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SITE NAME
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Naskonat Peninsula, Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, Alaska, USA
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| Contact details
(phone/fax//e-mail//address): |
| 907-786-3908/907-786-3641 // Christian_Dau@fws.gov // U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Migratory Bird Management Division, Mail Stop 201, 1011 E. Tudor Road, Anchorage, AK 99503-6199, USA
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PROJECT DETAILS |
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Start of survey:
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End
of survey: |
Team
size: |
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WEATHER
CONDITIONS
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Weather conditions: |
| 2004 was phenologically the earliest year observed since spring surveys were begun in 1981. During the last week of April snow was absent, pond ice was absent or melting and there was no sea ice. Late April conditions during the previous earliest year (2003) were 30% snow cover with most ponds ice covered. In compassion to the past three decades, disappearance of snow and ice in 2004 was 3-4 weeks early and sea ice conditions have been light to absent since the mid-1990's.
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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: |
low
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Breeding conditions:
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A large tidal storm surge, probably during the last week of November 2003, inundated vegetated intertidal habitats. Based on deposition of drift wood and debris, water levels may have reached 2m above mean high tide. As a result, small rodents likely perished as no fresh sign was observed in lowlands or adjacent areas of elevated ericaceous tundra in 2004. Arctic fox were correspondingly reduced with one observed, another heard and one set of tracks seen on one of 13 0.32 km2 study plots: Fox activity was well below the level observed in 2003. No short-eared owls or long-tailed jaegers were observed at the study sites but parasitic jaeger numbers appeared similar to 2003.
Goose nesting chronology in 2004 was >5 days earlier than 2003 with earliest broods as follows: greater white-fronted goose 3 June, cackling Canada goose 4 June and emperor goose 6 June. The only other species observed hatching prior to the 8 June was a Sabine's gull clutch on 3 June.
Of incidental note is the subjective view of this observer that numbers of ruddy turnstones and red phalaropes are well below historic levels. Short duration opportunistic observations from 1997-2002 at a few sites with appropriate habitat along the coast of the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta yielded no observations. Neither species was observed during extensive ground investigations on the Naskonat Peninsula in 2003 and only three red phalaropes were seen there in 2004. Based on relative abundance in the early 1970's these species have either declined or modified their distribution.
First large mosquito hatch occurred on 31 May versus 3 June in 2003. Flowering of Carex sp. (29 May), Petasites frigidus (30 May), and Ranunculus Pallasii (1 June) were 1 -2 days ahead of 2003.
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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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