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
+Ereunetes pusillus+ (Linnaeus): Semipalmated sandpiper.--Specimens,
28: Barrier Lake, NE Teshekpuk Lake, 153 deg.05'40", 70 deg.39'40", 8 ft., 4,
Nos. 30692-30695 including 3 juv. males and 1 juv. female, July 30,
August 1, 3, 1951; Topagaruk River, 155 deg.48', 70 deg.34', 10 ft., 21, Nos.
30682, 30683, 30696-30714 including 12 ad. males and 9 ad. females,
July 6-9, 1951; Kaolak River, 159 deg.47'40", 70 deg.11'15", 30 ft., 3, Nos.
30689-30691 including 2 ad. males and 1 ad. of unknown sex, July 12,
14, 15, 1951.
Eleven adult males and nine adult females shot at Topagaruk from July
5-10, 1951, weighed 29(22-30) and 28(25-31) grams, respectively. The
greatest length of skulls of each of the above sexes averaged 39.2 mm.
The shortest juvenile, having a skull measuring 35.9 mm long, was a
male shot at Kaolak River on July 15, 1951. Juveniles shot at
Teshekpuk Lake on August 1 and 3, 1951, averaged 25 grams in weight
and 28.4 mm in greatest length of skull. Testes of adults decreased in
size from an average of 4 mm on July 6, to an average of 2 mm on July
14. Testes of juveniles on August 3 averaged 1.3 mm in length. The
ovaries of seven adults from Topagaruk, shot on July 8 and 9, averaged
2.4 mm in length and the average diameter of the largest ovum was 7/10
mm.
A nest of four eggs, first examined on July 5, 1951, 1/4 mile southeast
of the Arctic Research Laboratory, was abandoned on July 11.
At Topagaruk (July 7, 1951) we flushed several adult semipalmated
sandpipers whose behavior suggested that they were nesting. Two days
later one nest held newly hatched young. This species was third in
abundance there, adults constituting 15 per cent of the avian
population. They were numerous on polygons having low centers and on
high windswept knolls in association with black-bellied plovers, ruddy
turnstones and pectoral sandpipers. The call resembled that of the
Hammond flycatcher and was accompanied by wing vibration.
At Topagaruk (July 9, 1951) a female semipalmated sandpiper fluttered
off a nest, uttered a sharp cry, feigned injury by fluttering around
the observer, became seemingly indifferent but refused to return to
her nest, uttered sharp cries, came to within seven feet of the
observer who was sitting within three feet of the nest and alternately
chattered, ate several large dipterous insects from the ground and in
approximately five minutes went back on the nest, within easy reach,
although she still was not completely quiet. When the observer rose to
leave she again fluttered off the nest and feigned injury (the bird
was preserved as a specimen). The nest was concealed in a small
depression surrounded on all sides by tufts of vegetation and
contained four young, one of which had hatched no more than three
hours before.
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