Birds Found on the Arctic Slope of Northern Alaska Part 1

Birds Found on the Arctic Slope of Northern Alaska.

by James W. Bee.

INTRODUCTION

In the summers of 1951 and 1952 some data on birds were gathered incidental to a study of the mammals of the Arctic Slope of northern Alaska (see Bee and Hall--Mammals of Northern Alaska ..., Univ. Kansas Mus. Nat. Hist., Miscl. Publ., 8, March 10, 1956). Other students, currently preparing comprehensive accounts of the birds of northern Alaska, have urged that the information obtained in 1951 and 1952 be made available. For that reason, and because relatively little is on record concerning birds of the area visited, I have prepared the following account. The aim is to include only non-published data because the comprehensive accounts alluded to above, by others, can more appropriately include data from previously published accounts.

The area is the treeless tundra delimited by the crest of the Brooks Range to the south, the international boundary to the east and the Arctic Ocean to the north and west.

Three hundred and fifty-one birds of 44 species (Nos. 30371-30866, and 31301-31355) were collected. Twenty-nine additional species were seen.

All specimens are skeletons, unless otherwise noted in the text, and are catalogued and housed at the Museum of Natural History, University of Kansas. Photographs are by the author.

The report results from a contract (Nonr-38700) between the Office of Naval Research and the Museum of Natural History of the University of Kansas. Field headquarters were at the Arctic Research Laboratory at Point Barrow, Alaska. Professor John Fields and Dr. Louis O. Quam of the Office of Naval Research, Professor Ira L. Wiggins, Scientific Director of the Arctic Research Laboratory, and Mr. M. R. Lipman of the University of Kansas Regional Office of the Office of Naval Research are four of the persons to whom I am deeply indebted. J. Knox Jones, Jr., and Edward G. Campbell, students at the University of Kansas, partic.i.p.ated in the field work and deserve credit for a large part of the accomplishment registered in the field.

The author is greatly indebted to Professor E. Raymond Hall for a.s.sistance at many stages in the work. I am grateful to Professor Harrison B. Tordoff for numerous suggestions and for verifying the identifications of the specimens. The skeletons were identified by measurement and comparison of feet, bills, and the dried, flat skins that had been removed and labeled with the field numbers of the corresponding skeletons. Where subspecific identification was difficult because of the fas.h.i.+on in which the material was preserved it should be understood that the subspecific name a.s.signed was based largely or entirely on geographic probability. This is wholly true for sight records. Robert G. Bee read the ma.n.u.script in its entirety and offered editorial comments and my wife, Annette, typed the ma.n.u.script and made numerous corrections. The names of several other individuals who rendered a.s.sistance appear at appropriate places in the following pages.

ITINERARY

Camps and collecting localities on the Arctic Slope of northern Alaska in 1951 and 1952 (Bee and Jones, July 3-September 6, 1951; Bee, September 6-11, 1951; Bee and Campbell, June 14-August 25, 1952; Bee, Campbell, and Hall, August 26-September 12, 1952) were as shown in Fig. 1.

Camps, and localities in the vicinity of each camp, are arranged geographically from north to south. The localities listed below under camps are only those which one or more of us (Bee, Campbell, Jones and Hall) visited. Travel between camps was by airplane; heavy black lines show routes followed.

Point Barrow (1951: July 3-5, 10-12, 18-20, 27-29, Aug. 5-7, 28-30, Sept. 4-11. 1952: June 14-24, Aug. 23-27, Aug. 31-Sept. 12).

Longitudes and lat.i.tudes taken from U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey map No. 9445, 2nd edition, Point Barrow and vicinity, corrected May 21, 1951.

Point Barrow, 15627'25", 7123'11", 3 ft. (June 20, 21, Aug. 25, 1952).

Point Barrow, 15630'00", 7122'10", 0 ft. (Sept. 11, 1952).

4 mi. SW Point Barrow, 5 ft. (Sept. 7, 8, 1951), but in the second year (June 14, 16, 1952) specimens from this same place were inadvertently labeled at "Birnirk Mounds, 15636'02", 7120'40", 8 ft.".

NW Elson Lagoon, 15635'45", 7120'27", 0 ft. (Sept. 2, 1952).

Point Barrow, 15640'40", 7119'30", 8 ft. (Sept. 9, 1952).

Point Barrow, 15635'45", 7119'30", 8 ft. (Sept. 9, 1952).

Point Barrow, 15639'40", 7119'03", 6 ft. (Sept. 3, 4, 7, 8, 1952).

West side Salt Water Lake [Lagoon], 15642'00", 7118'41", 4 ft.

(June 18, 19, 1952).

1/10 mi. W Salt Water Lake [Lagoon], 15642'02", 7118'26", 10 ft.

(June 16-19, 1952).

9/10 mi. E and 8/10 mi. N Barrow Village, 15644'15", 7118'20", 8 ft. (June 22, 23, 1952).

1-4/10 mi. S and 6/10 mi. E Barrow Village, 15645'25", 7116'20", 20 ft. (June 20, 1952).

7 mi. S and 7 mi. W Point Barrow, 15649', 71 17' (September 6, 1952).

Teshekpuk Lake (1951: July 29-Aug. 4). Shown on a map, t.i.tled "Trails and Caches 1951 Season, Naval Petroleum Reserve No. 4, ... traced and reproduced from U. S. Geological Survey Maps, March 1945, compiled from AAF Trimetrogon photography for Aeronautical Chart Service."

NE Teshekpuk Lake, 15305'40", 7039'40", 12 ft.

Topagaruk (1951: July 5-10). Named on map "Trails and Caches 1951 ..."

cited immediately above, but is actually seven miles due south of name shown on that map. Correct position is 15555', 7034', 10 feet; but specimens are incorrectly labeled 15548'....

Kaolak River (1951: July 12-18). River shown on map cited above under Teshekpuk Lake.

[Actual camp on] Kaolak River, 15947'40", 7011'15", 30 ft.

Kaolak (1951: July 20-27). Longitude and lat.i.tude computed from map cited above under Teshekpuk Lake.

Kaolak, 16014'51", 6956'00", 178 ft.

Gavia Lake (Aug. 19-23, 1952). Longitude and lat.i.tude computed from World Aeronautical Chart (63) Brooks Range, U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, 5th ed., February 2, 1949.

Gavia Lake, N White Hills, 15000', 6935', 460 ft.

Umiat (1951: Aug. 30-Sept. 4. 1952: June 24-July 3, 18-23, Aug. 16-19, 23, Sept. 12). Longitude and lat.i.tude taken from U. S. Geological Survey Topographic Map.

Bearpaw Creek, 1-7/10 mi. E and 1-7/10 mi. N Umiat, 15204'50", 6923'30", 550 ft. (June 28, 1952).

1-3/10 mi. E and 1-3/10 mi. N Umiat, 15205'30", 6923'12", 350 ft.

(June 26, 27, 1952).

9/10 mi. W and 9/10 mi. N Umiat, 15210'58", 6922'53", 380 ft.

(June 29, 30, July 1, 1952).

1 mi. W and mi. N Umiat, 15208'10", 6922'18", 370 ft. (Aug.

30, Sept. 4, 1951).

Umiat, 15208', 6922', 337 ft. (Aug. 19, 1952).

Umiat, 15209'30", 6922'08", 352 ft. (June 24, 26, July 21, 22, 1952).