Survey of Wintering Sea Ducks and Waterbirds in Bristol Bay, Alaska

There is a dearth of information about bird use of certain areas of Bristol Bay during winter. This survey will fill in gaps of our knowledge and provide baseline winter abundance and distribution data for eastern Bristol Bay and the southern extent of sea ice, which varies annually. The area is subject to potential threats from offshore oil and gas development and from mining (i.e., Pebble mine). The aerial survey will be done using USFWS Kodiak fixed-wing aircraft and pilots and will test the proposed survey methodology.. The survey design is currently under development, but will likely involve systematically spaced transect sampling of all ice-free areas.