[beachnet] Fw: beach birds

----- Forwarded by Richard L Whitman/BRD/USGS/DOI on 09/17/2009 04:07 PM 
-----

From:
Muruleedhara Byappanahalli/BRD/USGS/DOI
To:
Meredith Nevers/BRD/USGS/DOI at USGS, Richard L Whitman/BRD/USGS/DOI at USGS, 
Zongfu Ge/BRD/CONT/USGS/DOI at USGS
Date:
09/17/2009 03:24 PM
Subject:
beach birds


Birds at a Southern California beach: seasonality,
habitat use and disturbance by human activity
Biodiversity and Conservation 10: 1949?1962, 2001.

KEVIN D. LAFFERTY
United States Geological Survey, Western Ecological Research Center, 
Marine Science Institute,
University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA (e-mail: 
lafferty at lifesci.ucsb.edu;
fax: +1-805-893-8062)

Received 18 July 2000; accepted in revised form 3 January 2001

Abstract. Use of a Santa Barbara beach by people and birds varied in both 
time and space. There were
100 birds, 18 people and 2 dogs per kilometer. Bird density varied 
primarily with the season and tide
while human activity varied most between weekend and weekday. Bird 
distributions along the beach were
determined mainly by habitat type (particularly a lagoon and exposed rocky 
intertidal areas). For crows
and western gulls, there was some evidence that access to urban refuse 
increased abundance. Interactions
between birds and people often caused birds to move or fly away, 
particularly when people were within
20 m. During a short observation period, 10% of humans and 39% of dogs 
disturbed birds. More than
70% of birds flew when disturbed. Bird species varied in the frequency 
that they were disturbed, partially
because a few bird species foraged on the upper beach where contact with 
people was less frequent. Most
disturbances occurred low on the beach. Although disturbances caused birds 
to move away from humans,
most displacement was short enough that variation in human activity did 
not alter large-scale patterns of
beach use by the birds. Birds were less reactive to humans (but not dogs) 
when beach activity was low.

Key words: beach, birds, disturbance, dogs, recreation, shorebirds

Murulee Byappanahalli, Ph. D.
Research Microbiologist
U.S. Geological Survey, Great Lakes Science Center
Lake Michigan Ecological Research Station,
1100 N. Mineral Springs Road
Porter, Indiana 46304
Phone: (219) 926-8336 ext. 421
Fax:      (219) 929-5792
E-mail: byappan at usgs.gov

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