and less expensive ways in which this may be accomplished would be a periodic 

 censusing of birds found dead along the beaches. This lends some objective 

 basis to speculations about the effects of oil pollution on marine birds, and 

 also provides information about unusual or increasing mortality from other 

 causes (e.g., pesticides). Over a period of time, this may serve as an early 

 warning indicator of where serious problems in wildlife conservation might 

 arise. Such surveys are being conducted presently in the eastern United States 

 by the Atlantic and Gulf Coast Beached Bird Survey Project , but the area cov- 

 ered in some regions (e.g., two miles of the Texas coast [Simons, pers. comm.]) 

 is so small that the information obtained may have little importance. 



Many of the biases previously discussed above in regard to oil spills may 

 also be applied to censuses of beached birds. In addition, increasing mortal- 

 ity from another source, such as pesticides, might result in lower mortality 

 from oil and obscure the true effect of the latter. Nonetheless, changes in 

 the number of individuals of a species found dead and in the incidence and de- 

 gree of oiling from year to year should provide far more needed information 

 than is presently available. 



ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 



Many people have contributed to this report in a variety of ways. Gene W. 

 Blacklock allowed us to use his unpublished manuscript on the occurrence and 

 status of the birds of Padre and Mustang islands and Herbert W. Kale, II sup- 

 plied us with unpublished information on Florida birds. We are also grateful 

 to Malcolm M. Simons, Jr., Director of the Atlantic and Gulf Coast Beached Bird 

 Survey Project, who supplied us with unpublished data on incidence of oiling 

 and mortality on birds along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. 



The library staff of the Smithsonian Natural History Museum was especially 

 helpful in obtaining copies of most of the theses and many of the papers that 

 comprise the files upon which this and the companion reports are based; Carolyn 

 S. Hahn, Amy E. Levin, and Jack F. Marquardt were especially helpful in this 

 regard. Agnes C. Nalley also aided us in finding and obtaining literature in 

 the Bird Library of the Gabrielson Laboratory of Patuxent National Wildlife Re- 

 search Center. 



Linda A. Hollenberg helped assemble species bibliographies and the litera- 

 ture files and Jill Parker provided some useful and much-needed editing. Roger 

 A. Luchenbach prepared some early versions of the species accounts and Wayne A. 

 Hoffman made some comments on these. Initial versions of the maps were prepared 

 by Martha B. Hays and completed by the staff of National Coastal Ecosystems 

 Team, Slidell, Louisiana. Painstaking typing of preliminary and final draft 

 material was accomplished by Gwynn S. Leonard and Helen L. Harbett. The il- 

 lustrations interspersed in the text were prepared by Charlotte I. Adamson. 

 We thank all for their efforts. 



Others supplied unpublished manuscripts or copies of papers, journals, or 

 reports that would have otherwise been very difficult to obtain and often pro- 

 vided insight into areas where additional information could be acquired. Yet 



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