There's a pretty good article about water bird declines here:

http://www.ptmsc.org/images/science/marinebirds/MarineBirdarticle.pdf


You can use the Puget Sound Ambient Monitoring Program's web tools to look at a couple of decade's worth of data here:

http://wdfw.wa.gov/mapping/psamp/index.html


The Puget Sound Ambient Monitoring Program has observed less evidence of declines in goldeneyes than quite a few other marine birds on Puget Sound.

In my own experience, I remember, as a teenager, seeing large numbers of goldeneyes flying into Capitol Lake every evening at dusk during late November and into at least December. A couple of local bird enthusiasts, Glen and Wanda Hoge, actually counted the birds for a time. These evening flights may have been an indicator of higher goldeneye numbers in the area during that period, early to mid-1970s, or it may have represented conditions that made Capitol Lake an attractive place for a night roost, conditions which have apparently changed. You'd have a difficult time, I think, seeing more than a few goldeneyes flying into the lake in recent years. During the 1970s, it was a truly wondrous experience to walk over 4th Ave bridge at dusk due to the constant whistling wings and the sight of flocks going into the lake, passing in rapid succession or virtually stacked on top of one another.

Kelly McAllister
Olympia, Washington





----- Original Message -----
From: Hans-Joachim Feddern
To: Jim Greaves
Cc: tweeters at u.washington.edu
Sent: Thursday, March 18, 2010 10:23 PM
Subject: Re: [Tweeters] Re: Barrow's Golden Eye Population Decline?


Heide,

This may best be answered by somebody involved with the Puget Sound Seabird Project. I think all of us birding around the sound, have noticed a decline of most species. I most often bird from Dash Point Dock and for example did not see a single Common Murre this winter. Loons, Grebes, Cormorants, Buffleheads seem to be in normal numbers, however Scoters, Goldeneyes and Rhinoceros Auklet numbers appear to be way down. There seems to be a shortage of food supply preferred by certain species.

Hans Feddern
Twin Lakes/Federal Way, WA.
thefedderns at gmail.com


On Thu, Mar 18, 2010 at 5:50 PM, Jim Greaves <lbviman at blackfoot.net> wrote:

Can't answer for your area, but here in NW Montana, at least where I live, for several weeks, we've had double the number of BAGO that we had the past several winters, out-numbering COGO by 3 to 1 or more [ at 75-100 BAGO counted last week on the small lake at Thompson Falls] - we've had open water on most lowland lakes throughout western MT since middle of February. Past two winters, we had mostly frozen lakes until April. Thus, there may be regional "shifts" by the birds themselves in response to the open water, unrelated to "normal" or "abnormal" population dynamics - and perhaps also unrelated to wildlife agency limits on which ducks are off limits to hunt in particular year(s) in order to allow their numbers to recover from the myriad pressures they may face - Jim Greaves


At 01:03 PM 3/18/2010, tweeters-request at mailman2.u.washington.edu wrote:

Hi All,

I've been birdwatching at Burien's Seahurst Park since 1999. Over the
years I've noticed a significant decline in the number of Barrow's Golden
Eyes and other waterfowl (Surf Scoters, Common Merganers, etc.). There
used to be hundreds of Barrow's Goldeneyes now I'm lucky if I see three.
Has anyone else noticed this phenomenon? Is their a disease affecting
Barrow's Goldeneyes? I understand that populations can fluctuate but this
downward trend doesn't seem to be abating. Any info much appreciated.
Thanks! :)

Heidi Narte
Gregory Heights, Washington


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