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 the south end of Lake Peters (Aug. 10) a raven hunted low over the
ground. Here, only occasionally were they seen so low in the valley.
At Chandler Lake ravens were noted flying high along the crests of the
mountains on August 11, 12, 13, and 25, 1951.
One juvenile female that was shot at Umiat on August 19, 1952, was 682
mm long and 1360 grams in weight. Between August 30 and September 4,
1951, ravens were noted at Umiat every day; the largest group was six.
Most of the time they fed at the refuse pile near camp.
On our first day at Gavia Lake (Aug. 21, 1952) a pair of ravens
arrived from the west and calling continually circumnavigated the
shore line. They left in the same direction from whence they came.
Clifford Fiscus told us that in the summer of 1952, ravens were seen
along the Arctic Coast between Pitt Point and Point Barrow. The
largest congregation was at the mouth of the Colville River. Ravens
were noted on August 27 and 28, 1952, at Driftwood.
+Turdus migratorius migratorius+ Linnaeus: Robin.--From the tops of
alder trees at the mouth of Bearpaw Creek on June 27, 1952, three
robins sang more frequently in the evening between 6:00 P.M. and
11:00 P.M. than at any other period of the 24 hours of continuous
daylight.
At Wahoo Lake on July 3, 1952, a nest held four eggs, on July 6 two
eggs and two young, and on July 10 one egg and three young. On July 12
the single egg was determined to be infertile. In the canyon south of
Wahoo on July 6 two adults and a single young bird were feeding 50
feet from a recently abandoned nest that was superimposed upon an old
nest of a previous year. Other robin nests in high willows in the
bottom of this canyon were spaced approximately 1/5 of a mile apart.
Occasionally robins foraged on the open tundra beyond willow-lined
creeks. As compared with robins in the temperate regions, those in the
Arctic Life-zone were notably less "fearless"; they came to within
three feet of the nest when nestlings were being inspected by an
observer. The robins at Wahoo Lake on July 3-12, 1952, generally sang
at about 10:00 P.M., a time equivalent to twilight in temperate
regions to the south.
+Hylocichla minima minima+ (Lafresnaye): Gray-cheeked
thrush.--Specimens, 2; Wahoo Lake, 146 deg.58', 69 deg.08', 2350 ft., 1, No.
31321, ad. female, July 11, 1952; Chandler Lake, 152 deg.45', 68 deg.12', 2900
ft., 1, No. 30755, juv. male, August 23, 1951.
On June 27, 1952, we frequently heard thrushes singing on the side of
the valley north of Umiat. Large alder, birch and willow gave adequate
protection to these birds.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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