POPULATION TRENDS OF WATERBIRDS, 1900-1977 



In this section, historical nesting records of each species are summa- 

 rized for each State. An extensive data supplement on microfiche at the back 

 of this report lists all breeding records with number of pairs, location of 

 colony, date, and reference. These data are also available on magnetic tape 

 from the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service. All records from 1900 to- 1975 are 

 included. Regional (State) totals, where available, are presented in tabular 

 form for both historical data and the 1976-1977 inventory data. 



Certain published and unpublished records were useful in summarizing his- 

 torical trends by State or region. For instance, Drury (1973, 1974) reported 

 trends of seabirds for New England and Long Island. Similarly, Nisbet (1973) 

 described trends for terns in Massachusetts with reference to other northeast 

 populations. R. L. Ferren and N. Proctor provided manuscripts and notes sum- 

 marizing records for all seabirds and waders in Rhode Island and Connecticut, 

 respectively. Each is preparing a text describing bird distribution and 

 abundance for their respective States. P. A. and F. G. Buckley provided 

 1974-1977 census estimates from helicopter surveys of the Long Island coast- 

 line. For New Jersey waterbirds, F. G. Buckley (1977) recently compiled an 

 historical account of nesting from the early 1800' s. In Maryland, many 

 records were obtained from the nest record card program of the Maryland 

 Ornitho logical Society. R. Clapp kindly provided an unpublished annotated 

 bibliography of seabird records for the eastern shore of Virginia. 



Because nesting records were usually obtained from field notes sections 

 in ornithological journals, many journal references are abbreviated in the 

 text as follows: RNEB = Records of New England Birds, AFN/AB = Audubon Field 

 Notes/ American Birds, LNL = Linnaean News-letter, KB = Kingbird, NJA = New 

 Jersey Audubon, DO = DelMarVa Ornithologist, MB = Maryland Birdlife, MOS = 

 Maryland Ornithological Society (nest records), BNWR = Blackwater National 

 Wildlife Refuge records, AN = Atlantic Naturalist, R = The Raven, UOC = Urner 

 Ornithological Club. 



When estimates of current population abundance were compared with histor- 

 ical records, the incompleteness of earlier reports became ^ery apparent. In 

 most cases, only a few traditional colonies were visited on a regular basis 

 and often no systematic counts were attempted. Early accounts of "declines" 

 may simply have been the result of colonies shifting to new locations. 



During the early 1900's, when migratory bird protection was initiated, 

 some attempts were made to survey nesting colonies along the coast. W. 

 Dutcher (1901, 1902, 1903) attempted to assess seabird nesting status along 

 the entire Atlantic Coast. In the 1950' s, R. P. Allen initiated a National 

 Audubon Society wading bird survey of the entire U. S., but a final report was 

 never published. 



Because documentation of historical nesting was more complete in some 

 States (Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island) than in others (New Jersey, 

 Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia), there is no reliable way of depicting 

 trends for any given species over large geographical areas such as the north- 

 eastern U. S. The following accounts provide a general summary of long-term 

 trends for each species and concentrate on the more complete data collected 

 during this study. 



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