Seabirds off Vancouver Island (and beyond)
This page covers studies by Burger and associates of seabirds aside from the Marbled Murrelet, which has entire sections of this site dedicated to it already. Most of this work was done in the coastal waters off Vancouver Island but some studies from elsewhere are included here too.
In the mid-1990s we did extensive surveys off southwest Vancouver Island, covering nearshore sheltered waters within Barkley Sound, exposed inshore waters at the mouth of Trevor Channel, Barkley Sound and over the continental shelf and the edges of the Juan de Fuca Canyon. These surveys were done from boats year-round and represent one of the few seabird databases to cover this range of habitats in all months. Most of this work has been published and the papers are given below.
This unpublished report summarizes the seabird communities within the Nearshore, Inshore and Offshore (continental shelf) areas and gives the monthly and annual densities of most of the seabird species found in these surveys:
Burger, A. E., A. D. Lawrence, and E. A. Stewart. 2002. Seasonal and spatial variations in densities and composition of seabird communities off southwest Vancouver Island, 1993-1995. In: Burger, A. E. (editor). 2002. Distribution and abundance of seabirds off southwest Vancouver Island: a year-round study in relation to the risks of oil spills. Report to Nestucca Trust Fund and BC Ministry of Water, Land, and Air Protection, Victoria, BC.(pdf version)
In addition these papers have already been published from this and more recent rsearch (see also our Murrelet Publication Page):
Ronconi, R. A. and A. E. Burger. 2009. Estimating seabird densities
from vessel transects: distance sampling and implications for strip
transects. Aquatic Biology 4:297-309. [pdf version]
Burger, A. E., C. L. Hitchcock, E. A. Stewart, and G. K. Davoren. 2008. Coexistence and spatial distributions of Marbled Murrelets (Brachyramphus marmoratus) and other alcids off southwest Vancouver Island, British Columbia. Auk 125:192-204. [PDF version]
Burger, A. E., C. L. Hitchcock, and G.K. Davoren. 2004. Spatial aggregations of seabirds and their prey on the continental shelf off SW Vancouver Island. Marine Ecology Progress Series 283:279-292. (pdf version)
Burger, A. E. 2003. Effects of the Juan de Fuca Eddy and upwelling on seabirds off southwest Vancouver Island, British Columbia. Marine Ornithology 31:113-122. (pdf version)
Results from our seabird research and early beached-bird survey studies have been used in these publications dealing with oil spill risks in British Columbia and elsewhere:
Hamel,
N.J., A.E. Burger, K. Charleton, P. Davidson, S. Lee, D.F. Bertram, and
J.K. Parrish, J.K. 2009. Bycatch and beached birds: assessing
mortality impacts in coastal net fisheries using marine bird
strandings. Marine Ornithology 37:41-60. [pdf version] URL: http://www.marineornithology.org/PDF/37_1/37_1_41-60.pdf
O'Hara, P. D., P. Davidson, and A. E. Burger. 2009. Aerial surveillance and oil spill impacts based on beached bird survey data collected in southern British Columbia. Marine Ornithology 37:61-65. [pdf version]
Stephen, C. and A.E. Burger. 1994. A comparison of two methods for surveying mortality of beached birds in British Columbia. Canadian Veterinary Journal 35:631-635. (pdf version)
Burger, A.E. 1993. Estimating the mortality of seabirds following oil spills: effects of spill volume. Marine Pollution Bulletin 26: 140-143.(pdf version)
Burger, A.E. 1993. Mortality of seabirds assessed from beached bird surveys in British Columbia. Canadian Field-Naturalist 107:164-176.
Burger, A.E. and D.M. Fry. 1993. Effects of oil pollution on seabirds in the northeast Pacific. Pp. 254-263 in The status, ecology, and conservation of marine birds of the North Pacific (K. Vermeer, K.T. Briggs, K.H. Morgan and D. Siegel-Causey, eds.). Canadian Wildlife Service Special Publication, Ottawa
Hlady, D. A. and A. E. Burger. 1993. Drift-block experiments to analyse the mortality of oiled seabirds off Vancouver Island, British Columbia. Marine Pollution Bulletin 26:495-501.(pdf version)
Burger, A.E. 1992. The effects of oil pollution on seabirds off the west coast of Vancouver Island. Pp. 120-128 in The ecology, status and conservation of marine and shoreline birds on the west coast of Vancouver Island (K. Vermeer, R.W. Butler and K. Morgan, eds.). Canadian Wildlife Service Occasional Paper No. 75, Ottawa.
Finally, here are papers from work done on foraging ecology and diving behaviour of seabirds by our group including work by students. Not all of these were from Vancouver Island:
Ronconi, R. A. and A. E. Burger. 2009. Estimating seabird densities from vessel transects: distance sampling and implications for strip transects. Aquatic Biology 4:297-309.(pdf version)
Hamel, N.J., A.E. Burger, K. Charleton, P. Davidson, S. Lee, D.F. Bertram, and J.K. Parrish, J.K. 2009. Bycatch and beached birds: assessing mortality impacts in coastal net fisheries using marine bird strandings. Marine Ornithology 37:41-60. [pdf version]
Burger, A. E., and S. A. Shaffer. 2008. Application of tracking and data-logging technology in research and conservation of seabirds. Auk 125:253-264. [pdf version]
O'Brien, E. L., A. E. Burger, and R. D. Dawson. 2005. Foraging decision rules and prey species preferences of Northwestern Crows (Corvus caurinus). Ethology 111:77-87. (pdf version)
Holm, K. J., and A. E. Burger. 2002. Foraging behavior and resource partitioning by diving birds during winter in areas of strong tidal currents. Waterbirds 25:312-325.(pdf version)
Burger, A. E. 2001. Diving depths of shearwaters. Auk 118:755-759. (pdf version)
Bertram, D. F., L. Cowen and A. E. Burger. 1999. Use of radar for monitoring colonial burrow-nesting seabirds. J. Field Ornithology 70:145-157.(pdf version)
Davoren, G. K. and A. E. Burger. 1999. Differences in prey selection and behaviour during self-feeding and chick provisioning in Rhinoceros Auklets. Animal Behaviour 58:853-863.(pdf version)
Blight, L.K. and A .E. Burger. 1997. Occurrence of plastic particles in seabirds from the eastern North Pacific. Marine Pollution Bulletin 43:323-325. (pdf version)
Watanuki, Y. and A. E. Burger. 1999. Body mass and dive duration in alcids and penguins. Canadian Journal of Zoology 77:1838-1842. (pdf version)
Burger, A. E. 1997. Arrival and departure behavior of Common Murres at colonies: evidence for an information halo? Colonial Waterbirds 20:55-65.
Clowater, J.S. and A.E. Burger. 1994. The diving behaviour of Pigeon Guillemots (Cepphus columba) off southern British Columbia. Canadian Journal of Zoology 72:863-872.(pdf version)
Burger, A.E., R.P. Wilson, D. Garnier and M.-P. T. Wilson. 1993. Diving depths, diet, and underwater foraging of Rhinoceros Auklets in British Columbia. Canadian Journal of Zoology 71: 2528-2540.(pdf version)
Wilson, R.P., K. Hustler, P.G. Ryan, A.E. Burger and E.C. Noldeke. 1992. Diving birds in cold water: do Archimedes and Boyle determine energetic costs? American Naturalist 140:179-200.
Burger, A.E. 1991. Maximum diving depths and underwater foraging in alcids and penguins. In Studies of high-latitude seabirds. 1. Behavioural, energetic and oceanographic aspects of seabird feeding ecology. (W. A. Montevecchi and A.J. Gaston, eds.). Canadian Wildlife Service Occasional Paper 68:9-15.
Burger, A.E. and J.F. Piatt. 1990. Flexible time budgets in breeding Common Murres: buffers against variable prey availability. Studies in Avian Biology 14:71-83.[Link to online volume]
Burger, A.E. and D.W. Powell. 1990. Diving depths and diet of Cassin's Auklet at Reef Island, British Columbia. Canadian Journal of Zoology 68:1572-1577.(pdf version)