Oregon Coast Seabird Colony Aerial Survey Raw Counts, 1994-2020

1994 marks the start of aerial photographic surveys of surface-nesting seabirds along the Oregon Coast, with raw counts completed in 2020. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service collected this data to monitor population status and trends on offshore islands. Census years include 1988, 1994, 2006, and 2014, with subsampling for other years.

Use Cases

• Analyze long-term population trends for common murres based on census and subsample years mentioned.
• Develop stratified random sampling protocols for wildlife monitoring based on the described subsampling approach.
• Study the distribution of seabird breeding colonies along the Oregon Coast based on the aerial survey program.
• Compare manual (analog) and digital (GIS) counting methods for ecological surveys based on the metadata description.

Strengths

• Data spans multiple census years (1988, 1994, 2006, 2014) providing a long-term baseline.
• Subsample counts cover 45 colonies over multiple years (1988, 1994, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2009, 2012, 2014).
• A power analysis informed the sampling design, suggesting a statistically robust approach for detecting trends.

Limitations

• The raw point counts are not georeferenced; they only align with the source image.
• Subsample selection was based on common murre populations, limiting inferences for other species like Brandt's cormorants.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.

Provenance

Source

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Oregon Coast National Wildlife Refuge Complex.

Collection Method

Aerial photographic surveys, with counts done manually from projected slides or digitally in GIS.

Time Range

1988-2020, with primary census in 1994.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-04 08:27:32.070411; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Oregon Coast offshore islands.