New Atlas of “Key Habitat Sites” for Seaducks in North America "

" “The Sea Duck Joint Venture (SDJV) was formed to learn more about sea ducks, make information available to stakeholders, and ensure sustainable populations over the long term.” The Sea Duck Joint Venture has produced a new continent-wide atlas of key habitat sites for sea ducks. This 286-page document describes sites of importance to our seaduck species during both breeding and non-breeding seasons across North America. Which species do we consider “seaducks”? Both Common and Barrow’s Goldeneye, Long-tailed Duck, both Common and Red-breasted Merganser, all of the eider species, all three scoters, Harlequin Duck and Bufflehead fall within this classification. This is of potential interest to Wisconsin birders because approximately 10 to 12 of these species are found within the Wisconsin portion of the Great Lakes at least some time each year. The Western Great Lakes Bird and Bat Observatory did federally-funded research in Lake Michigan between 2010 and 2015, and we contributed data and findings to the Key Sites Atlas. Along with a set of partners, we were part of a Great Lakes Commission project named “Monitoring and Mapping Avian Resources in the Nearshore and Open Waters of Lakes Erie, Huron, Michigan, and St. Clair." "" I wrote one of the Key Sites accounts for the Great Lakes region: Key Site 67 - Sturgeon Bay to Manitowoc: https://seaduckjv.org/atlas/pdf/narrative_site67_508.pdf “In autumn of 2013, a total of 52,704 sea ducks were tallied in this area. More than 100,000 Red-breasted Mergansers pass though this offshore zone during both autumn and spring migration seasons. Use of distribution data from these surveys caused boundaries of a group of Wisconsin Important Bird Areas.” You can access the Key Sites Atlas at: https://seaduckjv.org/science-resources/sea-duck-key-habitat-sites-atlas/