Coastal Waterbird Community Structures in the Sea of Okhotsk, Russia, during spring and fall in 1999 - 2004

Coastal seabird surveys were carried out using beach scans, percent scans, and transect surveys. Surveys were done by one person (Falk Huettmann, Mike Suitor for Iturup and Sakhalin 2004). Beach scans are 360° scans of an area as far as the naked eye can detect species.

These scans are snapshots in time. Percent scans were done where seabird flocks were large. The percentages of the species and their age classes were identified; for larger flocks, numbers were estimated.

When noted, transect surveys were conducted along beaches. In this instance the shoreline was followed at a constant even pace along the waters edge representative for the beach. Seabirds were classified to species and age class; moult and gender information was only sometimes possible.

In all surveys, binoculars were used to confirm the identities and age of seabirds. Waterbirds were scanned for leg flegs, wing tags and other marks. Data were collected in the field on paper and notebooks, and in the office coded and transcribed, and then checked on hard copy and Excel spread sheets.

Data were pre-processed by Falk Huettmann and Mike Suitor, and finalized by Jana Kotzerka and checked by Mike Suitor and Daisuke Kawai. Species identification and bird numbers are done by Falk Huettmann and Mike Suitor (for data 2004).