Shorebirds & Seabirds Taxon Advisory Group

12/16/2025

🐦✨Take a deep breath and drift into lo-fi bliss with our feathery seabird friends.

Tufted puffins, common murres, and their wonderfully authentic antics are here to remind you to just be you. Whether they’re flapping with excitement, zipping through the water, or simply loafing without a care, these seabirds do exactly what they feel like—and today, you get to join them!

🎶 So sit back, relax, and soak in the uplifting, playful, and delightfully goofy goodness in this cozy Krill Waves Radio session. Your stress doesn’t stand a chance.

Listen now: mbayaq.co/48HhIAH

💛 All music by

12/13/2025

New job posting! 📢

The Common Murre Restoration Project is seeking up to two (pending available funding) Site Leader positions to conduct monitoring of breeding seabirds including Common Murre, Brandt’s Cormorant, Pelagic Cormorant, Western Gull, Black Oystercatcher, and Pigeon Guillemot along the central California coast.

This project is conducted cooperatively by Cal Poly Humboldt and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge Complex). The purpose of the project is to aid in the recovery of Common Murre colonies that were depleted because of oil spills, human disturbance, and other anthropogenic factors. Applications due 12/23/2025!

For more more information, visit: https://pacificseabirdgroup.org/news/paid-crew-lead-wildlifebiologist-site-leader-ca/

11/20/2025

Paid Field/Research Assistants: Biological Technician Positions at Alaska Maritime NWR, Summer 2026 (AK)

Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge is recruiting up to 14 Biological Science Technician (avian) positions for the summer of 2026 to assist with their seabird monitoring program.

Technicians will spend multiple (3-4) months in remote field camps and/or on the Refuge’s research vessel. Positions will start in late April or early May and end in September. Technicians perform a variety of scientific and technical tasks to assist in a long-term seabird monitoring program. Species being studied differ by location but may include storm-petrels, cormorants, kittiwakes, murres, pigeon guillemots, auklets, and puffins. The fieldwork is varied but focused on collecting data on seabird breeding chronology, reproductive success, population changes, adult survival, and food habits.

Apply at https://www.usajobs.gov
Application Window: November 17-21, 2025

For more information, contact Matthew Rustand: [email protected]

IMAGE: Biological technicians work in Alaska Maritime NWR. Image credit: D. Donadio/USFWS (public domain)

11/09/2025

10/12/2025

Today, IUCN Red List of Threatened Species officially declared the Slender-billed Curlew extinct, marking the first known global extinction of a formerly widespread migratory bird species whose range included mainland Europe, North Africa, and West Asia.

“The extinction of the Slender-billed Curlew...underscores the urgency of implementing effective conservation measures to ensure the survival of migratory species. Hopefully, the loss of this species will help galvanize action to protect other threatened migratory species,” said CMS Executive Secretary Amy Fraenkel.

Read our and AEWA's full statement: https://www.cms.int/news/slender-billed-curlew-officially-declared-extinct-wake-call-migratory-bird-conservation

10/09/2025

For those in Oregon…

The Oregon Coast Aquarium is nearing the end of its Puffin License Plate preorder phase! With less than 50 preorder vouchers left, we are *so close* to pushing this plate into the production phase--and establishing an ongoing form of support for our wildlife rehabilitation and animal care efforts.

Preorder yours at aquarium.org 🌊

09/19/2025

09/15/2025

https://a-z-animals.com/articles/welcome-nori-and-sprout-monterey-bay-aquarium-welcomes-two-new-tufted-puffins/

Aimee Greenebaum, the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Curator of Aviculture, shares all about the new tufted puffins, Nori and Sprout!

09/10/2025

The Bird Team is excited to announce the successful hatching of two spotted dikkop chicks! Spotted dikkops are an insectivorous shorebird species native to Africa. The parents were introduced this past summer as part of a Species Survival Plan (SSP) breeding recommendation, and they were immediately successful. Stop by and see this sweet family in their habitat next to the lappet-faced vultures! - Lauren W., Curator of Birds (photo: Bird Team)

09/10/2025

09/05/2025

Birds use navigation maps too! Last week, this red-necked phalarope decided to stop in the ship's wheelhouse overnight and study the navigational map. Typically birds rely on the stars, physical land marks during the day, and their internal compass but maybe this one has some special skills at reading a map?!? Staff released it the next morning on Kanaga Island in the Aleutian Islands.

📷Dan Puterbaugh/USFWS

09/04/2025

Call for Virtual Symposia & Workshops – Submit by 15 September 2025!

Join us at WSC4—4th World Seabird Conference, themed Wings of Adaptation: Seabirds in a Changing Climate, in scenic Hobart, Tasmania. This event includes a Hybrid-Only Day on 11 September 2026, featuring virtual sessions for both an in-person and virtual audience to broaden access.

Submit your symposium or workshop proposal by 15 September 2025 to [email protected]

Abstract submissions for contributed papers and posters will open in late 2025. Stay tuned!

👉 View https://bit.ly/4e6wQdc