CEDAR KEYS AUDUBON ENJOYS, LEARNS FROM USFWS’S DR. GLEASON
February 13, 2020
The Cedar Keys Audubon Meeting on January 27, 2020, featured Dr. Jeffery Gleason, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) Gulf of Mexico Migratory Bird Coordinator. Curious and full of questions, some eighty audience members attended the event at the Cedar Keys Library at 5 pm.
Cedar Keys Audubon President Jay Bushnell began the meeting with statistics from the Gainesville Sun citing the recently reported fact that, since 1970, thirty percent of the birds have disappeared globally. Bushnell reminded the audience of the Audubon Society mantra that birds are a barometer of environmental health.
Bushnell invited the group of Cedar Keys Audubon Annual Meeting at the Island Hotel on February 16 from 4 to 6 pm. This will be the first CKA Annual Meeting unconnected with a formal presentation, as in past years. The afternoon’s goal will be to enjoy one another and libations and focus on future goals.
The extensive Gulf of Mexico Marine Assessment Program for Protected Species or GoMMAPPS survey is funded by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM). The BOEM includes four management regions: the Gulf of Mexico, Alaska, Pacific, and Atlantic; the Gulf of Mexico Region has more oil and gas activity than all other regions combined.
The GoMMAPPS study includes data needs for three taxa groups: seabirds (USFWS), marine mammals (NOAA), and sea turtles (USGS). This study uses a combination of telemetry, along with two survey platforms to collect data: vessel and aerial surveys. To date, GoMMAPPS represents the single greatest effort to monitor seabirds in the Gulf of Mexico, covering the entire Gulf Coast from the Texas-Mexico border to the Florida Keys, over 40,000 kilometers.
BOEM requires this information to determine the potential effects of oil and gas activity on these living marine resources; seabirds, marine mammals, and sea turtles. USFWS uses this information to fill information gaps and better understand potential effects of oil and gas activity on seabird distribution and abundance. For example, this information would greatly assist the USFWS in their reviews of BOEM National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) documents and formal and informal Section 7 (Endangered Species Act) consultations. For example, the black-capped petrel has been proposed for listing under the Endangered Species Act.
Historically, the black-capped petrel was considered accidental, unusual, or extremely rare in the Gulf of Mexico. This appears to not be the case. Data from the GoMMAPPS survey indicates this species is ‘uncommon’, but observed numerous times and at very low densities. They tended to occur most often in deeper waters from the mouth of the Mississippi River to the East-Southeast. This species does not breed in the Gulf of Mexico, but likely uses the Gulf for foraging.
The Pacific and Atlantic coasts, on average, tend to have much higher seabird species diversity and densities compared to the Gulf of Mexico, which, by comparison, tends to have both low species diversity and densities. The survey effort resulted in approximately 7,000 observations of almost 32,000 total birds, representing about 121 species. However, of this total, seabirds represent only about 44 species. Conversely, their abundance accounts for about 93 percent of the total of all birds. From vessel surveys, black terns were the most abundant species representing about one-third of the total, whereas sooty terns were the second most abundant at about 21 percent of the total. Gleason said, “I think we were all a bit surprised by both the abundance of black terns, but also how much time out of their annual life-cycle is spent in the Gulf of Mexico. It’s probably close to six or eight months for at least some portion of the population for this species. We do not know for sure what proportion of the continental population uses the Gulf of Mexico annually, but it has to be a significant fraction or proportion of the black tern population.”
These small-bodied terns are presumably feeding on bay anchovy, also referred to as glass minnows, and other very small baitfish. As predatory fish push the glass minnows to the surface, the terns will dive and scoop them up. The black terns (and especially, bridled terns) can also be found around floating Sargassum. One of the primary breeding areas for the black tern is the Prairie Pothole Region. After nesting, they come south; immature birds apparently follow later. Many of the immature terns may actually spend much of the summer in the Gulf. It is not uncommon for the immature birds to remain instead of using energy to return to the nesting habitat since they are not reproductively mature yet.
In order, the top six birds observed by the GoMMAPPS vessel survey crews include: black tern, sooty tern, laughing gull, royal tern, Audubon’s shearwater, and sandwich tern. Herring gull was seventh on the list, and as Gleason noted, “You wouldn’t necessarily expect herring gulls to be near the top or in the top 10 seabird species here in the Gulf of Mexico, but they are one of the most abundant seabirds in the fall and winter.” At that time, there is a change in species composition - herring gulls and pomarine jaegers become prominent species.
The data from the GoMMAPPS seabird study are anticipated to be analyzed sometime in 2021. The GoMMAPPS Final Reports and associated data for all three taxa groups; seabirds, marine mammals, and sea turtles, will then be made available to the public through a number of publicly available websites, for example, at www.marinecadastre.gov. Since all three components are an important part of the Nature Coast, residents will anticipate the GoMMAPPS survey results.
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