By: Sabina Wilhelm, Canadian Wildlife Service Posted April 17, 2018 Editor’s Note: In our Research Spotlight Series we shine a light on exciting research in our province. In this post we showcase the Canadian Wildlife Service. Puffin research on Gull Island (Photo by Pierre Ryan). The Canadian Wildlife Service (CWS) Colonial Seabird Monitoring Program focuses on assessing the population size and trends of 20 species of seabirds across the four Canadian Atlantic provinces, namely Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland and Labrador.  Over the past year, focus has been on continuing to update the status of major Leach’s Storm-Petrel colonies in the region in light of recent surveys having revealed that several of Newfoundland’s significant colonies, including Baccalieu Island, the world’s largest, have experienced declines of 40-50% over the past 20-30 years. In response to these declines, Bird Life International assessed this species as globally threatened and listed…