2020-2021 BROUGHT TO YOU BY PRINCE WILLIAM SOUND SCIENCE DELTA SOUND CENTER CONNECTIONS NATURAL HISTORY AND SCIENCE NEWS FROM PRINCE WILLIAM SOUND AND THE COPPER RIVER BIOREGION OUR HOME The Copper River Delta in full bloom with the Copper River and Childs Glacier in the distance. Photo credit Teal Barmore. BIRDS GULF WATCH ALASKA AOOS HERRING RESEARCH OIL-RELATED Burrowing into a Scientists Integrate Long Term & MONITORING Unique Spill Response Puffin Nest Studies of Predators Ecosystem Research Herring in Their System Helps and Prey in Prince in the Gulf of Alaska Home Environment: Protect our Beautiful PAGE 3 William Sound What Matters? Environment PAGES 8-9 PAGES 4-5 PAGES 12-13 PAGE 18 CONTENTS GULF WATCH ALASKA ......................4-5 MAP .......................................................10-11 COMMUNITY & STEWARDSHIP .. 16-17 OUR HOME ............................................... 2 OCEANS .....................................................6 HERRING RESEARCH OIL-RELATED ......................................... 18 BIRDS ..........................................................3 AQUACULTURE ....................................... 7 & MONITORING ............................... 12-13 KIDS' CORNER ....................................... 19 AOOS ...................................................... 8-9 SALMON .............................................14-15 OUR NEW HOME/SPONSORS ........ 20 PRINCE WILLIAM SOUND Page 2 DELTA SOUND CONNECTIONS 2020-'21 DELTA SOUND CONNECTIONS Signe Fritsch, Editor Annette Potter, Graphic Designer PWSSC BOARD OF DIRECTORS Caryn Rea, Chair Craig Tillery, 1st Chair OUR HOME Angela Butler, 2nd Vice Chair n her bestselling novel Animal Dreams, author Todd Telesz, Treasurer Barbara Kingsolver wrote, “The very least you can do Laura Meadors, Secretary Katrina Hoffman,President/CEO in your life is figure out what you hope for. And the Douglas Causey, Ph.D. most you can do is live inside that hope. Not admire Clarence Pautzke, Ph.D. it from a distance but live right in it, under its roof.” Margaret Stock Thea Thomas IAt the Prince William Sound Science Center, the Sheyna Wisdom founding belief three decades ago was that ecological Tommy Sheridan health and community wellness are mutually reinforcing. Sylvia Lange Dan Hull We live under the roof of this hopeful idea every day. KATRINA HOFFMAN Chris Rurik It’s our home; one we share with an ever-growing President & CEO Elizabeth Oliver Prince William Sound Science Center community of partners, friends, and supporters. We count as significant not just formal re- The first physical roof under which we gathered PWSSC STAFF search and education, but the wisdom of our Donna Robertson Aderhold, M.S. to explore this hopeful idea was a leaky, tin roof on region’s elders and the desires of people who Kayti Ammerman the northwest edge of Cordova’s harbor. It offered care deeply about this place, echoing a consis- Teal Barmore tent wish: that we can generate a true under- Lauren Bien, M.S. an almost-warm place for us to begin exploring the standing of our home and the changes afoot Mary Anne Bishop, Ph.D. question: What can we do to better understand this and work through them to ensure a resilient Rob Campbell, Ph.D. region for current and future generations. Alysha Cypher, Ph.D. globally-relevant region, and share what we learn for Now, as we embark upon building our Becca Dodge the benefit of our community and the world? first new home in three decades – a 5-acre waterfront campus dedicated to economic, en- Signe Fritsch Over the years, the Science Center and our partners vironmental, and community resilience – we Alison Gardell, Ph.D. expanded our explorations into earth’s life support invite you to join us under our roof of hopeful Shelton Gay, Ph.D. Kristen Gorman, Ph.D. systems and have come to understand that healthy ideas. Gaining knowledge that prepares us for a changing world is at the heart of our mis- Maya Groner, Ph.D. ecosystems and healthy economies unfold according to sion. It’s work we can’t do without you. We’re Katrina Hoffman, M.S. the same principles. Adaptation, resilience, balance, and experiencing major changes right now. There’s Hayley Hoover a pandemic; our state budget is in distress; Kirsti Jurica regeneration are at the heart of success; rapid change, warming oceans threaten the foundations of Caitlin McKinstry, M.S. over-extraction, and lack of connections lead to failures. our region’s economy. Amidst these and other Arissa Peason as-yet unforeseen changes, resilience will be It is no accident that the world’s richest waters of the Pete Rand, Ph.D. what carries us into a successful future that Scott Pegau, Ph.D. northern Gulf of Alaska, which are connected to the still supports ways of life that our community Linnea Ronnegard wild forests and rivers of the region, have generated values. This resilience is strengthened with an Rich Rogers engaged citizenry and supporters just like you. Anne Schaefer, M.S. some of the world’s richest fisheries. The healthier the If our mission resonates with you, we invite Ann Solberg, Ph.D. environment, the healthier the economy. It is also no you to become a supporter of our efforts, so the resilience envisioned by our founders, Nicole Webster surprise that as the oceans rapidly warm, we experience staff, partners, and community members Seth Walker cascading impacts in our communities. holds up our region’s hopes for the future. n ANSWER KEY Animal Home Match-up game on Page 19 Brown Bear ...........................................................Den Beaver ................................................................Lodge Eagle .................................................................... Aerie Puffin ................................................................Burrow Red Squirrel ...................................................... Drey Alevin ...................................................................Redd Sea Lion .........................................................Haulout Bat ........................................................................Roost Hermit Crab ........................................................ Shell ❑ Steller’s Jay ❑ Hermit Thrush BIRD AND WILDLIFE CHECKLIST ❑ Varied Thrush RECOMMENDED BIRD/MAMMAL GUIDE: Sibley’s Field Guide to Birds of Western North ❑ American Robin America by David Allen Sibley and the Guide to Marine Mammals of Alaska by Kate Wynne. ❑ Wilson’s Warbler List compiled by the Prince William Sound chapter of the Audubon Society. ❑ Orange-crowned Warbler U = UNCOMMON • S = SEASONAL ❑ Song Sparrow ❑ Fox Sparrow LOONS AND GREBES WATERFOWL GULLS/TERNS RAPTORS ❑ Savannah Sparrow ❑ Common Loon ❑ Surf Scoter ❑ Glaucous-winged Gull ❑ Bald Eagle ❑ White-winged Scoter ❑ Red-throated Loon ❑ Herring Gull ❑ Peregrine Falcon MAMMALS ❑ Long-tailed Duck ❑ ❑ ❑ Humpback whale Pacific loon (s) ❑ Barrow’s Goldeneye Mew Gull ❑ Minke whale ❑ Yellow-billed Loon (s,u) ❑ Common Goldeneye ❑ Bonaparte’s Gull (s) HUMMINGBIRDS ❑ Dall’s porpoise ❑ Horned Grebe ❑ Bufflehead ❑ Black-legged Kittiwake ❑ Rufous Hummingbird (s) ❑ ❑ Black bear ❑ Red-necked Grebe Harlequin Duck ❑ Parasitic Jaeger ❑ Mallard ❑ Land otter ❑ Pomarine Jaeger ❑ Dusky Canada Goose KINGFISHERS ❑ Marmot SHEARWATERS ❑ Common Merganser ❑ Arctic Tern (s) ❑ Belted Kingfisher ❑ Mink AND PETRELS ❑ Red-breasted Merganser ❑ Aleutian Tern (s,u) ❑ Weasel ❑ Fork-tailed Storm-Petrel PASSERINES ❑ Killer whale SHOREBIRDS ❑ ❑ Sooty Shearwater (u) SEABIRDS ❑ Tree Swallow Steller sea lion ❑ Black Oystercatcher ❑ Sea otter ❑ ❑ Tufted Puffin (s) ❑ Violet Green Swallow Semipalmated Plover ❑ Harbor seal ❑ ❑ Horned Puffin (s) ❑ Bank Swallow CORMORANTS Least Sandpiper ❑ Harbor porpoise ❑ ❑ Yellowlegs (Lesser and Greater) ❑ ❑ Pelagic Cormorant Marbled Murrelet Chestnut-backed Chickadee ❑ Sitka black-tailed deer ❑ Red-necked Phalarope (s) ❑ Double-crested Cormorant ❑ Kittlitz’s Murrelet (u) ❑ Winter Wren ❑ Brown bear ❑ Surfbird (s) ❑ Parakeet Auklet (u) ❑ Common Raven ❑ ❑ Black Turnstone (s) Mountain goat ❑ HERONS ❑ Dunlin (s) ❑ Pigeon Guillemot ❑ Northwestern Crow Beaver ❑ Great Blue Heron ❑ Western Sandpiper (s) ❑ Common Murre ❑ Black-billed Magpie ❑ Moose BIRDS PRINCE WILLIAM SOUND SCIENCE CENTER PWSSC.ORG Page 3 Figure 1. A Tufted Puffin on Middleton Island returning to their burrow. Photo credit PWSSC. A Tufted Puffin on Middleton The entrance to a Tufted Puffin Island returning to their burrow. burrow at Middleton Island. Photo credit PWSSC Photo credit PWSSC. Figure 2. The entrance to BURROWING INTO a Tufted Puffin burrow at Middleton Island. Photo A PUFFIN NEST credit PWSSC. Dusky Canada Goose on the Copper River Delta. Photo credit Evan Ward MARY ANNE BISHOP during winter. Geolocators are a Prince William Sound Science Center small instrument affixed to a leg band [email protected] that measures light levels that are then transformed into geographic KRISTEN GORMAN locations. University of Alaska Fairbanks While it may sound easy to [email protected] capture a bird in its burrow, it ACROSS can be challenging! One piece With a thick red bill and golden of equipment that helped locate head plumes, the Tufted Puffin is puffins was our burrowscope, an one of the more iconic seabirds of infrared micro-camera, which sits the North Pacific Ocean. Its big bill at the end of a flexible hose and is not just for catching fish, but also connects wirelessly to a tablet. for building a nest burrow. Using Using the burrowscope we observed THE MILES their feet and bill, puffins dig their “remotely”