The final episode of the Coastal Stewardship and Climate Change video series I produced for Cape Cod National Seashore as the Science Communication Biotech was titled Preserving Cultural Resources. You can watch the video on Vimeo if you have received a password from me. I apologize for the inconvenience. My appointment ended before the video received approval, and I am not able to share it unless it is for the purpose of showing my work to a prospective employer.
Science Communication
What Goes Up, Must Come Down
Coastal Stewardship and Climate Change: Protecting Shorebirds
I produced this episode of the Coastal Stewardship and Climate Change video series for Cape Cod National Seashore as the Science Communication Biotech. You can watch the video on Vimeo if you have received a password from me. I apologize for the inconvenience. My appointment ended before the video received approval, and I am not able to share it unless it is for the purpose of showing my work to a prospective employer.
Researching Roseate Terns
Dr. Jeff Spendelow, a Research Wildlife Biologist with the U.S. Geological Survey Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, has been studying Roseate Terns for almost 40 years. For the last ten summers, he has followed the terns to Cape Cod and become a fixture on our beaches and at our research lab in North Truro. You might say he has become migratory, much like the birds he studies.
The Northeastern U.S. Roseate Tern breeding population entered a steep decline in the late 19th century, hunted for the hat trade. With protection introduced by the Migratory Bird Act Treaty, the population rebounded in the 1930s for a time before declining once again following the 1950s.
In 1987, under pressure from predation, disturbance, and habitat loss, the Roseate Tern was listed as Endangered in the northeastern U.S. and Threatened in southern states as well as Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Today, Dr. Spendelow estimates there are 8,000-9,000 Roseate Terns that breed from the south shore of Long Island, New York north to Nova Scotia and Quebec, Canada.
In 2011, researchers began employing ‘plastic field-readable’ (PFR) color bands on Roseate Tern adults and chicks at several nesting sites spanning the breeding range. The PFR color bands are a major improvement over previous bands as they can be read quickly at a distance up to 50 meters.
With the increased ease of bird identification, PFR color bands have enabled the study of staging site use by Roseate Terns as a function of their colony site of origin, age, breeding status, and whether or not they are providing post-fledging care to a hatch year (HY) bird. (Click here to learn more about Age Codes for birds)
Staging sites are where the birds prepare for their first migration. In the case of the Roseate Terns, this means flying to the north coast of South America. Young Roseate Terns need their parents’ help to get enough food to pack on the fat reserves necessary for the journey and to learn how to feed themselves.
Graduate students from Virginia Tech and State University of New York College of Environmental School of Forestry have assisted Spendelow with his research at Cape Cod National Seashore. In collaboration with the Mass Audubon Coastal Waterbirds Program, and with funding from the National Park Service, the research has shown that Cape Cod is a critical staging area for Roseate Terns.
From mid-July through early October, post-breeding adults and first-year Roseate Terns from the entire nesting range of the endangered NW Atlantic breeding population use Cape Cod to stage for migration. Recent results have shown that non-breeding adults (and failed breeders) also stage on Cape Cod. The non-breeding birds come north for 2-3 months to stage on Cape Cod prior to the arrival of the post-breeding and first-year birds.
Spendelow’s research has shown that Cape Cod National Seashore beaches and nearby waters provide critical resources to a larger proportion of the entire population for a longer time than previously thought. This finding has led to a new research question about whether individual Roseate Terns continue to use the same or new staging sites as they mature and become breeding adults.
As September passes by and summer turns to autumn, there are fewer and fewer Roseate Terns left on Cape Cod. After a long field season, Jeff Spendelow is gone as well, having returned to his winter home. Cape Cod National Seashore relies on dedicated scientists like Jeff to help study the great range of our natural resources, and we look forward to his return next summer along with the terns.
This piece was originally published on the Cape Cod National Seashore National Resource Management and Science News blog. Read original post here >
Coastal Stewardship and Climate Change: Salt Marsh Vulnerability
The first, and only, published episode of the Coastal Stewardship and Climate Change video series I produced for Cape Cod National Seashore as the Science Communication Biotech is about Salt Marsh Vulnerability.
I worked on this video series over the course of four seasonal appointments. The project ran into repeated obstacles with multiple changes in leadership at multiple levels leading to annual reboots on the whole project and delays in the review and approval schedule. It was just bad timing.
I am able to share this completed video publicly. I am able to share other episodes with prospective employers, but public sharing is not allowed.
American Bittern
Cape Cod National Seashore’s wildlife ecologist Bob Cook deploys camera traps around the park as part of the NPS Inventory and Monitoring Program. The primary purpose of the traps is to monitor mammalian species, but on April 20 of 2016, one of the cameras captured a few excellent images of an American Bittern (Botaurus lentiginosus) in Salt Meadow, North Truro. A secretive part-time resident on Cape Cod, the camera trap images show a beautiful bird that is difficult to observe.
The American Bittern is a marsh obligate wading bird in the heron family, protected under the United States Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918. They breed in the northern US and Canada and winter in the southern US and Central America. Breeding has been confirmed in Salt Meadow. Bitterns, like most marsh birds, are particularly sensitive to changes in their breeding and foraging habitat and thus can serve as indicators of ecosystem health. NPS staff monitor tidal marsh breeding birds as part of the Inventory and Monitoring Program.
Learn more about the American Bittern on the Audubon website
Download the full resource brief on the Marsh Bird Monitoring Program
Learn more about the Migratory Bird Treaty Act on the US Fish and Wildlife website