Atlantic coast wintering sea duck survey

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Atlantic coast wintering sea duck survey
2008 funding from Sea Duck Joint
Venture and Population Habitat Assessment
and Migratory Bird Survey Branches Division of
Migratory Bird Management, USFWS
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Atlantic coast sea duck survey

• Primary objectives
• Develop an operational survey to estimate
  population sizes of wintering sea ducks, assess
  yearly variation and trends, and determine
  habitat associations and areas of special
  significance.
• Secondary objective
• Determine the distributions of seabirds and
  near shore aquatic birds.

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Previous surveys

• Atlantic flyway sea duck survey (AFSS)
• 10 years between 1991-2002
• ¼ mi parallel to coast from Gulf of ME to
  GA-FL border
• Chesapeake Delaware Bay surveys
• Mid-1990s
• Mid-Atlantic survey
• 2002-2003, NJ to VA, including
  Delaware/Chesapeake Bays
• Supported by MMS
• Designed to explore sampling methods estimate
  population size

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Atlantic coast sea duck survey

• 2008 survey details
• Start date Feb 4
• Fixed wing aircraft
• 5 crews surveying 15,000 NM
• 200 ft altitude at 100 knots
• 400m strip transect, 2 observers
• Pre-requisite surveys 2008-10 will support the
  development of an operational survey

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3 crews flying systematic E-W transects
2 crews flying coastal transects 4, following
AFSS route, monitoring migratory shifts