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SITE NAME
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Woolley Lagoon, Seward Peninsula, Alaska, USA
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| Contact details
(phone/fax//e-mail//address): |
| (808) 293-3820 // brunerp@byuh.edu // Department of Biology, Brigham Young University Hawaii, 55-220 Kulanui St., Laie, HI 96762, 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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9.06
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21.06
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WEATHER
CONDITIONS
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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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Our 2007 field season (9-21 June) marked our fourth year investigating the breeding biology of Ruddy Turnstones. We have also monitored our Alaska banded turnstones at two wintering sites in Hawaii. To date we have individually colour-banded 20 adult turnstones and 16 chicks in Alaska.
The turnstone hatch at our study site in 2007 began on 18 June and was 80% completed by 20 June. Long-tailed and Parasitic Skuas in flocks as large as 75 birds were a constant threat.
Red Fox were also regularly observed in the area. Despite these predators we lost only one nest. The exceptionally aggressive attacks on predators by turnstones have been reported in the literature as a reason why other shorebirds often nest near turnstones in order to take advantage of the defence they provide.
We had our first record of Ruddy Turnstone mate retention in 2007. This pair was initially banded in 2004. The female first returned in 2006 and used a nest made by another pair in 2005. Her mate that year was her 2004 neighbour's chick. Her 2004 mate returned to the study site for the first time in 2007 and they established a new nest 15 m from her 2006 nest and 110 m from their original 2004 nest.
A second 2004 male also returned for first time in 2007. This male has been observed at Kona, Hawaii every winter from 2004 to 2007. He did not over-summer at Kona in 2005 or 2006. Assuming he bred in those years then it was not at our study site. A 2005 male returned in 2007 to his breeding territory for the third consecutive season. Each year he had a new mate which we subsequently banded. His breeding territory covers a linear distance of 180 m and is the longest turnstone territory at our study site.
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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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