HELCOM workshop on migratory waterbirds Helsinki, 20-22 November - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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

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) total ~ 96 species (24 on HELCOM Red List) 160 cm 15,000 g 18 cm 40 g 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

• ffshore wind farm

fully commissioned /under construction pre-construction / consent authorised consent application submitted concept / early planning decommissioned

www.4coffshore.com, 6 November 2018

Introduction: Bird migration in the Baltic

Data sources: Visual observation of birds breeding / stopping over / staging / wintering

Great Black-backed Gull

Skov et al. 2011, SOWBAS

Greater Scaup www.ornitho.de (citizen science)

HELCOM indicator abundance of wintering waterbirds

Task for the workshop: aggregate information on sites used by waterbirds (indicating areas touched by migration)

Herring Gull

Gedeon et al. 2014, German Breeding Bird Atlas

spring migration autumn migration

Data sources: Visual observation of active migration Task for the workshop: aggregate information on sites passed by migrating waterbirds (indicating areas touched by migration) covers only diurnal migration along coastlines , i.e. unknown proportions migrate at night,

• ften only parts of a population migrate across Baltic

2 4 6 8 10 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23

Proportion of time migrating over sea (%) Time of day (CEST)

Curlew migratory flight activity

(P. Schwemmer (Univ. Kiel) pers. comm.

Geltinger Birk Falsterbo Kåseberga Revsudden Ottenby Rozewie Cap Pape Kabli Söderskär Põõsaspea Hanko Ristna Virtsu Sorve Hyllekrog Kolka

Data sources: Visual observation of active migration More from www.trektellen.nl ?

Data sources: Bird ringing

Bairlein et al. 2014 Valkama et al. 2014

Task for the workshop: consider, where bird ringing data can be useful addition Millions of ring recoveries, but route taken between first capture and recovery usually unknown

Red Knot Common Eider

Masden et al. 2009, ICES J. Mar. Sci. 66: 746-753 Gudmundsson 1994, J. Avian Biol. 25: 15-26

supply details on sections of migratory routes [diurnal and nocturnal migration] Data sources: Radar tracking of active migration Task for the workshop: check, where radar studies can supplement other information, especially adding to tracking of individuals

supply the migration route roughly (satellite transmitters) or precisely (GPS data loggers) [diurnal and nocturnal migration]

www.blessgans.de Pütz et al. 2007, Vogelwelt 128: 141-148.

• Univ. of Kiel unpubl.

Data sources: Tracking of individual birds (telemetry) Task for the workshop: aggregate tracks to migration routes

Data sources: Tracking of individual birds (telemetry) - from tracks to routes

tracks from 2 projects taken from www.movebank.org (downloaded or re- drawn) summarising tracks (fitted by eye) smoothing in ArcGIS

Data sources: Tracking of individual birds (telemetry) - from tracks to routes 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

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 Common Eider x Long-tailed Duck 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

method showing migration route ? diurnal/nocturnal migration ? coverage of waterbird species application in workshop

• bservation at

breeding/staging site some indication (diurnal/nocturnal) very good yes

• bservation of active

migration good (only coastal) diurnal good yes bird ringing some indication (diurnal/nocturnal) good no radar tracking precisely diurnal/nocturnal poor yes tracking of individuals (remote sensing) good to precisely diurnal/nocturnal intermediate yes

Data sources: Overview

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

Data:

• satellite telemetry: tracks
• f 7 birds from 2 projects
• bservation of active

migration from 14 locations (11 spring, 10 autumn)

movebank.org

Skov et al. 2011, SOWBAS

Aggregation of data: Long-tailed Duck example (population size: 1,600,000)

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
• f 7 birds from 2 projects
• at-sea count data from

winter (ship-based and aerial surveys)

• land-based count data

from winter

HELCOM indicator

• bservation of active

migration from 14 locations (11 spring, 10 autumn)

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 ...)