274 Alaskan Science Conference 



on the tip of the Alaska Peninsula. Just two weeks ago Yukon 

 Delta bands were recovered from three black brant at Cold Bay 

 so we now are beginning to fill in the blanks on this migration 

 from the Yukon Delta, along the Bering Sea side of the Alaska 

 Peninsula, thence across the Gulf of Alaska to the British 

 Columbia coast and on to Washington, Oregon and California. 



Cackling geese, the smallest sub-species of the Canada goose 

 is believed to follow much the same southward route as the 

 brant. Of 38 band recoveries in recent years all but one have 

 been from California and Oregon or near the banding area. 

 Peak concentrations estimated up to one million geese occur at 

 Cold Bay and while there is still no established connection 

 through banding between Yukon Delta cacklers and those at 

 Cold Bay, radar tracking shows a great circle route of about 

 1,400 miles over water to the vicinity of Vancouver Island. The 

 absence of band recoveries from other parts of Alaska and Brit- 

 ish Columbia seems to confirm this surmise. The importance 

 of this information in protection and a regulated harvest of 

 these geese is obvious. In addition, we would like to know how 

 many are heading for our states and how many for the iron 

 curtain. 



In marked contrast to the narrow flight routes of the brant 

 and cackler is the behavior of the white-fronted geese and pin- 

 tail ducks. The white-front is the only species to date which 

 shows migration out of the Pacific flyway at least as far as the 

 prairie provinces of Canada. Based on 66 recoveries of pintails 

 banded at widely separated locations— Innoko, Kotzebue Sound 

 and the Arctic Slope— it appears that these ducks go mainly to 

 the Pacific Coast with a spread into the Central Flyway, re- 

 coveries ranging from Alaska to Mexico and from Nebraska to 

 California. 



Most of the waterfowl problems faced in the states are en- 

 countered in Alaska, the single exception being waterfowl 

 depredations on grain and other crops. Problems unique to 

 Alaska involve the Emperor goose and the Western Canada 

 goose, neither of which apparently ever leaves the Territory, 

 and the European teal with an essentially east and west migra- 

 tion between the Aleutians and Asia. 



