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
+Falco peregrinus anatum+ Bonaparte: Peregrine falcon.--A nest was
found on June 27, 1952, on the south slope of Mount Umiat
approximately 225 feet above the Colville River, 40 feet from the top
of the cliff and 30 feet west of the top of the mountain. The nest,
three feet in depth at the front, two feet in depth at the rear, and
2-1/2 feet wide was made of sticks of many years accumulation and was
placed on a pinnacled platform 12 feet high. The nest contained one
infertile egg and two others in which embryos were approximately one
third developed. The female remained near us the one hour that we were
in the area. She flew back and forth in front of the nest terminating
each flight in an upswing arc and occasionally rested on top of the
ridge to the west. She dove at us but never came closer than 10 feet
before swerving upward. The male was not present. In a canyon 1/5 mile
northeast of the nest two dead ptarmigan were at the edge of a willow
cotton-grass swale. A nest of a peregrine falcon used three years
before was 1-7/10 miles east and 1-7/10 miles north of Umiat. The nest
was eight feet up on the face of a cliff 13 feet in height and easily
accessible to either fox or wolf. Along the Colville River the falcon
feeds on small shore-birds and other small birds.
+Falco columbarius bendirei+ Swann: Pigeon hawk.--On a benchland
between Chandler Lake and mountains to the west on August 12, 1952, a
pigeon hawk hunted back and forth across a meadow, fearlessly
inspecting us from distances of 20 to 30 feet as it searched the
meadow for food. This falcon systematically searched those areas where
longspurs were known by us to be most frequently found. Twice it
flushed Lapland longspurs and darted at them but without success. Of
the four pigeon hawks at Chandler Lake three were moving south and one
was moving north down the canyon. We saw this species at Chandler Lake
also on August 17, 20 and 21, 1951, and at Driftwood on August 27,
1952.
Approximately 1/10 mile north of James Robert Lake (Aug. 8, 1952) a
pigeon hawk was harassing five ravens that were feeding on a dead
caribou. This falcon flew back and forth above the ravens.
+Falco sparverius sparverius+ Linnaeus: Sparrow hawk.--One seen in
the summer of 1952 at the mouth of the Colville River by Clifford
Fiscus.
+Lagopus lagopus alascensis+ Swarth: Willow ptarmigan.--Specimens, 5:
Topagaruk, 155 deg.48', 70 deg.34', 10 ft., No. 50587, ad. female, July 8, 1951;
Kaolak River, 159 deg.47'40", 70 deg.11'15", 30 ft., No. 30586, ad. female, July
14, 1951 and No. 30585, ad. male, July 15, 1951; Kaolak, 160 deg.14'51",
69 deg.56'00", 178 ft., No. 30583, ad. male and No. 30584, ad. female, July
23, 1951.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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