Hi All,

The Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife is looking for
participants to volunteer their time and banding skills to assist in the
banding of scoters during the 2008 wing-molt. If you are interested and
have some experience banding and/or handling wild birds we would
appreciate your assistance. If your experience is limited we could
still use your help if you could assist for a few days (we would like to
limit the time spent on training if possible).

We are beginning a pilot project this summer that focuses on molting
Surf and White-winged scoters in an attempt to determine recruitment and
survival rates of these declining species. We are attempting a large
scale marking of birds using standard USFWS bands, and are hoping this
capture technique with molting birds will provide the large numbers
needed for a capture/recapture analysis. We are capturing over the
complete molt period in an attempt to better identify where and when the
different species and sexes molt. If this project is successful, we are
hoping the secure funding for a flyway-wide marking program in the
coming years.

For those of you who have participated in our capture projects in the
past, this is a unique opportunity in that the captures take place
during normal daylight hours, during the sunny, warm time of year!

We will be capturing birds using a very lightweight gill net. We drive
the flightless birds to the net, and induce them to dive where they
become entangled. The net weights are light enough to allow the birds
to float to the surface when entangled. The birds are then removed from
the net, processed for biological data, banded, and released.

We will be working primarily in two locations in the north Puget
Sound/Georgia Strait: Anacortes (Padilla Bay and Oak Harbor) and Point
Roberts (Fraser River and Boundary Bay). Ideally we would like 9 -11
people participating per day, as this would allow us to have two
separate crews (one to capture birds and the other to process/band). We
need a minimum of 6-7 people a day to fill one crew that can do both
captures and processing. We are hopeful that the majority of the Point
Roberts team will be comprised of volunteers that our Canadian
collaborators will be able to procure, but feel free to sign up if you
are available to do so. Also, depending on capture success during the
Fraser/Boundary weeks, we may use the Fridays of those weeks as a travel
day.

Of course, due to a tight budget, reimbursement for time/lodging/travel
is extremely limited.

Below is our schedule for the 2008 molting scoter captures. We will
begin capturing the 1st week of August on Padilla Bay and Oak Harbor,
and will move to the Fraser River / Boundary Bay areas the following
week, before returning back to Padilla/Oak to start the cycle again. We
will continue rotating through this schedule through the end of
September. If there is time, we will also spend one day in the San Juan
Islands during the weeks we visit Oak Harbor/Padilla Bay. We will most
likely be meeting before 8 AM near the capture locations before heading
out on the water.


Mon 04-Aug-08 Oak Harbor
Tue 05-Aug-08 Oak Harbor
Wed 06-Aug-08 San Juan Islands
Thu 07-Aug-08 Padilla Bay
Fri 08-Aug-08 Padilla Bay
Sat 09-Aug-08 ---
Sun 10-Aug-08 ---
Mon 11-Aug-08 Setup/Move
Tue 12-Aug-08 Fraser River
Wed 13-Aug-08 Boundary Bay
Thu 14-Aug-08 Fraser River
Fri 15-Aug-08 Boundary Bay
Sat 16-Aug-08 ---
Sun 17-Aug-08 ---
Mon 18-Aug-08 Oak Harbor
Tue 19-Aug-08 Oak Harbor
Wed 20-Aug-08 San Juan Islands
Thu 21-Aug-08 Padilla Bay
Fri 22-Aug-08 Padilla Bay
Sat 23-Aug-08 ---
Sun 24-Aug-08 ---
Mon 25-Aug-08 Setup/Move
Tue 26-Aug-08 Fraser River
Wed 27-Aug-08 Boundary Bay
Thu 28-Aug-08 Fraser River
Fri 29-Aug-08 Boundary Bay
Sat 30-Aug-08 ---
Sun 31-Aug-08 ---
Mon 01-Sep-08 ---
Tue 02-Sep-08 Oak Harbor
Wed 03-Sep-08 Oak Harbor
Thu 04-Sep-08 Padilla Bay
Fri 05-Sep-08 Padilla Bay
Sat 06-Sep-08 ---
Sun 07-Sep-08 ---
Mon 08-Sep-08 Setup/Move
Tue 09-Sep-08 Fraser River
Wed 10-Sep-08 Boundary Bay
Thu 11-Sep-08 Fraser River
Fri 12-Sep-08 Boundary Bay
Sat 13-Sep-08 ---
Sun 14-Sep-08 ---
Mon 15-Sep-08 Oak Harbor
Tue 16-Sep-08 Oak Harbor
Wed 17-Sep-08 San Juan Islands
Thu 18-Sep-08 Padilla Bay
Fri 19-Sep-08 Padilla Bay
Sat 20-Sep-08 ---
Sun 21-Sep-08 ---
Mon 22-Sep-08 Setup/Move
Tue 23-Sep-08 Fraser River
Wed 24-Sep-08 Boundary Bay
Thu 25-Sep-08 Fraser River
Fri 26-Sep-08 Boundary Bay
Sat 27-Sep-08 ---
Sun 28-Sep-08 ---
Mon 29-Sep-08 Oak Harbor
Tue 30-Sep-08 Padilla Bay

If you are interested in participating contact me at the number listed
below. We have also created a scheduling website where you can check
available dates and sign up:

http://www.doodle.ch/participation.html?pollId=bi6xmev4u7bi75kt

this web site is being used to facilitate scheduling a large and
diverse group of participants. Participants should enter their name and
select which days they are available to participate. If there were a
day that is already full (10-11 people) it would be preferable if you
could select a day that is short of participants. Please contact me to
advise me that you added your name to the schedule, and so I can get
your contact information to advise you of the meeting time and location
for those days you have signed up for.

Thank you for your consideration,

Joe R. Evenson
Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife
Puget Sound Assessment & Monitoring Program
Marine Bird & Mammal Component
Assistant Project Leader
600 Capitol Way North
Olympia, WA 98501-1091
360-790-8691 (Cell)
evensjre at dfw.wa.gov
http://wdfw.wa.gov/mapping/psamp/
http://www.wdfw.wa.gov/wlm/psamp/scoters/index.htm