Coastal Bird Science and Monitoring

Puget Sound Ecosystem Monitoring Program (PSEMP) Marine Birds Work Group 

The Puget Sound Ecosystem Monitoring Program (PSEMP) Marine Birds Work Group is one of 10 topical work groups that form PSEMP, a collaborative network of subject matter experts from across the region. Together, we generate, organize, synthesize, and communicate scientific information across political and organizational boundaries to track ecosystem conditions that directly address management and science questions critical to Puget Sound recovery.  

Audubon has convened and coordinated this transboundary group of marine and shorebird monitoring practitioners and researchers since 2018 and has helped connect and deepen collaborative relationships amongst state, federal, tribal, NGO, academic, and Canadian partners. By working together, we can advance our collective scientific knowledge of marine bird conservation in ways that leverage our unique strengths and insights.  

Guided by the interests of our work group members and the PSEMP Strategic Plan, the Marine Birds Work Group tackles topics ranging from the status and trends of our local marine and coastal birds to the mechanisms driving their population trends. Many collaborative sparks have originated in our group, including the impetus for the Salish Sea Estuaries Avian Monitoring Framework (SSEAM), described below, and the marine and shorebird monitoring directory – a one-stop shop for accessing information about avian monitoring programs in the Salish Sea.  

Salish Sea Avian Estuary Monitoring (SSEAM) 

The Salish Sea Estuaries Avian Monitoring Framework is part of our long-standing commitment to support avian management and conservation in Salish Sea estuaries. The framework creates a shared methodology for use in avian monitoring, which will vastly improve our collective ability to support multi-species habitat management and restoration of vital estuary habitat.  

Bird conservation in a changing climate requires strategic actions, informed by science, to provide for the needs of birds across their annual migratory cycles. Puget Sound and the greater Salish Sea provide stopover and wintering habitat for birds like Dunlin and Northern Pintail, yet their habitat needs have not been well documented and, as a result, are not integrated into estuary management decisions.   

Local biologists and managers have long told us that better science is needed to help them make smart decisions about habitat management for coastal birds. We couldn’t agree more, which is why we partnered with Ecostudies Institute, the Stillaguamish Tribe, and WDFW to deliver science support for avian monitoring and management in estuaries. This undertaking included our inventory of monitoring efforts associated with Puget Sound estuary restoration (Koberstein et al. 2017), recommendations for a regional avian monitoring framework (Bayard et al 2019), and avian habitat suitability models (Michel et al. 2021).  

With the monitoring framework now established and supported by our partners at Ecostudies Institute, we are poised to deepen regional insights into estuary bird responses to restoration and to ensure our data directly inform habitat management efforts going forward. We are eager to expand this monitoring throughout the Salish Sea and the broader Pacific Northwest. 

This project was made possible with funding from the Stillaguamish Tribe and the Puget Sound Partnership.   

Machine Learning Tools 

Monitoring seabird colonies is time- and labor-intensive work. Audubon Washington has partnered with Rice University's Data to Knowledge Lab and Audubon Texas to develop SeeBird, a machine learning tool that uses aerial imagery to detect and count waterbirds at breeding colonies. By automating detection and refining workflows for aerial surveys, SeeBird is designed as an open-source resource for researchers and conservation practitioners doing aerial monitoring of waterbird colonies across the globe. A pilot use case was completed in Texas, and a peer-reviewed publication is in preparation. We hope to expand the applications of this tool to colonies across the hemisphere in the coming years. 

Why this Matters for Birds 

Supporting science and monitoring by convening partner forums and providing technical science support is essential for effective bird conservation - it ensures management decisions are based on shared, credible, and up to date information. Collaborative science forums foster alignment across agencies and partners and help translate emerging research and monitoring data into practical, coordinated actions on the ground. By equipping natural resource managers with relevant science and decision support tools, conservation efforts are better able to respond to changing conditions, target threats strategically, and achieve measurable outcomes for bird populations and their habitats. 

Looking Ahead 

Our collaborative science and monitoring partnerships are key to delivering the information we need to advance science-based conservation in support of marine and coastal conservation. Through the PSEMP Marine Birds Work Group and our Salish Sea State of the Birds assessment, we are well-positioned to support hemispherically-connected habitats for marine birds and shorebirds in Washington.