Pigeon Guillemot Monitor Training
Note: Ignore the posted training date and time. Training needs to be done on-line before the June 7 survey start date.
If you like to watch seabirds along beaches, please consider joining a team this summer to monitor Pigeon Guillemots as an indicator species for nearshore health. It only requires one hour of your time one day per week (to be completed before 9 a.m.), from June through August. This is an ongoing project co-sponsored by Clallam County Marine Resources Committee and Olympic Peninsula Audubon Society. We realize people can’t always be available (vacations, etc.), so we try to train more volunteers to backfill for each other. You will receive protocol training to record bird attendance at their burrow nest sites on sea bluffs, to note fish prey that they deliver to their chicks, and to record any disturbance (e.g., eagle fly overs).
Due to COVID-19, there will be no in-person training this year. Instead the Salish Sea Guillemot Survey Network has created on-line training videos, including safety protocols for volunteers in these COVID-19 times. We are recruiting for new volunteers as well as returning monitors for a refresher course since there have been minor modifications from the 2019 monitoring season. You don’t have to be a birder per se since we only monitor Pigeon Guillemots and they are very distinct and easy to identify (and fun to watch). Our monitoring sites range from the Miller Peninsula to Freshwater Bay.
If you are interested, please notify me, Ed Bowlby (edbowlby2@gmail.com), with your contact info (email address, phone # and where you live). I will relay more details for both the on-line training as well as protocols to follow. Since we plan to start monitoring effort the week of June 7th, your quick response would be helpful, because watching the training videos is required before June starts.
Lastly, please pass on this recruitment announcement to anyone you think would be interested in participating in this citizen science program.
Pigeon Guillemot
Photo by Chris Perry