In the News

November 7, 2007

Lloyd Center for the Environment seeks some volunteers to conduct South Coast beach surveys

DARTMOUTH — Attention beach walkers: The Lloyd Center for the Environment is seeking volunteers to adopt a beach of their choice to survey once a month in search of "beached birds" that may have washed ashore.

Our goal for this informative workshop is to assign sites from Westport to Wareham. This session will be held at the Lloyd Center for the Environment, located at 430 Potomska Rd. in Dartmouth on Saturday, Nov. 17 from 10 a.m. to
1 p.m.

For questions, registration and directions, please contact Jamie Bogart, Research Associate, at (508) 990-0505 x23 or jbogart@lloydcenter.org.

Started in 2002, the Seabird Ecological Assessment Network (SEANET) is a collaboration between the Lloyd Center and Tufts University Center for Conservation Medicine. The goal of the project is to use patterns of beached bird deposition along shorelines to help answer questions about the marine ecosystem's health.

During their beach walks, volunteers take baseline environmental data, identify live birds seen, and collect data regarding any beached specimens found. In some cases, specimens are brought to the Lloyd Center and ultimately to Tufts, where necropsies are performed to determine cause of mortality. This is a good opportunity to learn more about beaches and become more connected to your marine environment and its avian life.

Run by SEANET Coordinator Julie Ellis, Ph.D., the workshop will feature an indoor overview, followed by a beach walk.

Volunteers will leave the workshop session with an assigned beach, all necessary background information, and materials.

As appeared in the Chronicle