Update: Now 34 Birds of North America accounts are open access

NOTE: More news and resources are being compiled here

UPDATE: We’ve once again increased the number of open-access accounts from 22 to 34 in response to requests from U.S. Fish and Wildlife workers in the Gulf. I’ve added the most recent 12 species to the bottom of the list below.

Last week we opened access to comprehensive scientific information on 15 species that are at risk from the BP oil spill. At the request of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, we’ve added eight species to that list for a total of 22. (UPDATE: We originally announced a list of 23 accounts, but realized we had made Seaside Sparrow open-access twice. After correcting this mistake, the revised number is 22.)

Fish and Wildlife Service biologists already receive access to our full set of Birds of North America Online accounts, but thousands of non-agency rehabilitators, surveyors, and others are working along the Gulf Coast without a convenient way to answer specific life-history questions as they come up. The newly opened species accounts should help with that.

The seven additional species are

• Whooping Crane
• Piping Plover
• Wood Stork
• Sandhill Crane
• Roseate Tern
• Snail Kite
• Least Tern

And, just so all 23 are in one place, the other 15 open-access accounts are:

• Brown Pelican
• Wilson’s Plover
• Clapper Rail
• Royal Tern
• Reddish Egret
• American Oystercatcher
• Roseate Spoonbill
• Snowy Plover
• Seaside Sparrow
• Red Knot
• Tricolored Heron
• Snowy Egret
• White Ibis
• Sandwich Tern
• Sanderling

Here are the 12 most recently added species, bringing the total to 34:

• Common Loon
• Northern Gannet
• Double-crested Cormorant
• Forster’s Tern
• Common Tern
• Gull-billed tern
• Caspian Tern
• Laughing Gull
• Herring Gull
• Ring-billed Gull
• Black Skimmer
• Magnificent Frigatebird

Note: this is not a comprehensive list of species placed in harm’s way by the oil spill. More information on threats to shorebird species is available from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The information comes from our Birds of North America Online series—a set of accounts that summarize the state of scientific knowledge for every species of bird in the U.S. and Canada. The accounts are normally available on a subscription basis ($42 per year or $5 per month for the entire set). We’ll keep these accounts open until the danger from the oil spill has passed.

> More oil spill posts