Join us for the first of three webinars in our Your Data Is for the Birds series!

Knowledge of species’ food requirements are necessary for effective conservation planning, yet these data are scarce for many of Oregon’s coastal birds. Many traditional methods of diet study are invasive, can disturb breeding birds, and are typically very limited in their spatiotemporal coverage. With the advance of digital photography, however, new noninvasive means of avian diet data collection are now available. Researchers at OSU’s Seabird Oceanography Lab have been using photography to monitor interannual dietary shifts in Oregon’s seabirds to understand how ocean conditions can influence the abundance of critical prey species. What’s more, this method allows anyone  with a camera to assist in data collection. Birds with Fish, an OSU participatory science initiative,  invites community members to contribute photographs of feeding marine/estuarine birds to statewide data collection efforts so that we can learn how to best protect Oregon’s incredible  seabirds.

Speaker Will Kennerley

Will Kennerley is a faculty research assistant in the Seabird Oceanography Lab at Oregon State University’s Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport. Will first came to OSU in 2020 for his MSc degree, during which he researched how the foraging ecology of Atlantic Puffins (Fratercula arctica) in the Gulf of Maine is impacted by marine heatwaves. He fell in love with Oregon’s seabirds during his graduate work and, since completing his degree in 2023, has shifted his focus to the incredible seabirds of the Pacific Northwest. He now works on diverse research projects, including monitoring seabirds at Yaquina Head, performing at-sea surveys for Marbled Murrelets (Brachyramphus marmoratus), and serving as lead contact for the “Birds with Fish” community science initiative.

This webinar is FREE, but pre-registration is required.