Louisiana’s Crude
How Citizen Scientists Help Monitor the Effects of Oil on Birds
When we at the ABA first heard about the disaster that was unfolding in the Gulf of Mexico in April and May
of 2010, our minds immediately turned to the birds that rely on the tidal marshes which make up the fertile feeding grounds of the fragile ecosystem along the Gulf coast. Three things were obvious: (1) We needed a system for coordinating and employing the volunteer service of ABA members in the region; (2) we
needed to receive accurate, on-the-ground information; and (3) we needed to raise funds to help organizations get a handle on the impact of the situation. Thanks to the generosity and overall concern of our
membership, we have been able to succeed on all fronts.
Just as the ABA’s Gulf Coast Coordinator Drew Wheelan was arriving at ABA headquarters to outfit himself for a prolonged stay in Louisiana, Jared Wolfe and Erik I. Johnson, two Louisiana State University (LSU)
graduate students, were contacting the ABA seeking volunteer observers and funding to help launch a
mammoth oiled-bird survey along the whole north rim of the Gulf of Mexico. Wolfe and Johnson, in a collaborative effort with LSU’s School of Renewable Natural Resources and the Baton Rouge Audubon Society (BRAS), were in the process of developing what has become the standard for volunteer-based monitoring
of oiled birds and habitats resulting from major oil spills like the Deepwater Horizon disaster.
To help move the effort along, the ABA made a donation of $3,000 to the BRAS. This was followed with
a call on our website for volunteers in the area to participate in the surveys. The National Wildlife Federation helped build volunteer capacity, and Ryan Mong, an intern from Evergreen State College in Washington, was put in place to lead the surveys throughout July 2010.
Today the work continues. Both Wolfe and Johnson have presented the results of the summer surveys
at a professional conference, they have been extensively involved with state and federal agencies, they
have done public outreach, and they have been invited to speak at an upcoming symposium, “Deepwater
These images by Bart Siegel bear witness
to the hazards to marine life in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Siegel was a volunteer
in a major grassroots effort, funded in part
by the ABA, to document the effects of
the Deepwater Horizon disaster. A major
challenge for Siegel and his colleagues
was to try to determine how many deaths
were attributable to the oil gusher vs. other causes of mortality. The full impact of
the disaster may not be known for years.
Horizon Oil Spill–Lessons Learned,” at the 2011 Waterbird Society meeting.
So many people rose to the occasion during this devastating event. Thanks go out to our membership
for the goodwill and quick action in helping to get the monitoring efforts started, and to Jared Wolfe and
Erik Johnson for taking on and successfully navigating such a daunting task.
More information can be found on the Baton Rouge Audubon Society’s website <tinyurl.com/6yw6jgw>.
To recount the horrific details of the oil spill as it unfolded, visit the ABA’s Gulf Coast page, with links to Drew
Wheelan’s blog <aba.org/gulf>. The page and blog are no longer updated, but are preserved as a historical snapshot and reminder of the environmental disaster that took place. They are a tribute to the untold
Top to bottom: Black Skimmer,
Kemp’s Ridley sea turtle, apparent
King Rail x Clapper Rail hybrid.
Photos by © Bart Siegel.
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number of birds that undoubtedly lost their lives in the summer of 2010.
—David Hartley, ABA Director of Communications
BIRDING • MARCH 2011
Awakening
n the vast wetlands of the Gulf coast, dozens of
sensitive waterbird species breed in highly productive marshes and estuaries, and on barrier
Jared Wolfe
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
jwolfe5@tigers.lsu.edu
Erik I. Johnson
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
ejohn33@tigers.lsu.edu
islands. Great rookeries of herons, egrets, ibises,
pelicans, and terns depend on the fragile ecosystem,
which is often pounded by summer
hurricanes and winter storms. The
interior population of the endangered Piping Plover winters primarily along the sandy shores of the
Gulf, and many other migratory shorebirds also use
this landscape. For decades, humans have altered
the hydrology of these coastal marshes such that this
habitat is quickly disappearing. On 20 April 2010,
British Petroleum’s Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded, adding one more insult to this already severely impacted ecosystem: uncontrolled crude oil
spilling into the Gulf and drifting toward shore.
According to the U.S. government, 6,104 birds
are documented to have perished because of the
Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Birds that survived the
spill will most likely experience higher levels of cancer, decreased reproduction, and organ damage.
Crude oil still threatens Louisiana’s coastal bird communities; researchers from the University of Georgia
recently found substantial layers of oil-saturated
sediment stretching from the Deepwater Horizon
explosion site to the coastline, suggesting that much
of the oil did not evaporate or dissipate but instead
In the early 20th century, the Great Egret became a
symbol for the ravages of the millinery trade. Today, the
species faces threats that couldn’t have been imagined
a hundred years ago. Photo by © Drew Wheelan.
WWW.ABA.ORG
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GU LF COA ST D IS A STER
Royal Tern. Photo by © Drew Wheelan.
One of the heroes in the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon
disaster was biologist, activist, and organizer Drew Wheelan.
Supported in part by the ABA, Wheelan’s investigative
reporting quickly attracted the attention of the national news
media. His blog <aba.org/gulf> was candid, disturbing, and
highly influential. Wheelan’s efforts resulted in donations by
ABA members and friends in excess of $55,000, and these
monies have been quickly dispersed to organizations doing
on-the-ground monitoring and cleanup. These photos convey
a sense of Wheelan’s nearly round-the-clock efforts in the Gulf.
Royal Tern.
Photo by © Drew Wheelan.
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settled on the seafloor. Storm activity coupled with submerged layers of oil could severely re-contaminate
stretches of Louisiana’s shoreline.
Recognizing the potential impact of the Deepwater
Horizon tragedy on our coastal bird communities, researchers associated with Baton Rouge Audubon Society and Louisiana State University implemented a
“Citizen Scientist’s Protocol for Monitoring Oiled Birds
in Louisiana” on 8 May 2010. This protocol is distinguished from most other avian survey methodologies
by identifying individuals that show either visual or behavioral effects of oil contamination. During oil spills,
surveyors (and the media) often focus on heavily oiled,
immobile, or dead wildlife, and often address those
BIRDING • MARCH 2011
Northern Gannet.
Photo by © Drew Wheelan.
Partially oiled American Oystercatcher.
Photo by © Drew Wheelan.
Shoreline cleanup. Photo by © Drew Wheelan.
WWW.ABA.ORG
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GU LF COA ST D IS A STER
animals that are in the most immediate danger. The
Louisiana Citizen Scientist protocol is designed to
document individual birds with even small patches
of oil on their plumage or exhibiting unusual behavior. Because small amounts of oil can be preened
and ingested, the potential for illness or death is
great. The Louisiana Citizen Scientist methodology
was subsequently adopted by the National Audubon
Society as their standard monitoring protocol
throughout the Gulf coast region.
Citizen scientists are playing an important watchdog role as this environmental crisis unfolds. Many
months after the broken well-head was capped, they
have continued to collect valuable scientific data and
regularly document wildlife impacted by oil contamination. Bart Siegel, a citizen scientist hailing
from New Orleans, submitted the following report
after conducting a routine offshore survey:
On 24 October 2010, our party of four boarded
a boat bound for a barrier island 12 miles into
the Gulf of Mexico. We anchored about 150
yards offshore and walked through the water
carrying our gear over our heads. Upon the
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island, which we [previously] visited on 2 October, we found a large increase in oil deposits.
The deposits were back in the marsh grass as
well as on the beach, within reach of high tide.
Oil was also found just under the surface covered by a fresh layer of sand over a vast area of
beach. A Kemp’s Ridley sea turtle was found on
the beach, a recent mortality, along with a Black
Skimmer and a Clapper Rail. The population of
blue crabs that were abundant on our last inspection was all but gone.
Reports are subsequently given to authorities to inform and guide mitigation efforts. Data are archived
digitally and available to researchers for analysis.
As concerned citizens, we are frustrated with our
inability to stop the oil spill from damaging the Gulf
coast’s fragile ecosystems. Although our collective
ability to avert further damage is limited, our collective ability to document damage is critical. As the crisis unfolds, we hope to tell the birds’ story through
analysis and by sharing data with interested parties
for upcoming analysis and mitigation. To learn more,
please visit us online <tinyurl.com/4l25ojl>.
BIRDING • MARCH 2011