Hi folks,

My banding sub-permittee has found some flight funds to take his Big Sit
project from the Northern Inland Waters (Everett to Pt Roberts) and thanks
to Gerald Hayes at WDFW and Eric Cummings, we will do some flights in the
south Sound and Hood Canal. Don needs Volunteers!

Please contact him at the address/phone below if you're willing to assist.

Many Thanx
Jon. Anderson
Olympia, Washington
festuca AT olywa.net

Dear Tweeter folks

I have been working with WDFW and we have finally gotten some PSAMP (Puget
Sound Ambient Monitoring Program) flights this summer to cover the rest of
Puget Sound and Hood Canal, along with the same flight area we covered in
2001!!

The flights are scheduled for late May (if the PSAMP folks get their PIGU
surveys done) in the south Sound area and between June 13-17th for the North
Sound (and perhaps Hood Canal). We are still trying to figure out the
breeding chronology of birds in Hood Canal to calculate the time to fly when
both adults are feeding at low tide, but no chicks have fledged. We know
the south Puget Sound area is earlier, at least one cycle, perhaps 2 cycles
earlier. This year we will try and determine that for the Sound Sound and
also more clearly relate the colony use of the eelgrass beds in the area
flown in 2001. So, we have a much more focused set of tasks and locations
that in 2001. If anyone out there has info on the status of heron colonies
and especially those below, please email me.

We will also have some trainings on May 18th, as well as during the week
for WDFW employees (you are also welcome to attend those). Let me know if
you are interested. The flights may not be over the weekend due to
conflicts, but they are not scheduled yet. (June 14-15th is a weekend so
some will be on a weekend, Many volunteers on the 2001 Big Sit could have
sit on a weekday!).

Colony Attendance and foraging areas will be the focus at selected large,
medium and small colonies. We have also selected colonies that can be
easily viewed to get attendance rates over a low tide and foraging areas
that appear to be the only spot for foraging for the colony. Obviously we
are ignoring the large colonies in the Central Sound (Issaquah Creek, Black
River, and American Lake).

The Tasks at Hand

1. Same as in the Big Sit - watch the Foraging Area for a 4 hour period,
with a map every 20 minutes (rather than 15 min) - marking all herons on the
map of the area (12 maps total). For the more bored at heart, arrival and
departure directions can be done.

2. We also need volunteers to watch the colony for the same time period.
At some locations it could be worked in with some beach watching with
another volunteer. We need to document that the herons aren't roosting at
the colony (or other locations), making the #s in the foraging area low.

3. We are looking for volunteers who want to go out and help determine the
status of these colonies right now in early May

4. We would also like someone to take on a foraging area and visit it for
at least 3 times over a minus tide cycle to determine if the number of
herons stays the same over each of the days (do herons get full and fewer #s
come out later??). This is great for people who live near these sites.

The LOCATIONS

Northern Inland Waters (Everett to Pt Roberts).
Robertson Road/Lummi Peninsula - we will need access to the dikes again
from the tribe.
Cultus Bay - Whidbey - we still need some access worked out, but Jeff
Cordell at the UW is helping me.
Tulalip Bay (we still do not know where the colony is located)
Ault Field - Medium - we will hope to get NAS bios to help with the colony
stuff.

Central Sound
Fay Bainbridge State Park- access to the colony is limited
Des Moines/Dumas Bay (which ever is active)

South Sound
Woodward Bay (DNR Site) on Henderson Inlet small
Purdy Spit - Henderson Bay/Burley Lagoon medium
Mud Bay - medium east of Olympia
Near Allyn -small - North Bay in Case Inlet the colony location is not conf
irmed

Hood Canal - we are hoping for some help from Trudy here on sites
Hamma Hamma - medium - colony access unknown
Seabeck -medium colony access unknown


Please get in touch with me if you are interested. Also let me know if you
want a report. I can email it as a word file and also as a set of excel
files. An copy costs about $10 to copy and make.

don
Donald Norman
Norman Wildlife Consulting
2112 NW 199th
Shoreline, WA 98177
(206) 542-1275

Wildlife and Environmental Toxicology