Birds Found on the Arctic Slope of Northern AlaskaBee, James W.
Science
Birds Found on the Arctic Slope of Northern Alaska
Bee, James W.
Birds -- Alaska
At Kaolak (July 21-27, 1951), within one mile of our camp there were
four females with young in groups of 4, 5, and 6. The young birds of
the group of five were 75 mm in length. On June 17, 1952, several
pintails were feeding in the Salt Water Lagoon at Point Barrow.
The largest of two adult females collected on August 30 and 31, 1952,
two miles west of Driftwood, was 536 mm in total length and weighed
729 grams.
On August 25, 1951, three pintails fed in a small creek at the
southwest corner of Chandler Lake. They were the first observed in the
area where we began camping on August 9.
+Anas carolinensis+ Gmelin: Green-winged teal.--On September 4,
1951, one green-winged teal was on a small lake approximately 1-1/4 miles
northwest of Umiat.
+Aythya marila nearctica+ Stejneger: Greater scaup.--On July 8,
1952, approximately 1/2 mile southwest of the east end of Wahoo Lake, a
nest of seven eggs of this species was located on the edge of a small
lake. Three males swam together in the lake.
+Clangula hyemalis+ (Linnaeus): Old squaw.--Specimens, 5; Barrier
Lake, NE Teshekpuk Lake, 153 deg.05'40", 70 deg.39'40", 8 ft., No. 35080, ad.
female and 30581, ad. female, July 30, 1951; Topagaruk River, 155 deg.48',
70 deg.34', 10 ft., No. 30582, ad. female, July 7, 1951; Kaolak River,
159 deg.47'40", 70 deg.11'15", 30 ft., No. 50579, ad. female, July 14, 1951
and No. 50578, ad. sex?, July 15, 1951.
Two old squaws were feeding in Salt Water Lagoon on June 17, 1952. On
June 30, 1952, a nest of seven eggs was 20 feet from the edge of a
lake at Umiat. One of the eggs was infertile and in the others embryos
had barely begun to form. The nest was unattended but the eggs were
warm and covered with down feathers. The next day the male was in the
lake adjoining the nest and the female was on the nest; we collected
the eggs on this date. The nest was in a natural depression in the
moss on top of a hummock one foot high. A dwarf alder gave overhead
protection.
Each night, at approximately 10:00 P.M. (July 3-11, 1952) a male lit
in Wahoo Lake and preened, ruffled and adjusted its feathers. This
behavior indicated to us that he had just been relieved from
incubating eggs. Old squaws were noted also on a small lake
approximately 1/2 mile southeast of Wahoo Lake on July 8.
Most of the old squaws (July 4-10, 1951) were in pairs or small groups
at Topagaruk. They constituted less than one per cent of the avian
population and were more commonly seen around the edges of stabilized
lakes of medium size than elsewhere. One adult female shot on July 7,
weighed 600 grams and had ova as large as 17 millimeters in diameter.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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