The Audubon Coastal Bird Survey is a volunteer-based community science program designed to provide scientists with valuable data for addressing conservation needs of coastal waterbirds that breed, winter and migrate along the Gulf Coast. The program, originally established through the Pascagoula River Audubon Center in response to the BP oil spill, is already providing valuable population and habitat-use data for a variety of coastal waterbirds, many of which are experiencing population declines.

Frequent coastal waterbird surveys during key migratory and winter periods are used to understand how waterbirds use coastal habitats locally and across the northern Gulf of Mexico and will also be consistent with monitoring priorities developed by national waterbird and shorebird conservation plans. In addition, the survey protocols are designed to align with International Shorebird Surveys, the primary tool for understanding migratory shorebird population trends in the Western Hemisphere.

If you would like to participate, please contact Erik Johnson.

Click for an interactive map of survey locations. 

You can find out more about the survey program by downloading the documents below.

Downloadable Resources

ACBS FAQs ACBS Sample Datasheet Plover Identification Identifying Winter Terns ACBS Protocol Aging Coastal Waterbirds Identifying Winter Sandpipers