KILBUCK AND AHKLUN MOUNTAIN BIRDS 



17 



Annotated Species 

 Accounts 



Red-throated loon (Gavia stellatd). Aspm, FCsr, Ufm (3 May- 

 25 September). 



Red-throated loons nested throughout the study area and migrated 

 along the coast. They were abundant spring migrants past Cape Peirce 

 from 3 to 26 May (peak migration rate of 50 birds per hour for 2.05 h on 

 6 May 1976), and birds were present, presumably migrating, after early 

 September in nearshore and inshore waters. We found them nesting near 

 Nanvak Bay and the Togiak River and probably nesting near the Salmon 

 River, at Kisaralik Lake, and Goodnews and Chagvan bays. Adults were 

 seen in summer at the Kisaralik River (M. Brown et al., unpublished; B. J. 

 McCaffery, personal communication), at the Kwethluk River (M. Brown 

 et al., unpublished), and at the Eek River (R. Baxter, unpublished; 

 M. Brown et al., unpublished). Adults, probably nesting, were seen near 

 Kagati Lake (M. J. Fry, unpublished). On 3 July on a small pond near 

 Nanvak Bay, J. G. King (unpublished) found a pair that may have nested. 

 On 23 June 1976 on that same pond, we found a day-old chick (MRP 

 photo) that fledged 7-8 weeks later. D. R. Herter and D. Lloyd (personal 

 communication) found a pair that raised two chicks there in 1981. We 

 also found two unfledged young on the Togiak River on 5 August 1973- 

 P. D. Ameson and D. B. McDonald (personal communication) found two 

 birds near Crooked Island in June and seven near Hagemeister Island in 

 July 1977. 



Pacific loon (Gavia pacified), Aspm, Rsr, Cfm (5 May-25 Septem- 

 ber). 



Pacific loons nested in the Ahklun Mountains and were common to 

 abundant migrants along the coast. Breeding-plumaged birds passed Cape 

 Peirce at rates of up to 132 birds per hour (during 2 h on 20 May 1976) 

 during spring migration. Birds were rarely seen in Nanvak Bay or on 

 inshore waters along the cliff faces during spring migration. During late 

 summer and fall, they were seen occasionally in Chagvan Bay Quly); we 

 saw birds near Cape Peirce and in Nanvak Bay (June-September) each 

 year, as did H. P. Brokaw, unpublished (26 and 29 June 1970, four and 

 seven birds, respectively). Birds were found near Crooked Island in 

 June-July and at Hagemeister Island in July 1977 (P. D. Ameson and D. B. 

 McDonald, personal communication). We saw an adult with one young 

 in a pond near Jacksmith Bay on 9 September 1976. In inland areas, birds 

 were found at the Kisaralik River on l6 June 1987 (B. J. McCaffery, 



