Nesting Seabird Populations - Pacific Rim

This program assesses demographic parameters and breeding abundance of 5 species of ground (burrow) nesting seabirds: Pigeon Guillemot (Cepphus columba), Rhinoceros Auklet (Cerorhinca monocerata), Glaucous-winged Gull (Larus glaucescens), Leach's Storm-Petrel (Oceanodroma leucorhoa) and Fork-tailed Storm-Petrel (Oceanodroma furcata) at the Seabird Rocks Colony through population counts and capture-mark-recapture techniques. Counts of individuals at the colony are done 3-4 times throughout a breeding season (May-July) to estimate the size of the breeding populations. A banding (capture-mark-recapture) program to estimate annual survivorship of the two storm-petrel species is done via mist-net arrays on two consecutive nights in early May and/or mid-to-late July. This project seeks to track the present status of the ground and burrrow-nesting seabirds on Seabird Rocks and any recovery that may occur due to future habitat restoration and/or predator-control measures. Seabird Rocks is the major breeding location for several burrow-nesting seabirds in Pacific Rim National Park Reserve and in the Barkley Sound area on southwest Vancouver Island.

Organization: Parks Canada | Parcs Canada

Last modified: 2024-12-09T17:02:47.580226