28 NORTH AMERICAN FAUNA 76 



1974 but not on 17 July 1986; P. D. Ameson and D. B. McDonald 

 (unpublished) saw one bird on 9 July 1977 at Hagemeister Island. Nesting 

 was recorded at Carter by Twitchell (in Gabrielson and Lincoln 1959); 

 we saw birds that were possibly nesting at Jacksmith Bay in 1974. Three 

 emperor geese were seen on the lower Kisaralik River just outside our 

 area in July 1984 (D. A. Boyce and S. J. Fristensky, unpublished). 



Brant (Branta hemicla). Aspm, Rsr, Afm (23 April-8 October). 



Brant migrated along the coast and occasionally nested there. In 

 spring 1 973 , Brant migrated through Nanvak Bay from 28 April to 1 7 June, 

 with the peak of migration on 1 5 - 1 8 May. They migrated past Cape Peirce 

 from 28 April to 1 June 1976 at rates from 152 ± 66.12 birds per hour 

 (6 days during 3-11 May, 3.62 h) early in migration to 1,362 birds per 

 hour (2. 1 h) at peak migration on 1 2 May. Flocks of up to several thousand 

 brant were in Chagvan Bay until 25 May 1987 (D. F. Parmelee and J. M. 

 Parmelee, unpublished). Estimates of the number of brant along the 

 coastal portion of the study area included 32,000 in 1963 (28 May; J. G. 

 King, unpublished), 15,022 in 1981 (23 April; C. P. Dau, unpublished), 

 515 in 1982 (4 May; C. P. Dau, unpublished), 1,877 in 1983 (25 April; 

 C. P. Dau, unpublished), 5,484 in 1984 (28 April; C. P. Dau, unpublished), 

 11,319 in 1985 (12 May; C. P. Dau and R.J. King, unpublished), 7,149 in 

 1986 (4 May; C. P. Dau and R.J. King, unpublished), 6,090 in 1987 (1 May; 

 R. J. King and C. P. Dau, unpublished), and 28,055 in 1989 (4 May; R. J. 

 King and C. P. Dau, unpublished). P. D. Ameson and D. B. McDonald 

 (personal communication) saw 3 brant at Crooked Island on 19-22 June 

 1977, and D. R. Herter et al. (personal communication) saw as many as 

 150 brant at Cape Peirce on 7 June-4 July 1984. Black brant (B. b. 

 nigricans) nested near Nanvak Bay where about 100 flightless young 

 were found by J. G. King (unpublished) in 1963 and 1 by us in 1976. The 

 closest primary nesting area for black brant is at Kuskokwim Bay (Ameri- 

 can Ornithologists' Union 1983) to the north and west of our study area. 



Fall migrants first appeared in August primarily along the coast in 

 Goodnews, Chagvan, and Nanvak bays (Table 3). One brant was seen 

 inland at Eek River on 10 August 1976 (R. Baxter, unpublished). At Nanvak 

 Bay, we found flocks of adult birds beginning 19 August 1973 and 1976 

 and flocks with young beginning 25 August 1973 and 28 August 1976. Fall 

 migration peaked at Nanvak Bay from 1 to 4 September 1973, when there 

 were 20,000 birds in the bay. From 27 August-l6 September 1973, 

 34 family groups averaged 2.85 ± 0.25 young per pair (range, 1-7). 

 Migration from Nanvak Bay began 21 September 1971 0- L. Hout, unpub- 

 lished). During aerial surveys including both Nanvak and Chagvan bays, 

 J. G. King (unpublished) recorded 32,000 brant on 28 May 1963 and 

 21 ,000 on 3 September 1963. Most brant were gone from the area by early 

 October. Estimates during aerial surveys of the entire coastal area in- 



