Alcatraz’s Breeding Seabirds and Climate Change

Thursday, May 20, 2021 — 7 p.m. via Zoom 

Featuring Lydia D’Amico and Zoe Burr

View a recording of this presentation on our YouTube channel. 

Dive into the world of Alcatraz seabirds! Learn about the several species that breed on the island each spring and summer, and their threats from climate change and our urban environment. With its unique location in San Francisco Bay, Alcatraz Island is one of only two estuarine breeding colonies for Brandt’s Cormorants. Although the National Park Service works to protect their breeding areas, climate change and human activities have the potential to affect the fisheries they rely on for food. In this Zoom program, you’ll learn how to help protect this unique seabird colony just over a mile from San Francisco.

About Our Speakers:

Lidia D’Amico is the Alcatraz Biologist for the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, a unit of the National Park Service. Her area of specialty includes the monitoring and management of rare and endangered avifauna populations, which has included the endemic honeycreepers of Hawai’i and the southernmost population of Northern Spotted Owl. Lidia is currently managing the waterbird colonies of Alcatraz Island through collaborative research efforts with the Farallon’s Institute, Point Blue Conservation Science, USGS, and the Audubon Society.

Zoe Burr is a marine ecologist who specializes in seabird ecology in the context of oceanographic processes and food-web dynamics. She completed a B.Sc. in Marine Biology at the University of California at Santa Cruz and an interdisciplinary M.Sc. in Biological Oceanography at several collaborating Nordic institutions. Zoe has worked with the Farallon Institute to conduct research on the breeding ecology and disturbance of seabirds on Alcatraz Island and to study marine predator diet.