[SEMCO] Cape Cod Bird Club September meeting 9/9/13

[Diane Silverstein]

Press release  9/1/13
Contact: Diane Silverstein  508-364-7050
Cape Cod Bird Club September Meeting

September 9, 2013

Anne-Marie Runfola - "Sighting! Surveying Seabirds on Stellwagen Bank"
Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, a wild area teeming with life, rich in history, and lying just off the coast of Massachusetts between Cape Ann and Cape Cod supports 575 known species, including 53 species of summering, wintering, or migrating seabirds. Due to its significance as a feeding ground, the sanctuary's central feature-Stellwagen Bank-was designated an Important Bird Area by Mass Audubon in 2001. Despite the variety and numbers of seabirds present in the sanctuary, our knowledge of their lives is at best fragmentary. In 2011, staff and volunteers set out to uncover more about the sanctuary's seabirds by studying them where they spend most of their lives - at sea. This presentation will showcase some of the sanctuary's magnificent seabirds, share research results, and will describe how local citizens can contribute significantly to scientific research.
As Volunteer Coordinator for NOAA/Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, Anne-Marie Runfola developed the organization's first comprehensive volunteer program, including the Stellwagen Sanctuary Seabird Stewards (S4) initiative. This pioneering longitudinal study invites citizen scientists to work with researchers to collect valuable data for both the sanctuary and a comprehensive East Coast seabird database. Before moving to Cape Cod in 2010, Anne-Marie served for seven years as Education Director, then overall Deputy Director of the Bronx River Alliance in New York City where she helped the community use the river as a living classroom, ran citizen science monitoring and restoration programs, and oversaw the development of an organization-wide volunteer program.  Anne-Marie holds a B.S. in Corporate Communications with a focus on instructional design and media from Ithaca College, and an M.A. in educational and cognitive psychology and instructional technology from Columbia University, Teachers College, with a focus on science education.  She serves on the boards of several organizations, including the Coonamessett River Trust in Falmouth, MA.
The meeting is held at the Cape Cod Museum of Natural History, 869 Main St. (Route 6A), Brewster MA, at 7:30pm.



Diane Silverstein, Outreach and Publicity Director
Cape Cod Bird Club


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