10A • June 29, 2018 | Cannon Beach Gazette | cannonbeachgazette.com
Donations to fund puffin
research at Haystack Rock
Study will be
first on the coast
By Brenna Visser
Cannon Beach Gazette
Tufted puffins have been
on the decline at Haystack
Rock for decades, and no one
really understands why.
This summer, a $15,000
donation from the Friends of
Haystack Rock will enable
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service to study what factors
are keeping puffin popula-
tions low.
The research will be the
first of its kind on the Oregon
Coast.
“We really need to collect
more data and it has taken a
long time for us to do that,”
said Shawn Stephensen, a
wildlife biologist with the Or-
egon Coast National Wildlife
Refuge Complex. “This gives
us the opportunity to do that.”
More than half of the re-
search money can be attribut-
ed to the “Protect our Puffins”
sweatshirt campaign started
last summer by John Un-
derwood, a Friends of Hay-
stack Rock board member
and longtime Cannon Beach
homeowner.
It started with Underwood
questioning why, every sum-
mer when he came back to
visit Cannon Beach, there
were fewer and fewer puffins
flocking around the rock. He
partnered with the awareness
program to design and donate
a few dozen sweatshirts to sell
around the community, with
the hope profits would even-
tually go toward education
and research.
A year later, the idea raised
more than $9,000.
“I was hoping it would do
well, but I didn’t know what
to expect,” Underwood said.
“I’m happy people care.”
While Haystack Rock is
COLIN MURPHEY/THE DAILY ASTORIAN
Olivia Goward peers through a scope looking for puffins
and other birds at Cannon Beach.
LOU SOLITSKE
A puffin over Haystack Rock.
still home to Oregon’s largest
tufted puffin colony, along the
Oregon Coast the species has
steadily declined from about
5,000 birds nesting 20 years
ago to just a few hundred to-
day.
Researchers have theo-
rized factors such as rising
ocean temperatures and lack
of accessible prey could be
causing the die-off, but hav-
en’t had resources to test it.
The donations will pur-
chase five transmitters, which
will be attached to puffins and
track where exactly the elu-
sive seabirds go in the win-
ter. Researchers also plan to
take blood and fecal samples,
which will be used to analyze
what the birds eat and whether
the colony on Haystack Rock
is genetically unique from
other tufted puffins.
Answering these questions
will bring the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service closer to fig-
uring out why the puffin pop-
ulation on Haystack Rock has
dropped from 368 in 2010 to
the just over 100 today.
Researchers are also hop-
ing this information can build
a case for listing the tufted
puffin as endangered in Or-
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Beats out the
beloved puffin
egon. The listing would help
the bird qualify for more re-
search funding, which ulti-
mately could help save the
dwindling population, Ste-
phensen said. The Washing-
ton Department of Fish and
Wildlife voted to put the puf-
fin on the endangered species
list three years ago.
With funding in place, the
next challenge will be physi-
cally attaching the transmit-
ters and collecting the sam-
ples. This August, Stephensen
and his team will have a two-
week window to catch and
sample multiple puffins. Re-
searchers will have to do this
by boat at night, when puffins
are often rafting on the water
near Haystack Rock, by the
light of a spotlight and the
grace of luck.
“That will be the tricky
part,” Stephensen said.
But it’s a labor of love Ste-
phensen is ready to take on, as
he is hoping this will be the
first of several projects.
“This study will be instru-
mental in helping us make a
determination on whether list-
ing the puffin is warranted” he
said.
Future research will take
more money, however, a chal-
lenge the Friends of Haystack
Rock will continue to take on,
Board President Stacy Bene-
field said.
“This is something new for
us,” Benefield said. “We’ve
never funded research like
this before. We hope to keep
participating to protect our
puffins.”
Underwood said the board
is working with the Audubon
Society and other environ-
mental groups to try and sell
more sweatshirts outside of
the local area.
“I’m really happy this
has generated a lot of enthu-
siasm,” Underwood said.
“Now, we need to extend our
reach.”
Alaina Giguiere
Coastal Advantage
Red-winged blackbird
wins city recognition
By Brenna Visser
Cannon Beach Gazette
After months in limbo,
the red-winged blackbird
will take the title of Cannon
Beach’s official city bird.
City councilors brought
the proposal to a work ses-
sion June 12 after voting to
postpone a proclamation
last month that would have
promoted the medium-sized,
black-and-red songbird. The
idea was to give the public a
chance to raise any concerns
over the pick, or to suggest a
different species.
But alas — the tufted
puffin lobby was silent.
“Is there anyone here on
behalf of the puffins?” City
Councilor George Vetter
asked with a smile.
Nominating the red-
winged blackbird was
brought to the city council
in April by Neal Maine, a
longtime nature photogra-
pher and representative of
the 12 Days of Earth Day
committee. The group want-
ed the city to recognize an
official bird to honor the
100th anniversary of the
Migratory Bird Treaty Act,
a landmark federal law that
protects dozens of species
of birds. This bird was cho-
sen because they are abun-
dant and represent the local
ecology, Maine said. Rec-
ognizing the birds would
also hold historical value
as many live on the Little
Pompey Wetland - a marsh
named after the son of Sa-
cagawea from the Lewis
and Clark Expedition by
Cannon Beach Elementary
School fifth-graders more
than 20 years ago.
Part of the reason coun-
cilors delayed the proclama-
tion was in response to some
in the community asking
why the town’s iconic bird
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— the tufted puffin — was
not chosen. The council
asked Maine if puffins were
considered.
“No, we didn’t really
consider the puffin. It wasn’t
about the puffin,” Maine
said. “Though it has been
portrayed as a kind of battle
of the birds.”
Maine reiterated that the
committee believes the red-
winged blackbird deserves
the visibility more than the
elusive tufted puffin, which
only nest on Haystack Rock
a few months a year. The
bird will always be an icon
and already has the Hay-
stack Rock Awareness Pro-
gram protecting their inter-
ests, Maine said.
Without hearing any
strong objections, the coun-
cil unanimously decided to
schedule the proclamation
for next month.
For Mayor Sam Steidel,
the tension between the red-
winged blackbird and tufted
puffin was described suc-
cinctly in a letter from a for-
mer Cannon Beach Elemen-
tary School student who was
a part of the Little Pompey
Wetland project.
“Puffins are second
homeowners,” Steidel quot-
ed from the letter. “But the
red-winged blackbirds are
the residents.”
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The red-winged blackbird
is being proposed to be
Cannon Beach’s official
“city bird.”
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