At a minimum, each carcass is measured, identified, photographed, marked individually, and left in place. Birds are common enough to be useful, while not so common they are overwhelming.
Birds are highly visible in life, everybody knows what a bird is.
And let s face it, people like birds. Weather, fisheries, coastal habitat change, and even feral cats and dogs can affect bird populations. Armed with this information, we can detect unusual events such as increased mortality during an El Ni o year. We also use our data to determine the rate of scavenging and how long carcasses persist on the beach. This baseline information can be used for a variety of science and natural resource management goals.