Aerial Surveys of the Labrador Coast, 2006: Observations of Marine Bird Distribution and Abundance During the Breeding Season

Very few large-scale studies of breeding marine birds have been conducted in Labrador. To address this information deficit, we conducted near-shore aerial surveys of the Labrador coastline between 6–11 and 21–26 June 2006. Our primary species of interest was Somateria mollissima (Common Eider), for which we counted only adult males. In total, we identified 8 species and 5 species categories (alcid colony, mixed tern and gull colony, etc). In total, we counted 40,700 birds, of which Common Eiders were the most widely distributed species, accounting for 88% of all flock/colony observations. Melanitta perspicillata (Surf Scoter) was the second most abundant species, but had a limited distribution, while Cepphus grylle (Black Guillemot) was the third most abundant species observed, but showed the second widest regional distribution. This information is valuable to resource managers and ecosystem researchers.