appreciating the best part of the photo of Bird B: the Subway ruler next to the carcass reading “When You’re Hungry…” True Seanetters, Jim and Judy are. Nothing like a decomposing bird to whet the appetite.

 

Dead Bird Quiz

 

It’s about time for a dead bird quiz. Even though no one guessed on the last one, your SEANET blogger is undaunted. OK, maybe a little daunted. So please, please, take a guess! Anyone? Anyone? I promise I won’t ridicule you if you’re wrong! At least, not publicly.

Bird A: Found in June by Ruthellen Piepert in Florida. As nice a dead bird as one could hope for.

Bird B: Found by Jim and Judy Parmelee on Cape Cod, September 30th.

Bird C: Found by Phil Sorenson in Florida, August 6th

The Ocean Layer–explore Google Earth!

Your SEANET blogger was educated last week about a new project through Google Earth. (If you don’t already have the program, it’s available as a free download here.) Of course, it’s immense fun to zoom in on your own house, or your friend’s house, or your enemies’ houses, but once you’ve exhausted those pursuits, and you want more from Google Earth, here’s something cool to explore. The ocean may look like a big, blue, blankness at first, on Google Earth. Roadless and immense, it might seem not altogether worth looking at. But look closer and you’ll see much to interest you.

Upon opening Google Earth, you will see a menu bar on the left side of the screen. The section of that menu entitled “Layers” includes an item called Ocean. If you check the box next to Ocean, you will notice that a number of blue and white circles, resembling sideways yin-yangs, appear on your Google Earth image. If you click on these, a myriad of ocean-related photos, slideshows, and videos will pop up to educate and entertain you.

"The Deepness" icons around Cape Cod. Each one is clickable for a video, photo or slideshow of marine related content.

 

 

 

 

SEANET is now equipped to add content to the Ocean layer in Google Earth. We welcome your suggestions and photos for inclusion. We will, for example, use this feature to provide information on the Common Eider die-offs on Cape Cod, or other mortality events detected by Seanetters. So check back on the Ocean layer periodically and see if we’ve added anything close to your area, or anywhere up and down the eastern seaboard. SEANET thinks this is an exciting opportunity and hope that you Seanetters will find it interesting and educational. Check it out!

SEANET needs Mainers!

We're blanketing Maine with these flyers!

The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation has awarded SEANET a grant to study seabird mortality in Maine. The data collected by walkers on the Maine coast will be used to establish a baseline against which future mortalities due to oil spills can be accurately measured. To accomplish this, SEANET needs to expand to many, many more beaches in Maine. For this study, we ask volunteers to commit to walking once a month for a full year.

Northern Harrier over a SEANET beach; you too could see such sights. Join us!

After that point, all are welcome to stick with us and our larger project, or head off for greener pastures with our heartfelt thanks. So if you, or anyone you know, live in Maine and would be willing to participate, or even just to distribute our flyers to libraries, nature centers and the like, please let us know! We’re looking forward to hearing from you!

 

Oregon seabirds slimed by algal bloom

A loon covered in surfactant foam; a casualty of the recent algal bloom. (photo by P. Chilton, COASST)

Hundreds of seabirds inundated wildlife rehabilitation centers in the Pacific Northwest last week after a bizarre run-in with marine algae. The single-celled organisms implicated in the incident are common in the waters off the coast of California, but are usually not found as far north as Oregon and Washington. Warmer than usual ocean temperatures may have permitted the algae to reach more northern regions. Extraordinary numbers of the algal organisms were churned up by stormy weather coming south from Alaska, and a protein produced by the algae turned into a frothy foam that proved fatal to seabirds. Just as oil strips bird feathers of their waterproofing ability, the foam produced by the algae deprives the birds of the ability to keep cold ocean waters from soaking through their plumage, leading to hypothermia and death.

The affected birds, mostly Common Murres, loons, scoters and grebes, are being treated in rehabilitation centers until their waterproofing is restored. The International Bird Rescue Research Center (IBRRC) in northern California stepped in to help in the efforts when rehab facilities in Oregon and Washington were overwhelmed. You can learn more about how the surviving seabirds are being treated and how you can help at IBRRC’s website.

SEANET fund-drive: it’s educational!

The information-filled, waterproof pages of our Beached Bird Guide

Yesterday, we presented the opportunity to sport a fabulous SEANET t-shirt by donating to the program. For those of you serious students of dead birds, we offer the Beached Bird Guide. It is indispensable for those who want to try to identify those mangled bits of birds strewn across the beach. With helpful hints on i.d. based on plumage and body measurements, it will enrich your Seanetting experience. The guide costs $31.50, and we ask $4.50 for shipping, for a total of $36. What a deal! You gain knowledge, and we gain funds. It’s a win-win, Seanetters!

Make checks payable to “Trustees of Tufts College” and mail it to:

SEANET

Barbour Building

TCSVM

200 Westboro Rd.

N. Grafton, MA 01536

SEANET fund drive: our gift to you!

Perhaps you’re thinking, “SEANET fund-drive?! No handouts for seabird mortality projects, that’s what I always say!” Well, for those of you opposed to straight-up donations, we have a token to offer in exchange. For a donation of $24, we will send you a SEANET t-shirt (available in blue, gray, or white) as our thanks. We’re no freeloaders here at SEANET; we’re willing to work for the money! So send your check to the address listed in yesterday’s post, and send an email to sarah.courchesne@tufts.edu with your desired color and size and be a part of SEANET’s very survival! Check out the “Shop” tab above for a closer look at the shirts. Thanks!

You could look this spectacular too--get a SEANET t-shirt!

Putting the fun in fundraising!

SEANET fund-drive: could you say no to this face?

SEANET is taking a page out of Public Broadcasting’s playbook and holding a fund-drive this week. While no one likes it when interesting content is replaced by pleas for cash on public radio or public television, it must be done, and so it is here on the SEANET blog. SEANET receives no funding from Tufts University (though they generously keep a roof over our heads), and no standing support from the federal or state governments. We rely entirely on grant funding and on donations from people like you! Of course, times are tough for everyone, and we know no one finds it easy to part with his pennies these days. But if you have anything to spare, and you feel SEANET is a worthy program you’d like to see continue, please consider donating! Any amount counts on a shoestring budget, and SEANET most definitely is! You can donate via Tufts’ secure giving site (click on the “Donate” tab above) or you can send a check made out to “Trustees of Tufts College” to:

SEANET

Barbour Building

TCSVM

200 Westboro Rd.

N. Grafton, MA 01536

We’ve set the absurd goal of $5,000 raised by Friday evening. Lofty and ambitious? Yes! SEANET is bold! So give early and give often!

And, if you’re desperate for some seabird content, please head over to The Gulls of Appledore for the latest banded gull re-sighting!

Common Eiders dying on Cape Cod! (again)

Nature's sanitation worker: a Turkey Vulture at work on one of the dead eiders. (photo by Mary Myers)

As the fall progresses and the days grow colder here in New England, Cape Cod beach walkers are greeted with what is now a familiar sight: dead Common Eiders (mostly males) littering the Bay side shores. These events are also common in Spring, and details on the last one in May were presented in an earlier blogpost. This time, the area involved is almost identical to that in the May event. Seanetters Bud Johnson, Steve Gulrich, Diana Gaumond and Mary Myers all reported dead eiders on their walks last week, and kudos to them all for marking the carcasses with our orange SEANET cable ties–for the first time we have a good shot at a definitive number of birds found by Seanetters, and we will at last be able to determine if new carcasses are showing up while others wash back out to sea, or if the same birds persist on the beach for some time. So far, the 50-100 birds reported have been variously scavenged and decomposed. If any fresh carcasses turn up, SEANET is in a position to receive them and submit them for testing.

Extensive scavenging of a male Common Eider carcass (photo by Mary Myers)

We have also received reports from observers of live eiders who say rafts of up to 2,000 or so of the birds have been hanging out in the Bay near where the dead birds washed up. With such a concentration of live, migrating birds, it is unclear whether the current mortality is a true “die-off” or merely the normal background mortality in a large, highly concentrated population. We hope to get to the bottom of this mysterious, recurring phenomenon eventually, and we thank Seanetters and affiliated friends for all the reports and information you have sent our way. We welcome all reports on Common Eiders out on the Cape, live or dead, so keep your eyes open and your boots on the sand out there!

Check out SEANET on facebook!

UGA veterinary student Katie Haman during her loggerhead turtle study. See more cool photos at the TCCM facebook page!

Tufts Center for Conservation Medicine (of which SEANET is a part) has started up a facebook page and they have included photos of Seanetters and some of the vet students who have worked with us over the past couple of years.

I know some of you are technophobes, and others of you are probably already facebook addicts (as is, admittedly, your SEANET blogger.) If you are already a facebook member, just go directly to the TCCM page. Aside from SEANET, there are some very cool photos of veterinary student projects involving bears under anesthesia, sea turtles hauled on board vessels for study, and information on the new Master’s Degree in Conservation Medicine that Tufts will soon be offering. We want to spread the word about the latter in particular, so tell all your facebook friends and your regular friends!

If you aren’t already on facebook, it’s easy to sign up, and your SEANET blogger would be happy to be your facebook friend.