INTRODUCTION 



The southeastern Atlantic shore of the United States is a mosaic of 

 marshes, sandy barrier beaches, maritime forests, and mangroves. Such habi- 

 tats are biologically diverse and are among the most productive ecosystems in 

 the world (Odum 1971). 



Increased human recreation and development pressures in these coastal 

 areas has resulted in greater disturbance to the associated coastal resources. 

 Recognizing the need to monitor certain important wildlife resources, the U.S. 

 Fish and Wildlife Service initiated programs in 1975 to inventory colonially 

 nesting waterbirds along the east and gulf coasts of the United States and in 

 Alaska. 



Many species of waterbirds were nearly extirpated in the late 19th and 

 early 20th centuries by millinery traders and egg collectors. Although pro- 

 tection allowed most species to recover during the middle part of this centu- 

 ry, pollution problems and habitat destruction have intensified in the past 30 

 years and continue to threaten breeding populations. The stability of coastal 

 bird populations may then reflect the relative quality of their wetland habi- 

 tats. 



This is one of a series of atlases showing the results of coastal surveys 

 and inventories of colonial waterbirds (see also Portnoy 1977, Sowls et al. 

 1978, Osborn and Custer 1978, Erwin and Korschgen 1979). This atlas documents 

 the location and abundance of pelicans, cormorants, gulls, terns, and black 

 skimmers, that nested in 1976 from the Virginia-North Carolina border to Key 

 West, Florida (Table 1). These species were included in the atlas by Osborn 

 and Custer (1978) but only for those locations where herons also nested. To 

 that extent, there is duplication between the two atlases. 



Information in this atlas includes: colony location, species composition 

 and estimated number of breeding adults, site description and nest substrates, 

 stage of nesting, census method and date of census. Table 2 summarizes the 

 total number of colonies and breeding birds found and the frequency of occur- 

 rence of all species censused for this atlas. 



