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
The earliest record of young (135 mm in length and 26 grams in weight)
was at Kaolak River on July 14, 1951. On July 9, 1952, at Topagaruk
the oviduct of an adult female, 86 grams in weight, contained an egg
in a shell 200 mm in diameter. Her second largest ovum was 10 mm.
Breeding males on this date had testes averaging 11 mm in length. The
average length of testis of 15 juveniles shot on August 3, 1951, at
Teshekpuk Lake was 1.9 (1.5-2.0) mm. The average weight of these
juveniles was 60 (50-81) grams. A comparison of male and female
juveniles shows no significant differences. Nevertheless, adult males
in both the breeding and post-breeding seasons are longer bodied and
heavier than adult females.
In the period June 14-25, 1952, in the Point Barrow area, pectoral
sandpipers were puffing their throats and cooing. On June 23, several
birds were defending territories, and one half mile northeast of
Barrow Village (June 23, 1952) we noted a male pectoral sandpiper that
crouched low when a pomarine jaeger flew directly overhead. After the
jaeger passed, the sandpiper assumed normal posture and continued
feeding.
At Topagaruk (July 7, 1951) these birds represented less than one per
cent of the avian population, were common on polygons having low
centers, and frequently joined black-bellied plovers, ruddy
turnstones, and semipalmated sandpipers to form discrete flocks.
On a four hour field trip at Kaolak River (July 15, 1951), the
pectoral sandpipers (45 by actual count) were the most common of the
sandpipers and were always calling overhead. The young on this date
were not yet capable of flight and were being fed by adult females.
One of the immatures bathed in water at the edge of the beach. On July
18, females were still attempting to decoy intruders by pretending to
have broken wings. Eight adults with young were observed at Kaolak
(June 21-27, 1951) but the species was not so aggressive as at Kaolak
River, nor so numerous. The fewer birds may have been correlated with
lack of sand dunes, river beaches and open areas.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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