Monitor

Although seabirds that use the Alaska Maritime Refuge don’t talk, they can tell us volumes if we observe them annually, taking notes on how well they are doing – when they nest, whether their eggs hatch and chicks survive to go to sea, what they eat, and more.

By such periodic checking and recording (monitoring) we can track the long-term health not only of seabirds, but also of the ocean – an environment we all depend on, but that is harder to study and understand than are the species that rely upon it.

The Alaska Maritime Refuge is so extensive – from rainforest islands in Southeast Alaska, west out the Aleutian Chain, and north to above the Arctic Circle – and so long established, that it is ideal for revealing trends and alerting us to what’s happening under the waters that wash Alaska’s coast.

What We Monitor Annually

breeding seabirds
breeding land birds
wintering waterfowl
breeding bald eagles
sea otters

Annual Monitoring Field Stations

Cape Lisburne
Bluff
St. Paul
St. George
Buldir
Kasatochi
Aiktak
Chowiet
East Amatuli
St. Lazaria

What We Do at our Monitoring Sites

Landbird Monitoring
Off-road point count routes at annual monitoring sites
Strip transects for beach dwelling birds (song sparrow and winter wrens)
Territory mapping for ptarmigan

Winter Waterfowl
Population indices from nearshore surveys at selected sites
Juvenile ratios for emperor geese

Bald Eagle Populations
Nest surveys periodically at three islands in the Aleutians since early 1970s
Trends in numbers of nests and productivity

Sea Otter Population Monitoring
Counting animals at annual monitoring sites

Baseline Monitoring Program For Environmental Conditions
Sea temperatures
Air quality at Class I sites (three on refuge)
Contaminants in seabird eggs
Beach oil

Additional Data We Gather in Nearshore Ocean Habitats
Oceanography – temperature, salinity
Prey Abundance – acoustics surveys, prey sampling
Distribution of birds and mammals at sea
Coordinated investigations of seabirds, marine mammals, and oceanography