Table 4. Significant movements of Harlequins within and between years on the breeding 

 grounds (Cassirer and Groves 1994, Reichel and Center 1994; Ashley 1995, Cassirer pers. 

 comm.; this report). 



MIGRATION 



Nature of migration in the species. All inland populations of the species migrate to 

 coastal waters. A marked female seen on Granite Creek, Idaho on 17 July 1991 was relocated 13 

 days later off of Battleship Island in the San Juan Islands, Washington (Cassirer and Groves 

 1992). In Iceland, birds are thought to swim up the rivers from the coastal wintering grounds to 

 the freshwater breeding sites (Gudmundsson 1961 in Bengtson 1966). 



Several lines of reasoning indicate that pairs migrate to the breeding grounds together: 1) 

 two pairs marked on the breeding grounds in McDonald Creek, Montana, have been seen, 

 apparently paired, in the spring on Hornby Island, B.C., prior to migration (Ashley pers. comm.); 

 2) one bird of a pair is not seen prior to the arrival of the other - they are seen for the first time 

 together; and 3) there are no records of lone males observed later paired during the same year. 



Sibling juveniles may migrate together to the coast, as indicated by the presence of 3 

 siblings at Hornby Island, B.C., which were marked together 7 months earlier on Swamp Creek, 

 Montana. Whether females and their broods migrate together in some instances is unknown. 

 However, it is known that females occasionally leave prior to their young fledging. In Montana, 

 out of 102 brood observations during 1988-95, 12 broods (12%) were found without the hen 

 prior to migration (this report, Ashley pers. comm.). Of the 12 abandoned broods, 1 was first 

 seen alone when Class I, 2 were Class II, 2 were Class III, and 7 broods were first observed 

 without the adult female following fledging. In one additional case, a brood of 7 was marked 

 with the female on 1 1 Aug 1992; on 2 September the female was seen with 5 of her fledged 

 juveniles, while one of the brood was observed 2.5 km away. 



Timing and routes of migration. Harlequins, typically unpaired males, begin to arrive in 

 Montana in mid- April (Kuchel 1977, Ashley 1994); the earliest record for Glacier National Park 

 is 4 April 1970, on the Middle Fork Flathead River (Kuchel 1977:32). Pairs in Montana begin to 



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