As the oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico continues, scientists and wildlife conservationists are warning that large numbers of birds could be lost. In addition to native species, such as the brown pelican, concerns are being raised about other shorebirds that are currently nesting in and around the Northeast, but which will migrate to the Gulf by the end of the summer. As part of a collaboration with Northeast stations, MPBN's Susan Sharon reports on efforts to track these birds and to mitigate for a far-reaching disaster.

Shiloh Schulte, left, and Katy Fourges, right, examine an American Oystercatcher.

On a sparkling blue morning in some rocks along Stony Point Dike in the Cape Cod Canal, a pair of adult Oystercatchers is caring for a young chick. Like nervous new parents, they take turns flying off in search of food and bringing it back. Watching through binoculars from about 30 yards away are Shiloh Schulte from the Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences and Katy Forgues from the City University of New York, who've set a trap for the birds.

"And here they're walking towards the decoy now, which is exactly what we want them to do," Schulte says. "They should go across our trap and at least one of them should get caught. Here they go. This is exactly the response we want. As soon as we catch one, if we do, then Katy and I are going to jump up and run as quickly as we can over these rocks and then we should come back here with the captured bird."

The decoy looks just like an American Oystercatcher: yellow, red-rimmed eyes, white belly, black cape, brown back and a long, bright reddish-orange beak -- a sharp, knife-like beak that makes it easier to pluck the meat out of oysters and clams. The decoy is placed on a camouflaged carpet of fishing line nooses and a small portable tape machine playing a recording of of an alarmed Oystercatcher.

Schulte says Oystercatchers are smart, territorial and will often charge the perceived invader, aggressively stamping their feet and bobbing their heads up and down to defend their turf.

"What we're trying to do today is catch an Oystercatcher or two and put individual bands on them, and these birds can live 20 to 40 years so we can actually track survival rates from year to year," Schulte says. "We can track migration. And this really aids the ultimate goal, which is conservation of the species."

Schulte says there are only about 10,000 of the birds in the United States, enough to populate a small town. They nest on shorelines, along scattered islands and in coves from North Carolina to Maine. Around the Northeast, some of the largest populations are found in Massachusetts and New York.

Schulte says his research has found that many of these birds will spend their winters in the Gulf in an area north of Tampa Bay. Because they return to the same spot every fall -- the Gulf of Mexico -- Schulte expects to lose as much as 20 percent of the Oystercatchers alone.

Meredith Gutowksi is a conservation specialist with the shorebird recovery project at Manomet, where she focuses not just on the Oystercatcher, but other shorebirds as well. She says about 40 species pass through the Gulf. About half of those are considered a high priority for protection because of threats from habitat degradation, development and climate change.

"We have a species-specific action plan and it lists all of the primary threats to that species and it also lists where the most important sites are for that species," Gutowski says.

Using a voluntary network of federal and state agencies, private landowners and non-profits at work in the field, the sites are ranked according to population. The more birds that congregate, the more important a site is. And, not surprisingly, along the Texas Gulf Coast, there are five sites that have the International designation -- that means they support populations of at least 100,000 birds.

The information about where and when they go is then uploaded onto a Google Earth map that shows Louisiana, the Gulf Coast and the bird species that are heading there. "I just clicked on this East Grand Terre Island area and we've got Wilson's Plover, Dunlin -- it's the green dot here, they'll be migrating through -- and Marbled Gotleid."

Gutowski says birds with long beaks that eat shellfish, such as the Oystercatcher, or birds that dig deep into the sand will be contaminated by the oil spill long after the well is finally capped. That gives those workers on the ground a short window to clean up areas and to enhance and protect habitat that has not been affected by the oil spill.

Meanwhile, back on the Stony Point Dike, an adult Oystercatcher has been caught in the trap and is being banded, measured and weighed. "It seems pretty skinny," Katy Forgues says. "It's 510 grams, so this is a very skinny bird," Schulte says. "Mr. Skinny, that's it. That's what he'll be from now on."

With any luck, Schulte says Mr. Skinny will avoid the oil-soaked Gulf and come back to this same beach to nest for the next 20 years.

Northeast environmental reporting is made possible, in part, by a grant from United Technologies.

Photos courtesy of Shiloh Schulte.