Marine bird populations in northern Puget Sound have seen significant declines since the late 1970s, according to a Western Washington University study.The four-year study included a census
of 80 north Puget Sound marine bird species -- those that live in the water, not just the shores. Students gathered data from about 150 sites between Tsawwassen, British Columbia, and Whidbey Island.
John Bower, a professor of field biology at Western, says he's still working on the final report but that early results point to steep declines in a number of key species.
Among them: the common murre, a long-billed black and white seabird, whose population has declined 93 percent since the 1970s census; and the Western grebe, a long-necked black and white seabird, which has seen its numbers drop 81 percent.
Other birds in decline include the brant, a coastal goose common on Padilla Bay, and the scoter, a sea duck that's a popular catch for hunters.
