Update from Sleeping Bear Dunes NLS on Waterfowl Mortality

Hello All,

The first real increase in observed mortality for the fall season seems to be underway. AMBLE monitors at SLBE reported Oct.17-18 about 24 red-breasted mergansers, 6 white-winged scoters, and a few cormorants and gulls, one dead loon, and a sick loon reported. These reports from Platte River area to Empire, and Sleeping Bear Point (approx. 15 miles of beach). Yesterday I assisted on Transect 5 (1.8 miles) near N. Bar Lake, where about 18 more mergansers were found, mostly red-breasted (some still out in the heavy surf from our ongoing strong winds), a scoter and a loon were also collected. Preliminary observations this morning at Good Harbor Bay and Glen Haven showed only 1 horned grebe found dead .

As these observations coincide exactly with the timing of heavy loon, scoter, and long-tailed duck losses last year during this week, we will be paying close attention during the next few days. 

In comparison to last year, our annual mortality is way down. We had some anecdotal reports during the shutdown (seems some citizens are ever vigilant) which indicated the continuation of the previous trend of relatively light mortality along the lakeshore, there was fairly light mortality observed during  monitoring trips in Aug. and Sept.of this year on the Manitous, and with these recent additions from mainland transects, we probably still are below 200 total birds (3 loons). Last season end of year total approx.1500 (580 dead, 4 sick loons). Several days of strong winds and waves were a common factor last year and this year during these observed events.

We will keep you informed.

Thanks,

Dan

Dan Ray

Avian Botulism Monitoring Project Lead
Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore
9922 Front Street
Empire, MI 49630    
231 326-5834 x606  
dan_ray@nps.gov

Report from the Avian Botulism Seminar

Researchers Share Findings on Avian Botulism in the Great Lakes...a report from TV 9 & 10 News.  Watch it here.

Thanks to Taaja Tucker, Kelly & Paige.

The next ISEA Great Lakes Seminar will be on October 8th and the subject will be waste water treatment in the Grand Traverse Bay area. 

Shipwrecks of Sleeping Bear Featured at ISEA Seminar Tuesday

Shipwrecks Off Sleeping Bear Point

Inland Seas Education Association is excited to present Ross Richardson, author, historian, shipwreck hunter and diver as the June Great Lakes Seminar Series presenter. Richardson will explore the legend and history of shipwrecks, including three recently located, uncharted wreck sites off Sleeping Bear Point.

Sleeping Bear Point is in the heart of the Manitou Passage, one of the deadliest stretches of water in the Great Lakes. This area was a threat to any sailing vessel who dared venture between her and the islands just offshore. There lies a graveyard of shipwrecks in the sand beneath Sleeping Bear Point’s treacherous waters, which is where we will go for this seminar.

Where: ISEA’s Education Center

100 Dame St. Suttons Bay

When: Tuesday June 11th at 7:00pm

Free and open to the public

Please contact 231.271.3077 with any questions

Loon Migration Maps Online

If you missed Dan Ray's talk on Avian Botulism last evening, you can see some of the amazing loon mapping he showed.  These maps are produced by the the USGS using radio taged loons.  Click here to see the maps. 

Dan Ray presenting on Avian Botulism at the  Inland Seas Education Center

Thanks to Dan for his presentation.  Also thanks to scientists, managers and volunteers who are helping to understand this wildlife plague. 
--Tom K.

ISEA Seminar on Avian Botulism Tuesday Evening

Inland Seas Education Association is excited to offer a seminar focusing on the avian botulism monitoring program at the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. Dan Ray, the Project Lead, will give an overview of botulism in the Great Lakes, as well as a bird’s eye view of the monitoring activity conduced in 2012.

Where:
The Inland Seas Education Center
100 Dame St. Suttons Bay
When:
Tuesday February 12th at 7:00 pm

Free and open to the public
Please contact 231-271-3077 with any questions

Former Schoolship Intern Emily Tyner to Present Seminar on Botulism

What’s Happening in the Lake? Food Web and Botulism Dynamics in Northern Lake Michigan

Suttons Bay, MI – Emily Tyner of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore will present a public seminar on botulism in northern Lake Michigan. She will be focusing on recent changes in food web structure and dissolved oxygen dynamics. The program will be held on Monday October 10 at 7 pm at the Inland Seas Education Center in Suttons Bay. This seminar is free and open to the public.

The Great Lakes ecosystem has been subject to massive changes in recent years. The invasive zebra and quagga mussels have greatly altered the food web and concentrated nutrients on the lake bottom while clearing the water column of phytoplankton. This has caused a decrease in populations of native invertebrates and fish. The arrival of the round goby has also created havoc on the lake bottom. The combination of invasive mussels and gobies has resulted in an increase of botulism deaths to native fish and water birds. Emily Tyner’s research at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore is attempting to determine the complex relationships within the nearshore food web and to find ways to mitigate fish and bird deaths from botulism.

Emily Tyner, a native of Ann Arbor, began her career interest in the Great Lakes as a summer intern with the Inland Seas Education Association. She is now employed by the National Park Service and is working on her Masters Degree at the University of Wisconsin Great Lakes Water Institute in Milwaukee.

You can see a new video featuring Emily Tyner and her work (and the Schoolship!) by clicking here.

Round goby, quagga mussels and algae...a sometimes deadly combination that results in botulism deaths of water birds and native fishes.

Found on the Beach Today

Some photos taken today on the Lake Michigan beaches of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.  I was there with my daughter Emma while she did e-coli sampling. 

A few alewives and Cladophera near Platte River mouth

Dead sturgeon (~3.5 ft TL) near Otter Creek

Beached tour vessel Pictured Rocks south of N. Bar Lake

Looking NE from Platte River mouth

Past Schoolship Students/Interns - Where are they now?

Well, here are two of them, hard at work yesterday (note the smiles!).  They are aboard the US Geological Survey research vessel Dragonfly at Leland Harbor, just before departing for a day of sampling and underwater photography related to the botulism problem in this area.  Emma Kelly (left) is a former Young Women in Science participant (and Capt. Tom's daughter) and Emily Tyner (right) is a former ISEA student and summer intern.  Emma is currently enrolled at U. of Michigan in the Program in the Environment and Emily is in graduate school at U. Wisconsin at Milwaukee. Both are summer employees of the National Park Service.  Emily credits ISEA with determining her career path.  Emma blames it on her dad. 

Beach Clean Up on Earth Day Saturday 4-24-10

Help ISEA Clean Up the Region's Beaches and Steam Banks


It's that time of the year, when the ice and snow has melted off the shorelines, and people start thinking about summer vacations along the beach. Unfortunately many will find the debris left behind from the previous season and from the winter’s winds and currents.

ISEA Beach Cleaners on Mackinac Island

The Inland Seas Education Association is looking for Beach Cleanup volunteers to remove trash from along the shoreline of Lake Michigan and inland waterways starting April 24 during Earth Week and going until May 10, 2010. For the past 20 years ISEA has organized spring Beach Cleanup events that cover shoreline areas of rivers, lakes, and streams in Manistee, Benzie, Leelanau, Grand Traverse, Antrim, Kalkaska, Wexford and Charlevoix counties. Bordering county residents and groups can also take part in the cleanup by picking up trash and debris along rivers, lakes and streams in their area, which are all part of the Great Lakes Watershed.

ISEA will be working with the City of Traverse City volunteers on Saturday, April 24th from 9:00 AM till noon and encourages the beach cleaners to meet in the Farmers Market Parking lot to get a data card and report which area shoreline park you will be cleaning.

Another group will meet at the Inland Seas Education Center in Suttons Bay, at 9:00 AM on April 24th, to clean Suttons Bay Creek (Waterwheel Park) and the Village Marina area. Bring gloves and wear sturdy shoes. ISEA will provide the bags, data cards and clip boards.

“Volunteers in this event come from all walks of life including: businesses, schools, community groups, family and individuals,” states Sally Somsel, ISEA beach cleanup coordinator. “The volunteers all seem to have two things in common and that is their love for the Great Lakes and their commitment to help keep them clean.” Beach litter is more than unsightly, it’s dangerous. Shoreline debris can cause injury to humans and animals. Small children play with cigarette butts, fish are entangled in balloons, and birds trap their beaks in discarded food packaging. Ingested plastics can cause internal injury, intestinal blockage, and starvation. Thousands of animals, including fish, turtles, and birds die every year from ingestion or entanglement in beach debris.In 2009, ISEA's beach cleanup event held along the shores of the Grand Traverse area in Northwest Michigan was featured by the National Environmental Education Week.

The beach cleanup event held each spring brings together school children, fishermen, boaters, businesses, government employees, scuba divers, scout troops, and others who care about our beaches and waters. For complete instructions on how to help with the Beach Cleanup go to the ISEA website at http://www.schoolship.org/ and click on the “Beach CleanUp” button.

You may down load and print a beach cleanup data card at: www.schoolship.org/files/inlandseas/81.pdf. Or call the ISEA office at 271-3077 and report which beach area you would like to clean, and request a data card. Thank you for your support!

Seminar This Evening to Address Botulism in Lake Michigan

Botulism - killed bird on shore of Lake Erie

See the Fox 33 News Report & Interview with Chris Crissman: http://www.fox33.com/category/story/?id=148947

Come to the Inland Seas Education Center this evening at 7 pm to hear Ken Hyde of the National Park Service present a program on Lake Michigan botulism and bird die-offs. For full details click here: http://www.record-eagle.com/archivesearch/local_story_041095541.html

Ice cover report: The small bays within in Grand Traverse Bay remain ice covered (Northport, Omena, Bowers), but most of the ice in the West Arm has melted/blown out during the past several days of warm weather and strong winds. The last time GT Bay froze over was in 2003 and before that, 1996.
-Tom K.