HELCOM workshop on migratory waterbirds Helsinki, 20-22 November 2018 Aims: Produce maps with migration routes of waterbird species (e.g. seabirds, ducks, waders) covering the entire Baltic Sea Region. Provide background for the HELCOM Recommendation 34E/1 Safeguarding important bird habitats and migration routes in the Baltic Sea from negative effects of wind and wave energy production at sea. Use expertise of members of ICES/OSPAR/HELCOM Joint Working Group on Seabirds (JWGBIRD) and other experts.
HELCOM workshop on migratory waterbirds Helsinki, 20-22 November 2018 Introduction: Bird Migration in the Baltic Data sources Aggregation of data Outline of working programme
Introduction: Bird migration in the Baltic HELCOM workshop on migratory waterbirds Species groups considered in the workshop: no. of species Anatidae (swans, geese, ducks) 31 (9) Gaviidae (divers) 3 (2) Podicipedidae (grebes) 4 (2) Phalacrocoracidae (cormorants) 1 Rallidae (rails) 1 Gruidae (cranes) 1 Haematopodidae (ostercatchers) 1 Recurvirostridae (avocets) 1 Charadriidae (plovers) 6 (5) Scolopacidae (sandpipers etc.) 25 Stercorariidae (skuas) 4 Laridae (gulls, terns) 15 (5) Alcidae (auks) 3 (1) 160 cm 15,000 g 18 cm 40 g total ~ 96 species (24 on HELCOM Red List)
Introduction: Bird migration in the Baltic Waterbird migration across the Baltic Sea
Introduction: Bird migration in the Baltic Knowledge about migration routes comes from: Visual observation of birds breeding / stopping over / staging / wintering Visual observation of active migration Bird ringing Radar tracking of active migration Tracking of individual birds (remote sensing) What kind of data do we get and how can we use them? van Gils et al. 2016, Science 352: 819-821
Introduction: Bird migration in the Baltic offshore wind farm fully commissioned /under construction pre-construction / consent authorised consent application submitted concept / early planning decommissioned www.4coffshore.com, 6 November 2018
Data sources: Visual observation of birds breeding / stopping over / staging / wintering Task for the workshop: aggregate information on sites used by waterbirds (indicating areas touched by migration) Greater Scaup www.ornitho.de (citizen science) Great Black-backed Gull Herring Gull Gedeon et al. 2014, German Breeding Bird Atlas Skov et al. 2011, SOWBAS HELCOM indicator abundance of wintering waterbirds
Data sources: Visual observation of active migration Proportion of time migrating over sea (%) 10 8 6 4 2 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 0 Time of day (CEST) spring migration covers only diurnal migration along coastlines, i.e. unknown proportions migrate at night, often only parts of a population migrate across Baltic autumn migration Curlew migratory flight activity (P. Schwemmer (Univ. Kiel) pers. comm. Task for the workshop: aggregate information on sites passed by migrating waterbirds (indicating areas touched by migration)
Data sources: Visual observation of active migration Söderskär Hanko Ristna Sorve Põõsaspea Virtsu Kabli Kolka Revsudden Pape Falsterbo Hyllekrog Geltinger Birk Ottenby Kåseberga Rozewie Cap More from www.trektellen.nl?
Data sources: Bird ringing Bairlein et al. 2014 Millions of ring recoveries, but route taken between first capture and recovery usually unknown Valkama et al. 2014 Task for the workshop: consider, where bird ringing data can be useful addition
Data sources: Radar tracking of active migration Common Eider Red Knot supply details on sections of migratory routes [diurnal and nocturnal migration] Gudmundsson 1994, J. Avian Biol. 25: 15-26 Masden et al. 2009, ICES J. Mar. Sci. 66: 746-753 Task for the workshop: check, where radar studies can supplement other information, especially adding to tracking of individuals
Data sources: Tracking of individual birds (telemetry) www.blessgans.de Pütz et al. 2007, Vogelwelt 128: 141-148. supply the migration route roughly (satellite transmitters) or precisely (GPS data loggers) [diurnal and nocturnal migration] Task for the workshop: aggregate tracks to migration routes Univ. of Kiel unpubl.
Data sources: Tracking of individual birds (telemetry) - from tracks to routes tracks from 2 projects taken from www.movebank.org (downloaded or redrawn) summarising tracks (fitted by eye) smoothing in ArcGIS
Data sources: Tracking of individual birds (telemetry) - from tracks to routes spring autumn Whooper Swan x x Bewick s Swan x x Brent Goose x x Barnacle Goose x x Greater White-fronted Goose x x Lesser White-fronted Goose x x Greylag Goose x x Wigeon x Problems and pitfalls: not available for many waterbird species spatial bias: deployment of birds unevenly distributed, some parts of Baltic underrepresented spatial resolution not always good (better in GPS devices) seasonal bias: not always both migration periods covered Common Eider Long-tailed Duck x x Common Scoter x x Velvet Scoter x Red-throated Diver x x Common Crane x x Grey Plover x x Bar-tailed Godwit x Curlew x x Great Snipe x x Lesser Bleck-backed Gull x
Data sources: Overview method observation at breeding/staging site observation of active migration showing migration route? diurnal/nocturnal migration? coverage of waterbird species some indication (diurnal/nocturnal) very good yes good (only coastal) diurnal good yes bird ringing some indication (diurnal/nocturnal) good no radar tracking precisely diurnal/nocturnal poor yes application in workshop tracking of individuals (remote sensing) good to precisely diurnal/nocturnal intermediate yes
movebank.org Aggregation of data: Long-tailed Duck example (population size: 1,600,000) Data: satellite telemetry: tracks of 7 birds from 2 projects observation of active migration from 14 locations (11 spring, 10 autumn) spring % spring autumn % autumn Fehmarnbelt (DE, DK) 2484 0.2 % 648 <0.1 % Hiddensee (DE) 9138 0.6 % Swinoujcie (PL) 1 <0.1 % Falsterbo (SE) 150 <0.1 % Kåseberga (SE) 23929 1.5 % 7268 0.5 % Ottenby (SE) 2732 0.2 % 34189 2.1 % Revsudden (SE) 2771 0.2 % 14896 0.9 % Pape (LV) 60714 4.7 % Kabli (EE) 6249 0.4 % Virtsu (EE) 149720 9.4 % Ristna (EE) 196031 12.3 % 33224 2.1 % Põõsaspea (EE) 304411 19.0 % Hanko (FI) 18724 1.2 % 59547 3.7 % Söderskär (FI) 700000 43.8 % 880000 55.0 %
Aggregation of data: Long-tailed Duck example (population size: 1,600,000) movebank.org Skov et al. 2011, SOWBAS spring % spring autumn % autumn Fehmarnbelt (DE, DK) 2484 0.2 % 648 <0.1 % Hiddensee (DE) 9138 0.6 % Swinoujcie (PL) 1 <0.1 % Falsterbo (SE) 150 <0.1 % Kåseberga (SE) 23929 1.5 % 7268 0.5 % Ottenby (SE) 2732 0.2 % 34189 2.1 % Revsudden (SE) 2771 0.2 % 14896 0.9 % Pape (LV) 60714 4.7 % Kabli (EE) 6249 0.4 % Virtsu (EE) 149720 9.4 % Ristna (EE) 196031 12.3 % 33224 2.1 % Põõsaspea (EE) 304411 19.0 % Hanko (FI) 18724 1.2 % 59547 3.7 % Söderskär (FI) 700000 43.8 % 880000 55.0 % Data: satellite telemetry: tracks of 7 birds from 2 projects observation of active migration from 14 locations (11 spring, 10 autumn) at-sea count data from winter (ship-based and aerial surveys) land-based count data from winter HELCOM indicator
Aggregation of data: good and poor information
General discussion What do we want? What do we have (data)? How shall the product look like? Map design: all information in one map (feasible?) or cluster of maps? Show (all) individual species and/or groups? Spatial resolution
Group work I (20 Nov. p.m.) Review pre-selected data Add information (national expert knowledge, publications etc.) Discuss way of analysis (if necessary) and presentation Groups: A) Stopover and staging sites: identify important coastal bird aggregations B) Stopover and staging sites: identify important offshore bird aggregations C) Migration counts D) Tracking studies E) Radar studies F) Technical: prepare formats [groups A/B and D/E could be combined] Group work II (21 Nov. a.m.) Aggregate information from various sources on species level Groups: according to meaningful combinations of species (e.g. swans/geese, ducks, waders, gulls/terns...)