We hope you can join this LIS Bird Count, by sending us at least one observation of seabirds which you saw in LIS during December. All you have to do to participate is do just one LIS trip/observation during the month of December, and get your data to us, by one of several methods (aka Pathways below). The details of how you can contribute are explained in this web site (see the posts below).
This bird count will be run in Long Island Sound (LIS) during the full month of December 2013. If you have any questions after reading this site, please email them to the data administrator at the email address at the bottom of this website.
One goal of this December count is to take a late 2013 "snapshot" of the population and distribution of seabirds in LIS, to document this year as a "baseline" against which to do future comparisons (perhaps 5 or 10 or 50 years from now), especially because some of these seabirds seem to be changing so much. These bird changes may also indicate changes in their marine ecosystem, as mentioned in this article by Scott Kruitbosch...
Connecticut Audubon Society: Razorbills in Long Island Sound
and in the eBird article about Razorbills invading Florida waters in large numbers...
Razorbills invade Florida | eBird
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| Some of the Razorbills which migrated into Long Island Sound last winter. Photo by Keith Mueller |
THANKS TO THESE COLLABORATING ORGANIZATIONS:
This LIS Bird Count would not have been possible without substantial and much appreciated inputs from many people and organizations, including US Fish & Wildlife Services, CT-DEEP, eBird, Connecticut Audubon Society, Audubon Christmas Bird Counts, and especially the dozen Christmas Bird Counts for the following coastal locations around LIS (Compilers' names indicated in parentheses):
CT: Greenwich-Stamford (G.Palmer), Westport (M&T.Dickinson), Stratford-Milford (S.Mayo), New Haven (C.Loscalzo), Old Lyme-Saybrook (B.Hawes), New London (R.Dewire), Napatree (S.Mitra & G.Williams).
NY: Bronx-Westchester (M.Bochnik), Northern Nassau (M.Normandia & G.Quinn), Smithtown (R.Gostic), Orient (ML.Lamont).
Plus benchmark reference count: Montauk NY (A.Wilson).
This bird count is an effort of the Research Committee of the COA Connecticut Ornithological Association, in partnership with all of the entities above, plus all the birders who will contribute their time and observations during the month (will be named in a Thank You list, unless they tell us they do not want their names shown). The team which developed and supports this effort includes:
P.Auster, S.Broker, A.Collins, P.Comins, M.Huang, M.Lyman, P.Lynch, F.Mantlik, K.Mueller, N.Proctor, T.Robben, L.Wahle, P.Wolter, A.Zemba.
