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Characterization of Seabirds, California North Coast MPA Baseline Study, 2014 to 2015

Published by California Ocean Protection Council | State of California | Metadata Last Checked: July 29, 2025 | Last Modified: 2018-02-12T23:40:51.140422
We completed four distinct projects to collect baseline data at varying spatial and temporal scales. First, we used data from aerial photographic surveys conducted from 1989-2014 to investigate region-wide trends in the populations of Common Murres and Brandt’s Cormorants. We used 173 observations of Common Murre colony abundance at 14 colonies and 123 observations of Brandt’s Cormorant nest abundance at 10 colonies over the 26-year study period. Additionally, aerial photographic surveys conducted in 2014 were used to document location and abundance of Common Murre, Brandt’s Cormorant, and Double-crested Cormorant across the NCSR. Second, at a more localized scale, we monitored Common Murre reproduction, foraging effort, and diet in 2014 at Castle Rock National Wildlife Refuge using a robotic, remotely-controlled video recording system. Although this is only one of the seabird colonies in the NCSR, it the largest and served to inform our understanding of the mechanisms of population change across the region. Common Murre are very visible and thus ideal for monitoring fine scale patterns in reproduction and changing diet. We measured date of nest initiation, hatching success, fledging success, overall reproductive success, time allocation, provisioning rate, and diet composition via the video. Information gained from these surveys were combined with comparable data from 2007-2013 at Castle Rock to assess baseline condition and variability of these metrics over an 8-year period. Third, in 2014-2015 we conducted ground-based surveys of coastally breeding seabirds inside and outside of six MPAs to establish a framework for continued MPA monitoring. For this, we conducted intensive monitoring of six species likely to benefit from MPA establishment: Pigeon Guillemot, Brandt’s Cormorant, Pelagic Cormorant, Double-crested Cormorant, Western Gull, and Black Oystercatcher. We collected data on breeding population size, breeding productivity, foraging rates and rates of human-caused disturbance inside and outside of each MPA. We monitored productivity by following individual nests visible from land and calculated annual breeding productivity as number of fledglings produced per breeding pair. We monitored foraging from land-based observation points, recording all birds foraging within a 1 km radius of an observation point. We calculated foraging rates as number of birds foraging per hour of observation. We recorded all human-caused disturbances observed during any land-based survey and calculated disturbance rates as number of disturbances per hour of observation.

Resources

104 resources available

  • Reproduction Time - Diet - 2014

    CSV
  • Aerial Surveys - Colony Counts Trends 2000 - 2014 - Metadata

    CSV
  • Aerial Surveys - Taxon Lookup Table - Metadata

    CSV
  • MPA Baseline Program Information - North Coast - Metadata

    CSV
  • Aerial Surveys - Colony Counts Trends 2000 - 2014

    CSV
  • Reproduction Time - Site Location Lookup Table

    CSV
  • Reproduction Time - Nesting Success - 2014

    CSV
  • Aerial Surveys - Taxon Lookup Table

    CSV
  • Reproduction Time - Time Budget

    CSV
  • Aerial Surveys - Colony Counts Baseline 2014

    CSV
  • MPA Boundary Details - North Coast - Metadata

    CSV
  • MPA Boundary Details - North Coast

    CSV
  • MPA Baseline Program Information - North Coast

    CSV
  • Aerial Surveys - Colony Counts Baseline 2014 - Metadata

    CSV
  • Reproduction Time - Prey Taxonomy Lookup Table

    CSV
  • Aerial Surveys - Site Location Lookup Table 2014 - Metadata

    CSV
  • Aerial Surveys - Site Location Lookup Table 2014

    CSV
  • Data package for Aerial Surveys

    ZIP
  • Data package for Disturbance

    ZIP
  • Data package for Foraging

    ZIP
  • Data package for Productivity

    ZIP
  • Data package for Reproduction Time

    ZIP
  • Data package for Transect Surveys

    ZIP
  • Disturbance - Data Table 2014 - 2015 - Metadata

    TXT
  • Disturbance - Offspring Data 2014 - 2015 - Metadata

    TXT
  • Disturbance - Reaction Lookup Table 2014 - 2015 - Metadata

    TXT
  • Disturbance - Sources 2014 - 2015 - Metadata

    TXT
  • Disturbance - Sources Lookup Table 2014 - 2015 - Metadata

    TXT
  • Disturbance - Species Data 2014 - 2015 - Metadata

    TXT
  • Disturbance - Status Lookup Table 2014 - 2015 - Metadata

    TXT
  • Disturbance - Study Lookup Table 2014 - 2015 - Metadata

    TXT
  • Foraging - Block Lookup Table 2014 -2015 - Metadata

    TXT
  • Foraging - Data table 2014 -2015 - Metadata

    TXT
  • Foraging - Flock Data 2014 -2015 - Metadata

    TXT
  • Foraging - Interval Lookup Table 2014 -2015 - Metadata

    TXT
  • Productivity - Active Lookup Table 2014 - 2015 - Metadata

    TXT
  • Productivity - Black Oystercatcher 2014 - 2015 - Metadata

    TXT
  • Productivity - Brandts Cormorant 2014 - 2015 - Metadata

    TXT
  • Productivity - Chick Fate Lookup Table 2014 -2015 - Metadata

    TXT
  • Productivity - Date Last Observed Lookup Table 2014 -2015 - Metadata

    TXT
  • Productivity - Double Crested Cormorant 2014 - 2015 - Metadata

    TXT
  • Productivity - Egg Fate Lookup Table 2014 -2015 - Metadata

    TXT
  • Productivity - Hatch Date Lookup Table 2014 -2015 - Metadata

    TXT
  • Productivity - Lay Date Lookup Table 2014 - 2015 - Metadata

    TXT
  • Productivity - Nest Condition Lookup Table 2014 -2015 - Metadata

    TXT
  • Productivity - Pelagic Cormorant 2014 - 2015 - Metadata

    TXT
  • Productivity - Relay Lookup Table 2014 -2015 - Metadata

    TXT
  • Productivity - Western Gull 2014 - 2015 - Metadata

    TXT
  • Reproduction Time - Nesting Success - 2014 - Metadata

    TXT
  • Reproduction Time - Prey Taxonomy Lookup Table - Metadata

    TXT
  • Reproduction Time - Site Location Lookup Table - Metadata

    TXT
  • Reproduction Time - Time Budget - Metadata

    TXT
  • Reproduction Time - Diet - 2014 - Metadata

    TXT
  • Transect Surveys - Population Data 2014 - 2015 - Metadata

    TXT
  • Productivity - Black Oystercatcher 2014 - 2015

    TXT
  • Productivity - Brandts Cormorant 2014 - 2015

    TXT
  • Productivity - Double Crested Cormorant 2014 - 2015

    TXT
  • Productivity - Pelagic Cormorant 2014 - 2015

    TXT
  • Productivity - Western Gull 2014 - 2015

    TXT
  • Foraging - Flock Data 2014 -2015

    TXT
  • Transect Surveys - Population Data 2014 - 2015

    TXT
  • Disturbance - Offspring Data 2014 - 2015

    TXT
  • Disturbance - Species Data 2014 - 2015

    TXT
  • Disturbance - Sources 2014 - 2015

    TXT
  • Disturbance - Data Table 2014 - 2015

    TXT
  • Foraging - Data table 2014 -2015

    TXT
  • Disturbance - Sources Lookup Table 2014 - 2015

    TXT
  • Aerial Surveys - Metdata

    XML
  • Foraging - Metadata

    XML
  • Productivity - Metadata

    XML
  • Reproduction Time - Metadata

    XML
  • Transect Surveys - Metadata

    XML
  • Productivity - Active Lookup Table 2014 - 2015

    TXT
  • Beaufort Lookup Table

    TXT
  • Productivity - Chick Fate Lookup Table 2014 -2015

    TXT
  • Productivity - Date Last Observed Lookup Table 2014 -2015

    TXT
  • Productivity - Egg Fate Lookup Table 2014 -2015

    TXT
  • Productivity - Hatch Date Lookup Table 2014 - 2015

    TXT
  • Productivity - Lay Date Lookup Table 2014 - 2015

    TXT
  • Productivity - Nest Condition Lookup Table 2014 -2015

    TXT
  • Productivity - Relay Lookup Table 2014 -2015

    TXT
  • Site Location Lookup Table

    TXT
  • Site Coordinates Lookup Table

    TXT
  • Foraging - Interval Lookup Table 2014 -2015

    TXT
  • Observer Lookup Table

    TXT
  • Disturbance - Reaction Lookup Table 2014 - 2015

    TXT
  • Disturbance - Status Lookup Table 2014 - 2015

    TXT
  • Disturbance - Study Lookup Table 2014 - 2015

    TXT
  • Taxon Lookup Table

    TXT
  • Foraging - Block Lookup Table 2014 -2015

    TXT
  • Visibility Lookup Table

    TXT
  • Aerial Surveys - Methods and Sampling Metadata

    PDF
  • Disturbance - Methods and Sampling Metadata

    PDF
  • Productivity - Methods and Sampling Metadata

    PDF
  • Foraging - Methods and Sampling Metadata

    PDF
  • Transect Surveys - Methods and Sampling Metadata

    PDF
  • Site Location Lookup Table - Metadata

    TXT
  • Taxon Lookup Table - Metadata

    TXT
  • Visibility Lookup Table - Metadata

    TXT
  • Observer Lookup Table - Metadata

    TXT
  • Beaufort Lookup Table - Metadata

    TXT
  • Reproduction Time - Methods and Sampling Metadata

    PDF
  • Site Coordinates Lookup Table - Metadata

    TXT
  • Final Report Characterization of Seabirds, California North Coast MPA Baseline Study, 2014 to 2015

    PDF

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