|
|
RESPONDENT
|
|
Richard Anthony
|
|
|
SITE NAME
|
|
Yukon-Kuskokwim outer Delta south-west, Alaska, USA
|
|
| Contact details
(phone/fax//e-mail//address): |
| (907)786-3508/(907)786-3636(f) // mike_Anthony@usgs.gov // Alaska Science Center, USGS, Biological Science Office, 1011 East Tudor Road, Anchorage, AK 99503, USA
|
|
PROJECT DETAILS |
|
|
|
Start of survey:
|
End
of survey: |
Team
size: |
|
6.06
|
6.06
|
|
|
WEATHER
CONDITIONS
|
|
|
|
Weather conditions: |
| Timing of surveys relative to incubation was later this year compared to 2002 due to an extremely early break-up.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Date of ice-break on
rivers: |
|
|
| Date of final loss of
snow: |
|
|
BIOTIC
CONDITIONS
|
| Rodents abundance evaluation: |
|
|
|
Breeding conditions:
|
Nest predation by Arctic Foxes was severe throughout the coastal region this year, as it was in 2001. Except on Baird Island, which has little or no suitable fox habitat, ground-truthing confirmed high levels of nest destruction observed in video images. The nest estimate at Kokechik Bay was the lowest since the surveys began and the number of nests found on ground-truthed transects confirmed the severe decline in number of nests. The total nest estimate was the lowest since the survey began in 1992.
|
|
|
Rodent dynamics:
|
|
|
|
Rodent species recorded:
|
|
|
|
|
Summary
of fauna studies: |
| Aerial surveys at five black brant colonies on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta--Kokechik Bay (KB), Tutakoke River (TR), Kigigak Island (KI), Baird Inlet Island (BI), and a peninsula northwest of Baird Inlet Island (BP) were conducted on 6 June. Surveys were conducted on the same date as last year, but earlier than the four previous years.
|
|