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RESPONDENT
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Brian McCaffery
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SITE NAME
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Kanaryarmiut Field Station, Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska, USA
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| Contact details
(phone/fax//e-mail//address): |
| 907-543-1014/907-543-4413(f) // brian_mccaffery@fws.gov // U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge, P.O. Box 346, Bethel, AK, 99559, USA
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PROJECT DETAILS |
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Project name:
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Western Sandpiper (Calidris mauri) demography on the central Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta; PRISM
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Start of survey:
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End
of survey: |
Team
size: |
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3
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WEATHER
CONDITIONS
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Weather conditions: |
| Spring break-up in 2001 was also delayed a week relative to 2000, and was considerably later than the long-term average.
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| Date of ice-break on
rivers: |
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| Date of final loss of
snow: |
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BIOTIC
CONDITIONS
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| Rodents abundance evaluation: |
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Breeding conditions:
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In 2000, arvocoline rodent numbers reached a cyclic high on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, and apparently led to very high productivity in Arctic Foxes. Subsequently, a mild winter in 2000-2001 resulted in high over-winter fox survival. As a result, fox numbers were very high along the outer coast of the Delta in spring 2001. The combination of a late spring and high levels of fox predation led to a widespread failure among nesting waterfowl in the coastal zone of the Delta.
Our work in 2001 again focused on Western Sandpipers, which initiated nesting significantly later in 2001 than in 1999 or 2000. The first egg of the season was not recorded until 25 May, in contrast to first egg dates of 19 and 20 May in 1999 and 2000, respectively. Nesting densities of 3.06 pairs/ha, however, were similar to those recorded in 1999 (2.95 pairs/ha) and 2000 (3.01 pairs/ha). In contrast to waterfowl along the coast, upland nesting Western Sandpipers did not experience complete nesting failure, but still had low rates of nest success (Mayfield nest success = 0.21; n = 55). Among clutches which hatched, fledging success, defined as clutch fledging one or more young, was 58% (14 of 24 hatched nests). Brood attendance averaged 12.0 days for males (n = 14) and 7.4 days in females (n = 14); both sexes exhibited significant seasonal declines in parental attendance.
We expanded the scope of our work at Kanaryaraq in 2001 to include a pilot study on the implementation of a large-scale shorebird survey methodology. Under the auspices of PRISM (Program for Regional and International Shorebird Monitoring), we sampled 29 randomly selected plots within a 24 km2 study area centered on the Kanaryarmiut Field Station. The study area included approximately 17 km2 of upland heath tundra and 7 km2 of low sedge meadows. Overall shorebird density was estimated to be 250 birds/km2. Estimated densities (in birds/km2) for the 4 most frequently detected species were: Western Sandpiper - 74.9, Red-necked Phalarope - 74.2, Rock Sandpiper - 34.0, and Dunlin - 25.2. We plan to expand the survey area in 2002 to include 2,850 km2 of the central Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta.
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Rodent dynamics:
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Rodent species recorded:
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Summary
of fauna studies: |
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