Gulf Coast Oil Spill

Responding to the Gulf Coast Oil Spill

More than 30 species of migratory shorebirds depend directly on the Gulf of Mexico’s rich diversity of food and coastal habitats to sustain them during all or part of their lifecycle. The Deepwater Horizon oil spill disaster that occurred in this very Gulf in late April 2010 came at a delicate time, when shorebird species of high conservation concern were nesting or starting to raise their young along the coastline. 

In the weeks following the disaster, our Shorebird Recovery Project team was urgently synthesizing critical information about the nesting species and developing interactive maps of  species-specific important sites in the immediate and potential path of the spill. We have been proactively sharing these resources and tools with partners throughout the Gulf region, including federal and state agencies and science-based nonprofit organizations, to help coordinate and expedite their efforts to protect these sites and species.
 
We are now looking ahead to the fall [southbound] migration and winter, when thousands of shorebirds will be migrating through or to the Gulf Coast. We have compiled a suite of information about 34 species into a user-friendly spreadsheet and revised our nesting season species-specific map of important sites to include this next wave of birds.
 
Our team remains dedicated to providing the technical resources, expertise, and outreach needed to help prevent this regional disaster from having hemispheric consequences for shorebird  populations.
 
To learn more about our team’s work or to download Gulf-related resources, please follow the links below:
 
Important Shorebird Sites in the Spill Zone (dynamic, interactive map)Google-Map of species-specific important shorebird sites overlaid with oil spill trajectory map (updated regularly). Developed and maintained by Manomet's Lisa Schibley

Gulf Coast Shorebirds (141 KB, Excel spreadsheet)
Manomet's Shorebird Recovery Team developed a comprehensive spreadsheet that lists all the shorebird species that rely on U.S. Gulf Coast habitats (Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida), their season of use, including arrivals times during spring and fall migrations, states in which they occur, which habitat types they prefer, what foraging method they use, and what category of food they eat. This spreadsheet was developed as a conservation tool for our partners in the Gulf to help inform and expedite conservation planning for shorebirds in advance of their arrival this fall and winter. 

Alternative Habitats

The SRP team is working with the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) to help guide its new, proactive Migratory Bird Habitat Initiative. Through this program, farmers along the Gulf Coast will receive the technical and financial support they need to be able to create alternative stopover habitats on their land for migrating shorebirds.

Shorebird Surveys

The SRP team is leading the development and implementation of coordinated shorebird surveys along the Gulf Coast with various partners, on behalf of the federal Natural Resources Damage Assessment.
 
Migrating into Harm's Way
Shorebirds in the Gulf
 
SRP in the News

Interview: Maine Public Broadcasting Network
15 June 2010: “Oil Spill Threat to Migrating Northeast Birds, Conservationists Warn” by Susan Sharon.
6 June 2010: “Plymouth Center’s Data Aiding Gulf Oil Cleanup” by Robert Knox.
 
Press Releases
Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences’ Shorebird Recovery Project team has been working with partners in the northern Gulf of Mexico for the past several weeks to protect important shorebird areas from the Deepwater Horizon off-shore oil spill. The oil, spewing for a month now, is a serious threat to high-priority migratory shorebird species currently nesting and raising chicks around the Gulf Coast. Of greatest conservation concern are the beach-nesting American Oystercatcher, Wilson’s Plover, and Snowy Plover.

6 May 2010: Gulf Coast Oil Spill & Shorebirds 
See Manomet's initial response and preliminary Google Earth map of the important shorebird areas affected.