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SITE NAME
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Canning River Delta, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska, USA
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| Contact
details (phone/fax//e-mail//address): |
| (907) 456-0303/(907) 456-0428(fax) // Steve_Kendall@fws.gov // U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, 101 12th Ave., Room 236, Fairbanks, AK 99708, USA |
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PROJECT DETAILS
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Project name:
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Nest Survival of Tundra Nesting Birds and Abundance of Nest Predators Relative to Human Development on Alaska's Arctic Costal Plain |
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Start of survey:
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End
of survey:
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Team
size:
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WEATHER CONDITIONS
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Weather conditions: |
| Early June in 2003 was colder and there was greater snow cover than that period in June 2002. However, median nest initiation dates were earlier in 2003, which is, probably, explained by initiation of nests by some birds before the cold spell in early June. |
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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: |
average |
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Breeding conditions:
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In 2003 we continued work at a study site within the Arctic Refuge on the Canning River Delta, adding seven more study plots to the nine monitored in 2002. During the 2003 field season, we located 155 nests of 12 species. The most abundant species were King Eider, Dunlin, Pectoral Sandpiper, Semipalmated Sandpiper, Stilt Sandpiper, Red Phalarope, Red-necked Phalarope, and Lapland Bunting. Nest success and daily survival rates were generally higher in 2003 than 2002. Mayfiled estimate of nest success of most abundant tundra nesting birds was 100% in Dunlin (n=5), 92.3% in Pectoral Sandpiper (n=38), 76% in Semipalmated Sandpiper (n=23), 54.3% in Stilt Sandpiper (n=6), 78.9% in Grey Phalarope (n=20), 48.3% in Red-necked Phalarope (n=8), and 58.2% in Lapland Bunting (n=40). However, predator abundance was also higher, and higher nest success could be due to higher small mammal populations in 2003. Also, there were some noticeable shifts in abundance of birds. Most notably, nesting density of Pectoral Sandpipers in 2003 was 18.1 nests/km2 compared with 7.8 in 2002, while nesting densities of phalaropes halved.
We counted very low numbers of Pomarine Skuas and Snowy Owls during surveys in 2003. |
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Rodent dynamics:
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| During June and early July we frequently observed lemmings and voles. This did not occur in 2002. We did small mammal trapping late in the season, after nests had hatched. At that time it appeared that the small mammal populations had declined and we caught very few lemmings (we have no trapping effort for 2002).
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Rodent species recorded:
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Summary
of fauna studies: |
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