Population Changes in New England Seabirds

This paper reviews the historical changes in seabird populations between New York City and the Grand Manan Archipelago,New Brunswick, after 1900.Special attention has been given to species that nest on treeless outer islands of the coast of Maine.In a companion paper Nisbet (1973) treats the history of the tern populations, concentrating on the area betaTeen Cape Cod and Long Island.The purpose of this paper is to compare the results of a pilot survey made in the last few years to the population chan•es of the last 75 years.INTROI)UCTION The recent history of the seabirds in New England is unusual in two ways.First, many seabirds along the Northeast Coast have enjoyed a period of extraordinary population growth and range expansion during the last 75 years.Second, censuses have been taken at about 20-year intervals thus making it possible to follow these changes.Seabirds were almost completely "eaten off" the outer islands during the 18th and 19th centuries (Bent, 1919(Bent, , 1921(Bent, , 1922(Bent, , 1925;; Dutcher, 1901 Dutcher, , 1902 Dutcher, , 1903 Dutcher, , 1904 Dutcher, , 1905;; Forbush, 1925; Norton, 1907 Norton, , 1923 Norton, , 1924a Norton, , b, 1925a, b), b).Double-crested Cormorants (Phalacrocorax auritus) and Great Black-backed Gulls (Larus marinus) had disappeared from the coast as breeding birds early in the 19th century.By the 1870s Common Eiders (Somateria molissima), Common Puffins (Fratercula arctica) and Black Guillemots (Cepphu.sgrylle) were essentially eliminated and the remnant populations of Herring Gulls (Lar•ts argentatus) were driven to small outer islands.Only small birds of relatively little food value, such as Leach's Petrels (Oceanodro•na leucorhoa) and terns (Sterna sp.), survived in large numbers.Two great campaigns of shooting seabirds for the millinery trade, about 1876 and 1896, nearly eliminated all seabirds except petrels (Norton, 1923(Norton, , 1924a(Norton, , b, 1925a, b), b).The low ebb of seabird populations in New England seems to have been between 1890 and 1906.Evidence of the lack of gulls at the turn of the century in southern New England is provided in 50 photographs taken by Gleason in 1903 of the shores of Cape Cod and the fishing fleet at Provincetown; these show no gulls.Wheelwright (1971), in editing Thoreau's writings on Cape Cod (with which Gleason's photographs are ineluded), commented on this lack and showed her own surprise at it: "It would actually be difficult to catch a scene on the Bay side without gulls being part of it ....We can only guess at the explanation for this lack .... " As a result of public outcry the legislatures of Maine and Massachusetts passed "model" bird protection laws.Public subscription raised the "Thayer Fund" of $1,400, and the American Ornithologists' Union, together with the Audubon Societies, hired wardens to •Contribution No. 105 from the Scientific Staff, Massachusetts Audubon Society.