Field notes #6

#020616 John D MacArthur Park

Survey start: 12:00pm   Survey End:  1:30 pm

Official low tide: 12:20 pm

Conditions: clear 78°

Bird Counts (JDM)
	Count	Behavior observed	Disturbance
Great Egret	1	F
Great Blue Heron	1	F
Little Blue Heron	1	F	H,D
White Ibis	1	FO
Roseate Spoonbill	1	F
*F=foraging	R= roosting/resting	FO = fly over

Notes: Finally there were mud flats exposed at low tide. Surprisingly the only birds utilizing them as a resting or foraging area were pelicans and seagulls. The few Ciconiiformes that were recorded, were foraging along the mangrove tree lines. This seems to be the norm for this particular location this season.

All of the birds using the inter tidal mud flats were displaced by human disturbance. At the time of the survey there were three paddle boarders, one kayaker, two wading humans and a dog. The latter set up camp on the flats area and were fishing. After walking to the northern end of the survey area, six more paddle boarders were recorded. Turning to the other side looking directly into the Lake Worth Cove (interior) side of the park; at least 4 more kayakers were recorded. There were no exposed mud flats in the interior of the park on this particular day.

As the researcher left the area, one roseate spoonbill was recorded foraging in a very remote section of the park that had no access by humans.

According to Drake (2007, cited by Vegvari, et al., 2011) Human disturbance can play an important role on the distribution, ecology and behavior of animals. Peters and Otis, 2006, conducted studies to determine if human disturbance that causes flushing behavior translate into site avoidance. More research is needed, but this seems like it could be an early explanation of why there are very few birds in the open areas of the park. Water sport traffic has been steadily increasing in this area over the years (personal experience).

The other factors that should to be researched are population decline of overall wading birds in South Florida and changes is food availability/quality.

References:

Zsolt Végvári, Zoltán Barta, Pekka Mustakallio, Tamás Székely, 2011. Consistent avoidance of human disturbance over large geographical distances by a migratory bird. DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2011.0295

Peters and Otis, 2006. Wading Bird Response to Recreational Boat Traffic: Does Flushing Translate into Avoidance? http://obpa-nc.org/DOI-AdminRecord/0063794-0063802.pdf

Field notes #5 Snook Island Scouting Trip

#012916- MacArthur survey cancelled due to lack of daylight at low tide…

Since the tides are high at our intended study site, and the low tides were at sunset; we decided to investigate another estuary site. We went to scout out Snook Islands.

Project Location
The Lagoon adjacent to the Lake Worth Municipal Golf Course and north of the Lake Worth Bridge.

It was not low tide, but we did see a few birds. To get the most benefit of this site, paddle boards or kayaks around the area would yield better results (because there are several tree islands north of any fixed locations we could access). The docks provided great viewing areas to half the site. This seems to be a great spot if anyone wants to look at pigeons!!! The docks were full. Here is a nice one!

Here is a tally of what we did see on our scouting mission. The snowy egret and great egret looks like juveniles, so it would be interesting to see if this is a typical occurrence and find out where any nearby nesting sites may be. Tide tables look like things at the study site may start to pick up and be more cooperative. Stay tuned. So far we are getting discouraged!

Bird Counts (Snook Island/Bryant Park)
	Count	Behavior	Disturbance
Snowy Egret	1	F	P
Great egret	1	F, R
Great Blue Heron	1	R
Little Blue Heron	1	F,R
White Ibis	3	F
*F=foraging	R= roosting/resting	FO = fly over

Team members: Diane Arrieta & Grant Kramer

Field notes #4 Slow Start

Summary of the first month of the wading bird study:

The progress for this project to date has been slow. The field counts depend on two main factors for success: times that low tide corresponds with daylight hours; and rain. We have been unlucky with both variables.  If you were quick to want an analysis of the data so far, indications are pointing to this location (John D. MacArthur State Park) as being negligible as an important feeding ground for wading birds; at least this year due to higher tides. This is a long term study and the tides and daylight seem to be shifting as we move closer to spring. This will hopefully yield better results.

Personal experience at this particular sight over many years would indicate a much higher count of birds. Stay tuned to see if this has changed as our project progresses into spring and summer months.

The following is a brief summary so far. Remember we are only looking for foraging birds on the mud flats; not necessarily a total count of wading birds in the area. We are averaging one survey per month so far. (You can revisit past blog postings to get more detailed accounts of species counted)

December Survey: 18 total wading birds

Jan Survey: 19 total wading birds

                Two surveys were cancelled due to darkness

                One survey was cancelled due to severe storms in the area

Here is a picture of the lens we are using out in the field [Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 200-500mm f/5.6E ED VR] . It is heavy for fieldwork, but very good.

Field notes #3

Wading Bird Survey # 1816; Field Note # 3

Date: 1/08/2016

Survey start: 12:06 pm        Survey End: 3:10 pm

Official low tide: 1:01 pm

Conditions: overcast and cool with scattered sprinkles; 90% cloud cover; 72°

Water monitoring: pH 7.14        salinity 1.023 PPT

Bird Counts (LWC)
	Count	Behavior observed	Disturbance
Great Egret	8	F,R	0
Great Blue Heron	5	F,R	H
Little blue Heron	1	F,R	H
White Ibis	1	F	0
*F=foraging	R= roosting/resting	FO = fly over

Bird Counts (Dubois Park)
(Test Survey – new location)	Count	Behavior observed	Disturbance
Great Egret	1	F	0
Great Blue Heron	1	F	0
Little Blue Heron	1	F	0
Snowy Egret	1	F	0
*F=foraging	R= roosting/resting	FO = fly over

Our official start to our wading bird study began on Friday! Waders packed, and equipment ready we headed out to the John D. MacArthur State Park to start our first survey of the Lake Worth Cove. Low tide was to officially begin at 1:01 pm, so we made sure to arrive one hour in advance. After setting up, we realized that the tide was still pretty high, and there were few birds to be seen. The group agreed that it might be best to arrive only 15 minutes prior to the start of low tide. Could the higher tides be linked to El Nino? You can read about that here.

With the tides on the higher side, not as many wading birds come to forage. It will be interesting to see if Spring tides are lower and bring higher birds counts. Our set up spot was ideal, and we took shelter under an overhang on the boardwalk inside the John D. MacArthur State Park. It was just starting to spit rain, when the team observed an Anhinga bird scooping up a fish right in front of us, and held it in its mouth before swallowing it whole! It truly was a National Geographic moment, but unfortunately, our camera girl is still getting the hang of focusing our super high tech camera, and she missed the money shot. Next time.

We roamed the boardwalk for a bit trying out different spots. On occasion, a local or a tourist would stop to ask us what we were doing. We gave a brief overview of how there is typically an increase in wading birds who come to feed with the low tide and the presence of sandflats, and of course the impact of climate change on rising sea levels.  (Gotta include a school lesson before the real fun starts.)

And now on to the fun part! It was finally time to go inland and start our wading. Our intern stayed on shore to test the water for salinity and Ph and to keep a lookout in case we got stuck. We not so gracefully pulled on our waders and off we went. Wading is hard work! As someone who had never waded, I immediately felt winded. Mucking through the mud is tough, and we soon realized that if we stood still for too long we were stuck. Like, seriously stuck. The mud felt like quicksand sucking us deeper and deeper. It was a little unsettling at first as we fought to maintain our balance (while shrieking), but still tons of fun. Another thing we quickly realized is, that upon getting wet, our waders would shrink and form a suction cup to our skin, and then as we moved out of the water, the waders would immediately expand and loosen up. So cool.

Getting waders off is no easy feat. Thank goodness for interns! The research assistant had to sit down and hold out her legs while the intern tugged at her boots. Flashback to removing skinny jeans in the 90’s.  Poor intern certainly earned his brownie points for the day.

All in all, it was a productive day. After finishing our wading stint, we scoped out other possible survey spots at Dubois Park. Within the first few minutes, we had already seen a Great Egret, a Great Blue Heron, and Snowy Egret with yellow legs and webbed feet feeding on the rocks. Close to him was a beautiful Little Blue Heron, also foraging for food. Jackpot!

Notes: After much discussion, the group decided that we will continue to survey the Lake Worth Cove for the remainder of the Spring and Summer semesters. Starting in the fall semester, a rotation will begin of three additional survey sites, one per month, we will do tests of the new survey sites over the summer.

Blog post by Leah Plocharczyk, Research Assistant

Field notes #1 Pilot Survey

Summary of test survey: 

Because this is a new study, we will be conducting a few test surveys. The purpose of the pilot survey was to evaluate the planned sampling design and to test out the camera, effectiveness of data sheet design and evaluate chosen survey sites. This is the information the team collected on our first test survey.

Date: 12/15/15

Survey start: 2:37pm        Survey End: 5:30pm

Official low Tide: 4:48pm

Conditions: sunny; 10% cloud cover; 84°

Water monitoring: pH 7.84         salinity 1.021 PPT

Bird Counts
	Count	Behavior observed	Disturbance
Great Egret	7	F,R	0
Great Blue Heron	7	F,R	0
Little blue Heron	1	R	0
White Ibis	1	FO	0
Unidentifiable	2		0
*F=foraging	R= roosting/resting	FO = fly over

NOTES: 

1. Water monitoring equipment: We could not calibrate the official monitoring equipment in time for pH testing; so we used fish tank monitoring strips as a test run. pH levels may not be accurate. Calibration will be completed before the official Study start date of Jan 8, 2016. These measurements are not vital to the study, however offer an added layer of investigation to water quality issues and food sources. 

2. Survey times: we found the sample design of two hours on either side of high tide (using methods from the British Trust for Ornithology Waterbird Survey 2013-14 study) was not effective for this location. The low tide was not very low and very little of the mud flats were exposed until the official low tide times. Even then, only small portions were exposed.

We will be examining low tide/sunrise/sunset schedules to decide which is most effective for this location.

 

Team Members: Diane Arrieta; Leah Plocharczyk, Grant Kramer