AZA 2017 Continuing Classic Conservation
Project Puffin and AZA: Partners Since 1990 Mary Roman Gunther Salisbury University mrgunther@salisbury.edu
Egg Rock Update 2010 Field Experience for Aviculturists Pioneering our relationship with zoos and aquariums in 1990 were Mary Gunther and Debbie Zombeck, aviculturists with the National Aquarium in Baltimore and Sea World, respectively. Both drew on their field experiences to affect changes in their institutions captive landscape that better mimic a wild puffin colony. Likewise, observing seabirds in their natural habitat helps aviculturists better understand the puffins captive counterparts. Gunther and Zombeck recommended Project Puffin s volunteer opportunity to their colleagues and at professional conferences. Twenty-one years later, participating partners include: Sea World; National Aquarium in Baltimore; New England Aquarium; St. Louis Zoo; Henry Dorley Zoo; San Antonio Zoo; Franklin Park Zoo; Roger Williams Park Zoo; Zoo New England; Bronx Zoo; Central Park Zoo; Cincinnati Zoo; Smithsonian s National Zoological Park; and Long Beach Aquarium of the Pacific.
Summer 2017 The National Aquarium in Baltimore sent one staff person and the New England Aquarium sent three
Atlantic Puffin Fratercula arctica 1969, 23-year-old Stephen Kress was working on Hog Island and began to read about the birds that used to be in the Gulf of Maine.
Eastern Egg Rock 1973 Social Attraction methods: Sound- played recording of large seabird colonies Decoys puffin and tern decoys to make it look like the island was inhabited even mirrors combined with transplanting chicks
Things to consider Puffins go to sea for at least and up to four years Breeding age is five Would not know if any transplants were going to survive and breed for at least five years
Puffin and decoys June 12, 1977 the first birds returned (4 years) July 4, 1981 a puffin was spotted with fish - = chicks! (8 years)
A tale of two puffins Real puffins have two legs, decoys only have one
Intern and Volunteer housing EER
EER blinds
Occupied blind Decoys and real birds plus an intern!
Typical leg band
Moments you wait for
A typical day at the office Interns weighing tern chick while being dive bombed. Intern s weigh checks every couple of days until fledging to track productivity.
Matinicus Rock Lighthouse Fully operational lighthouse Once lived on year round by keepers family. First Audubon wardens keeper were hired to protect last remaining birds from millinery trade.
Landing at Matinicus
View from a blind of a puffin colony
Apartment hunting Note the leg band on the lower right bird the red brown color tells you this is a Matinicus Bird. White for EER and yellow for Seal INWR.
Money shot! Quick - count the species of fish, size and number of each! Oh and read the leg bands!
How many fish do you see?
Full disclosure this is not me. But I have done this many times!
Yes I was really there
Besides puffins Common Tern Sterna hirundo Note the banded leg
Marked nests 5 nests per plot, 4 or 5 plots per island
Redheaded tern? Chicks were marked with different colors for the five nests in each area. A chicks on the head and B chicks on their backs.
Murre Decoys There are some real birds in here too! Following their success with puffin and tern decoys project Puffin has been trying to encourage Common Murres to nest on Matinicus.
Razorbills Alca torda Did not need transplanting colony always on Matinicus but grew with protection and expanded over to Seal Island NWR
Black Guillemot Cepphus grille
Projects based on PP techniques Galapagos Petrel Laysan Albatross Hawaii Bermuda Cahow Short-tailed Albatross Japan Murres Devil s Slide Rock, CA Caspian Terns Columbia river Chinese Crested tern New Zealand Gannets
So now where are we?
Where do they go? Graduate student using geotrackers to see where puffins go when they are at sea Have to re-catch the birds the next year to download the data
Where they were going. Puffins in winter congregate over the edge of the continental shelf and other banks where they find upwellings.
Changes in the Gulf of Maine Climate Change Spring is two weeks earlier Precipitation is increasing SST is warmer Increased acidification Reduced productivity Forage Fish SST affects fish migration River runoff affects currents and flow of nutrient-rich water Southern fish are shifting northward Successful fisheries management benefits seabirds as they adapt to climate change
Trends In 2013 only 10% of chicks fledged Abnormally high sea surface temperatures affected food supply Trend continues for the next few summers with very poor fledging success 2016: Matinicus had a 75% fledge rate Only 9 miles away Seal s was 57% Farther north Machias Seal only had a 12% rate
Redfish to the rescue? It appears that the recovery of another endangered species the Atlantic Redfish may be helping the puffins The warmer SST have caused algal blooms that are feeding the redfish In the western Gulf of Maine with these blooms, the puffins are feeding on the pelagic juvenile stages of redfish feeding on these blooms Colonies farther west are benefitting
So send your staff! Participate in a proven conservation project Get real world field work experience at very little cost to the institution Excellent professional development opportunity You will make your staff really happy
www.projectpuffin.org or contact me: mrgunther@salisbury.edu Sunset on Matinicus