Seabird Oceanography Lab

  

The Seabird Oceanography Lab (SOL) at Oregon State University is involved in research focusing on seabird ecology, movement ecology, oceanography, and integrated ecosystem studies while providing research and educational opportunities for students. We are spread across OSU’s Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport, and OSU’s main campus in Corvallis, with our academic home in the Department of Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Sciences.

Our research applications range from colony- and vessel-based observational studies to deploying state of the art electronics to study individual foraging, dispersal, migration, and behavior patterns of seabirds. These biologging data are often integrated with in-situ and remotely-sensed measures of prey resources or their proxies or related to human activities (e.g., fishing) or threats. In addition to environmental "bottom-up" studies, we also study the "top-down" effects of predators on seabird population dynamics and life histories. 

Conservation aspects of our research include species restoration, population assessment and monitoring, seabird-fishery interactions, identification of marine important bird areas, and marine spatial planning.

We seek to engage students and the public in seabird science and conservation via social media, community presentations, experiential education, banding programs, webcams, and other means.

Join Us!

Undergraduate Seabird Predator Field Assistant (Full Consideration Date March 17th)

The Seabird Predator Field Assistant will support ongoing research into the predation of seabirds by native terrestrial carnivores throughout Curry County, Oregon during the summer 2024 field season (June 17th to September 13th). The Field Assistant will work directly with an MSc student on various field and laboratory tasks, including camera trap deployment, mesocarnivore scat analysis, and seabird GPS tag deployment. This work will require hiking over uneven terrain, operating sea kayaks in choppy surf, and the transport of large amounts of equipment up steep island cliffs. Housing will be provided throughout the duration of the appointment at no cost to the selected applicant.

To be eligible for this position, applicants must be enrolled at least half-time at an undergraduate institution during the Spring and Fall terms of 2024. Applications must be submitted through the OSU Jobs Portal; please email luke.stuntz@oregonstate.edu with any questions.

Job flyer with additional details: 

Tufted Puffin Bill Load Photography Technician (Information on when to apply will be posted soon!)

Haystack Rock, located in Cannon Beach Oregon is one of Oregon's few tufted puffin colonies. The colony and birds are viewable from the beach. We will be recruiting an undergraduate field technician to photography tufted puffins with bill loads as they return to the colony to feed their chicks. The field season is expected to go from July 1 to Aug 16. Applicants with a strong interest in photography are encouraged to apply. To be eligible for this position, applicants must be enrolled at least half-time at an undergraduate institution during the Spring and Fall terms of 2024. 

 

FROM THE TOP: PREDATORS, OCEANS & ECOSYSTEMS

FROM THE TOP: PREDATORS, OCEANS & ECOSYSTEMS

FROM THE TOP: PREDATORS, OCEANS & ECOSYSTEMS Feed

Notes from the Field: Ross Island, Antarctica

-
Feb 15, 2024

By Suzanne Winquist Have you ever wished you could see what the world was like before humans? Living in a penguin colony in Antarctica as part of the Penguin Science team is the closest I have come to getting that experience. My first season “on ice” felt like stepping out of a time machine straight …

Yaquina Head Monitoring Update: the end of the 2023 season

-
Sep 26, 2023

As we’re enjoying the first major rains of the fall here on the Oregon Coast, we now have another year of Yaquina Head seabird monitoring in the books (and the latest one to date)!  We wrapped up our Yaquina Head field season on the morning of September 6th after the fledging or loss of the …

Yaquina Head Seabird Monitoring: Mid-Summer 2023

-
Aug 31, 2023

Hello Everybody! My name is Ricardo Rodriguez, I am the Education and Outreach intern at Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area through Environment for the Americas. I recently graduated from the University of California, Merced with a Bachelor’s degree in Biological Sciences. I am assisting Oregon State University’s Seabird Oceanography Lab’s research efforts to monitor the …

Yaquina Head Seabird Monitoring: 2023 Early Season Update

-
Jul 6, 2023

By Will Kennerley, Faculty Research Assistant It’s once again summer on the Oregon Coast and that means the seabirds are back at Yaquina Head.  My name is Will Kennerley and I’m the newest faculty research assistant in the Seabird Oceanography Lab. Part of my work will include leading the monitoring fieldwork at Yaquina Head this …

Linking Rivers to the Sea(birds): Initial Surveys of River Otter Predation on Leach’s Storm-Petrels

-
Jul 4, 2023

By Eleanor Gnam, Seasonal Field Technician The southern Oregon coast, between Port Orford to the north and Brookings to the south, hosts the largest colonies of Leach’s Storm-Petrels (Hydrobates leucorhous) in the lower-48. Goat Island, half a mile offshore from Harris Beach State Park, is estimated to host more than 100,000 of these small, dusky-colored …

 

Help us understand what marine and estuarine birds eat on the Oregon coast.

Submit your photos to Birds with Fish!