backed Gulls and Black-legged Kittlwakes. Juvenile Herring and Black-backed 

 Gulls outnumbered adults about three to one while most of the Kittiwakes seen 

 were adults. Gannets, again mostly adults, were seen regularly in small 

 numbers. Seen occasionally were Fulmars and Alcids, usually Thick-billed 

 Murres. Table 4-6 gives a daily summary of seabird numbers. Since birds 

 seemed to remain in the area throughout an entire day (many individuals could 

 be recognized by oil patches) census was only taken during the morning hours, 

 while general observations were made in the afternoon. Due to the ship's 

 relatively stationary position and the possibility of birds staying in the 

 vicinity for several days, cruise totals for each species are not given. 



"Hardest hit by the oil slick were Herring and Black-backed Gulls. 

 Shortly after oil began to flow from the tanker, birds were seen with small 

 patches on breast and abdomen. Later birds were found with underparts and 

 heads heavily stained (Photograph 47, Appendix III). Late in the patrol, 

 badly oiled gulls, appearing to be weakened, began to land on the Vig-ltant , 

 some accepting food by hand. 



"In contrast, Kittiwakes seemed to be affected less by the oil. Few of 

 these birds were seen with oil stains in the early days of the spill and, 

 although the number of oiled birds increased later on, the percentage was 

 much lower than those of Herring Gulls and Black-backs and no badly oiled 

 Kittiwakes were ever observed. This lesser degree of oiling is perhaps 

 reflected in the Kittiwakes' feeding behavior. - On several occasions indi- 

 viduals were observed picking objects off the surface of the water with no 

 more than the bill touching. They were never seen feeding in oiled water. 



"A few of the Gannets seen were heavily oiled while most seemed to be 

 clean. None of the Fulmars or Murres in the area appeared to be oiled al- 

 though oiled Murres were reported washing ashore and were therefore obviously 

 affected. Three inshore ducks were sighted and, although their degree of 

 oiling could not be determined, their presence indicates that coastal water- 

 fowl do occasionally wander far from shore and may therefore be threatened by 

 offshore as well as inshore oil spillage. 



"Considering the low density of birds in the immediate vicinity of the 

 grounded tanker it would at first appear that damage inflicted by the escap- 

 ing oil was not very severe. However, oiled birds have been washing ashore 

 daily at Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard, most of these being Murres. This 

 indicates that oil is affecting birds away from the initial site of spilling. 

 On-site oiling and birds stranded on beaches may yet represent only a frac- 

 tion of the potential devastation. At this time we have no indication as to 

 the amount of damage done 100 or 200 miles "downstream" from the tanker. 

 Contaminated birds driven to the southeast by wind and current will go unde- 

 tected. Ideally an intensive survey of the birdlife should be made immedi- 

 ately in waters in advance of the oil slick. Such a cruise is at present 

 difficult to arrange. Fortunately, we do have some data on species abundance 

 and distribution in the region during the winter months (see MBO Seabird 

 Report No. 1) and with these we can speculate on the possible remote effects 

 of oil on birds. 



115 



