“Can Floating Islands save Endangered Seabirds in Maryland’s Coastal Bays?” David Curson, the Director of Bird Conservation for Audubon in Maryland since 2004, leads efforts to protect, manage and monitor bird habitats across Maryland’s network of Important Bird Areas, and coordinates grassroots advocacy on issues and legislation affecting birds. David will apprise us as to how a new partnership of Audubon Mid-Atlantic, Maryland Department of Natural Resources, and Maryland Coastal Bays Program is trying to reverse downward population trends among colonial waterbirds that depend on islands for nesting in Maryland’s Coastal Bays, due largely to the erosion and loss of their nesting islands. Three species- Common Tern, Royal Tern, and Black Skimmer-are now listed as Endangered in the State of Maryland and are at risk of disappearing from the Coastal Bays as breeding species. The partnership has experimented with installing artificial nesting platforms as part of a larger strategy to expand the breeding habitat for these birds. The first two years of this project, in 2021 and 2022, have made a promising start.
DINNER DETAILS: Please sign up to bring your share for the covered dish dinner happening before the lecture. Register on PerfectPotluck.com. The event name there is BBC January Covered Dish. The passcode is 9338. The contact person is Devi Abbott 410-308-0079, abbottdevi@gmail.com
