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RESPONDENT
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Robert Gill, Jr.
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SITE NAME
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Kougarok River, Seward Peninsula, Alaska, USA
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| Contact details
(phone/fax//e-mail//address): |
| 907-786-3514/907-786-3636(fax) // robert_gill@usgs.gov // U. S. Geological Survey, Alaska Science Center, 1011 East Tudor Road, Anchorage, AK, 99503, 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: |
| During a trip to capture and satellite-tag large waders (Whimbrel, Bristle- thighed Curlew and Bar-tailed Godwit) in the last week of June we surveyed a large area of upland tundra in the drainage of the Kougarok River. The area was dominated by gently sloping hills and low mountains with large patches of snow-covered bushes and recently emerged willow and birch bushes along smaller drainages. Tundra vegetation on most slopes had greened-up and spring and early summer flowers were in full bloom. The observed pattern of melt could have resulted from an uneven distribution of abundant snow at the end of winter and probably created a patchy distribution of breeding habitats available for birds. Blood-sucking mosquitoes were already rather common on warm windless days in some areas. During the survey period moderate to strong southerly winds prevailed in day-time and typically calmed down at night-time. Four of 7 days were either sunny or had long periods of sunshine, it rained for two days, and a few local showers took place on the other days.
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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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Mammalian predators were rare in the area, with only one Red Fox and one Brown Bear seen during extensive helicopter flights. Among other mammals, moose (mostly females with calves) were recorded almost daily, and small groups of Caribou were observed. Few avian predators were present with Ravens and Long-tailed Skuas being the most common; several widely scattered breeding pairs of the latter species were found and wandering flocks up to 15 birds were seen. Nests of Ravens were found on man-made constructions south of the survey area along the road to Nome. A pair of Merlin appeared to be breeding in the survey area. In the short time we were present, we did not observe evidence of breeding by Rough-legged Buzzard, Northern Harrier, Gyrfalcon, and Peregrine Falcon, and individuals of these species were recorded only few times. Absence of breeding by Buzzards may be related to the low abundance of rodents. We did not see any owls. Densities of other species that occasionally depredate eggs and chicks (e.g., Glaucous and Mew gulls and Sandhill Crane) were very low.
Some species were present in unusually low numbers: Willow Grouse (Ptarmigan), Buff-bellied (American) Pipit, and Yellow Wagtail. During the 10 days we were present, we observed actively hatching nests and recently-hatched chicks of one Long-tailed Skua and several pairs of Bristle-thighed Curlew, which is the average timing for these populations. Many other species appeared to have also nested successfully based on observations of birds alarm-calling and carrying food, these behaviours were observed in Sandhill Crane, American Golden-Plover, Wilson's Snipe, Whimbrel, Shore (Horned) Lark, Lapland Bunting (Longspur) and a number of bush-bird species. Some species (American Golden-Plover and Whimbrel) still had active nests. Thus, our general impression was that most local bird pairs were nesting successfully.
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Rodent dynamics:
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| Signs of winter presence of voles were abundant in bushes on some slopes of lateral valleys, but even with a crew of 6 people a Microtus sp. vole was seen only once in the valley of the Kougarok River. This indicates that the vole population probably declined substantially during spring-time. Arctic Ground Squirrels were rare.
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Rodent species recorded:
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Summary
of fauna studies: |
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