Bristol Bay / N. Aleutian Basin -- Seabirds & Shorebirds Presented by Kathy Kuletz, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Anchorage, Alaska

Contributors include (but not limited to) Rick Lanctot Bob Gill Shawn Stephensen Liz Labunski Rob Suryan Gary Drew Russ Oates USGS-BRD Migratory Bird Management (USFWS) Alaska Maritime Refuge

SHOREBIRDS -Up to 1/3 of the world population of Bar-tailed Godwits use Egegik Bay in fall -The only nesting area for a subspecies of Marbled Godwit is found in the Bristol Bay Lowlands

>300,000 shorebirds, primarily Dunlin, were counted during aerial surveys of Alaska Peninsula estuaries in 1999

MIGRATION CORRIDOR AND FILLING STATION FOR SHOREBIRDS

Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network sites in Alaska Hemispheric (500,000 birds or 30% of a population) International (100,000 birds or 10% of a population) Gill et al. unpubl.

>20,000 >100,000 >500,000 Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network

Breeding Wintering Spring/Fall Staging Bar-tailed Godwit Dunlin Paul Suchanek

Staging Range of Alaska’s Godwits Overlap AlaskaCanada Bar-tailed Godwit Hudsonian and Bar-tailed Godwit Hudsonian Godwit Marbled and Bar-tailed Godwit All three Godwit species

30 Colonies within Lease Area with over 60,000 breeding seabirds 44 Colonies between Lease Area and Cape Newenham with over 900,000 breeding seabirds Predominantly Common Murre and Black-legged Kittiwakes SEABIRD COLONIES

Selected colonies are monitored annually or every few years. Others are censused opportunistically

Population Trends Breeding Chronology Diet Productivity

Seabird Colonies - Regional comparisons (2003 sites)

Seabird colony catalogue Maintained by USFWS

Most abundant: storm-petrels kittiwakes murres puffins gulls 26 seabird species

Some of the most abundant breeding birds Common murres Tufted puffins

Many of ‘our’ seabirds don’t breed here – they just come to feed in the summer Albatrosses from Hawaii and Japan Shearwaters from New Zealand and S. America

Albatross wander into the Bristol Bay area, and particularly like the Aleutian passes for feeding. Short-tailed albatross Endangered Species Laysan albatross Photo: Paul Suchanek

Movements of Short-tailed Albatross Tracked with satellite telemetry, 2003 & 2006 (R. Suryan and others) Proportion of total time, by 5 degree blocks

Short-tailed shearwaters, Unimak Pass, December 2005 Including endangered species like Short-tailed albatross and other species of concern. Unimak Pass, & other Aleutian passes, attract millions of birds Photo: Kevin Bell

Counting birds at sea – ship board surveys on ships of opportunity Data in N. Pacific Pelagic Seabird Database (NPPSD) Most transects (entered) are from OCSEAP, 1974 – Transect coverage in the NPPSD

Fall Summer Spring Winter NPPSD Transect Coverage In N. Aleutian Basin Area

Abundant visitor in summer Rare endemic breeding on the Pribilof Islands

2006 – N. Pacific Research Board funded USFWS to conduct at-sea seabird surveys, to update NPPSD Cooperative researchers - NOAA, AMNWR, Healy, GLOBEC Funded through 2007 season; USFWS will seek funding to continue

Commonly observed at sea: Shearwater species Puffins & Auklets 2006 cruises

Species of concern – Loons (4 species observed) Murrelets (3 species, including Kittlitz’s murrelet)

Thanks to: Photo credits: Lisa Sheffield Paul Suchanek Ian Jones Tamara Mills Liz Labunski Kathy Kuletz USFWS archives Rick Lanctot Bob Gill Rob Suryan Shawn Stephensen Liz Labunski Gary Drew Russ Oates