Feeding the gulls on the Cedar Island- 

 Ocracoke ferry. 



Men and birds: 



Making an effort to live in harmony 



A swarm of laughing gulls — the kind that'll 

 practically eat right out of your hand — whirled 

 over the grassy island they had claimed for this 

 season's nesting. 



The island had been all theirs— until that big 

 crane-like machine resting over by the water's edge 

 showed up. A man had used the dragline to re- 

 build the dike that surrounds the island and is 

 meant to slow erosion. The machine's presence was 

 an almost certain sign that plans to dump new 

 dredge spoil on the island were on tap. Several 

 tons of spoil dumped there while the birds were 

 nesting would mean disaster for many young gulls. 



Jim Parnell and Bob Soots, UNC Sea Grant- 

 supported biologists who've been studying life on 

 dredge islands five years now, saw the calamity 

 that appeared to be developing. 



But just like in the old movies, disaster was 

 avoided. A call by scientists and cooperation from 

 officials at the Wilmington district office of the 

 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers saved many of the 

 gulls. When Corps officials heard the problem, they 

 altered dredging schedules as much as was feasi- 

 ble to avoid the birds. By delaying dumping on the 

 island a few weeks, the gulls had a better chance 

 to raise their young and move on. 



Such cooperation has proven to be a successful 

 way to maintain existing colonies and their 

 habitats. It is just one development of research that 



Parnell and Soots conducted under UNC Sea Grant 

 funding from 1971-74. 



Their work initially focused on plant and animal 

 succession on dredge islands. But before long, 

 birds had become their research emphasis. 



While dredging is often thought to be environ- 

 mentally harmful, Parnell and Soots found that 

 islands built with spoil make ideal nesting sites for 

 many species of waterbirds. In fact, periodic dump- 

 ing, which buries vegetation and leaves a barren, 

 sandy surface, is beneficial to those birds that 

 prefer little or no plant growth, researchers found. 



Different kinds of birds prefer different levels 

 of vegetation, Parnell and Soots discovered. As the 

 natural succession of grasses, shrubs and trees 

 progresses, the kinds of fowl on the islands change. 



Looking to the time when dumping might be 

 moved from the islands, Parnell and Soots sought 

 ways to control plant growth so that those species 

 needing only sparse vegetation could continue 

 nesting on the islands. They found that selected 

 herbicides provide effective control. Other methods 

 need further testing, they say. 



The results of their research were presented at a 

 May, 1974 conference which attracted some 70 

 participants from more than 20 government agen- 

 cies and private organizations. The proceedings of 

 that conference (publication number UNC-SG-75- 

 01) are now available from the UNC Sea Grant 

 Program office. 



Researchers get set to count waterbirds 



from the royal tern colony. But in some respects, 

 the desert-like tern island is worlds away. 



Making your way through the tufted, prickly 

 grasses and dense woody thickets is almost im- 

 possible on some parts of Battery. But it's not 

 necessary to go into the "jungle" to see the island's 

 number one attraction — its hundreds of long- 

 legged herons, egrets and ibises balancing half 

 awkwardly, half gracefully on springy tree top 

 branches. 



If you do carve your way into the shrubs, you're 

 likely to see woody nests built strategically among 

 the branches and young birds stumbling over vege- 

 tation many times their size, striving to get the 

 knack of flying. 



Unlike their royal tern neighbors, the larger 

 waterbirds prefer a place like Battery Island where 

 plants have grown thick and tall since spoil was 

 last dumped there in the early 60s. Although it's 

 apparent that the level and amount of plant life on 

 Battery have increased over the years, no one is 

 sure if the number of birds has also grown. But this 

 year, thanks to the work of UNC Sea Grant-sup- 

 ported biologists, we have reliable estimates that 

 some 5,000 of the spindly birds made summer 

 homes on Battery. 



Getting tabs on Battery's bird population is only 

 the tip of the iceberg for biologists Drs. James 

 Parnell of UNC-Wilmington and Robert Soots of 

 Campbell College. Their goal is to count coastal 

 waterbirds nesting in colonies from Virginia to 

 South Carolina. That, as most folks know, is a lot 

 of territory. Estimates are that about 20 colonial 

 species nest on the Tarheel coast. 



Parnell and Soots hope that their census of 

 waterbird populations will provide a set of figures 

 against which future bird counts can be compared. 

 By being able to see changes in the numbers of 

 birds, government agencies and private organiza- 

 tions may be able to take steps to prevent the 

 extinction or serious decline of any species. 



The first phase of the biologists' proposed three 

 year censusing project got underway this spring. 



Initial efforts have been devoted to developing 

 counting methods that are reliable, economical and 

 fast and that don't unduly harm the birds. For 

 their work to be of real value, their counting tech- 

 niques must be easy to duplicate in the future. 



During May, June and early July, Parnell and 

 Soots, with student assistants Leon Jernigan and 

 Robert Needham, spent long, hot days counting 

 nests from the air and on the ground. For those 

 species who nest in the open, aerial photography 

 is a reliable counting method. But for birds like 

 laughing gulls, herons and egrets who build nests 

 in dense vegetation, using ground counting meth- 

 ods appears to be the only reliable way to get a 

 grasp on their numbers. 



Closely related to their Sea Grant work is a U.S. 

 Fish and Wildlife Service project in which Parnell 

 and Soots are locating all coastal heron rookeries 

 and getting a count of herons in North Carolina. 

 Project sponsors believe that changes in heron 

 populations could be a gauge to more subtle en- 

 vironmental changes. 



While Pamell and Soots have devoted this year 

 to establishing reliable census techniques, the 

 coming two years will be spent conducting the 

 count. 



After the two-year population count, the re- 

 searchers will put their findings into an atlas that 

 promises to be of use to many government agencies, 

 private organizations and individuals whose activi- 

 ties are in the coastal zone. The atlas will map the 

 location of bird colony nesting sites and indicate 

 the population of species at each site. It will further 

 relate vegetation levels and the physical character- 

 istics of islands to the kinds of birds found there. 



While more people will know more about our 

 bird resources from PameH's and Soot's work, it 

 probably won't make too much difference to the 

 birds. If conditions remain favorable, they'll prob- 

 ably keep coming back to North Carolina's dredge 

 islands, forever sweeping, swishing, swooping and 

 certainly screaming. 



Bob Soots, Leon Jernigan 

 and Robert Xeedham look- 

 bird censusing data. 



