Research about Bering Sea, Kongkok Bay, St. Lawrence Island

USGS1990

Colony attendance and population monitoring of Least and Crested auklets on St. Lawrence Island, Alaska

Diurnal and seasonal patterns of attendance of Least Auklets ( Aethia pusilla ) and Crested Auklets ( A. cristatella ) were studied in 1987 at breeding colonies on St. Lawrence Island, Alaska. Numbers of auklets attending eight 200-m 2 plots on talus slopes were counted throughout the day by observers on 11 occasions through the breeding season. Numbers attending smaller plots were recorded on time-lapse film on 71 different days. Another 16 200-m 2 plots were censused for auklets using surface counts. Within-day patterns of attendance were extremely variable over small and large temporal scales. Peaks of attendance occurred in late morning and late evening, with a 7- to 12-hr period of absence in the middle of the day. Attendance varied markedly between days, and numbers were negatively correlated with wind speed and the magnitude of tidal oscillations. Patterns of attendance also varied with stage of breeding, and counts were least variable during incubation and early chick rearing. Whereas Least Auklet numbers peaked during prelaying, Crested Auklet numbers peaked during incubation. Counts indicated that auklets at Kongkok Bay have increased about twofold since studies in the mid-1960s. Recommendations are made for future monitoring of auklet populations.

Alaska↗

USGS1988

Littoral foraging by red phalaropes during spring in the northern Bering Sea

Phalaropes demonstrate considerable plasticity in their choice of foraging habitats. The Red Phalarope ( Phalaropus fulicaria ) alternates use of pelagic environments in winter and migration (Taning 1933, Stanford 1953, Briggs et al 1984) with wet tundra habitats during the breeding season (Kistchinski 1975, Mayfield 1979, Ridley 1980). Foods available and taken in littoral zones of the Arctic Ocean in fall have been identified (Conners and Risebrough 1978, Johnson and Richardson 1980), but otherwise little attention has been devoted to the transition between the marine and terrestrial periods of the Red Phalarope’s life history. We report phalarope use of littoral areas during spring in the northern Bering Sea and Kongkok Bay, St. Lawrence Island, Alaska. In addition, we describe phalarope foraging tactics and foods available in the sur zone, emphasizing this form of littoral foraging as an opportunistic and facultative feeding strategy.

Alaska↗