KILBUCK AND AHKLUN MOUNTAIN BIRDS 



79 



found gulls at the Kisaralik River on 24 and 28 August and at the Kwethluk 

 River on 10-27 July 1985. White and Boyce (1978) found guUs to be 

 uncommon along the Kanektok River in June 1977, and M. J. Fry (unpub- 

 lished) found adults at Kagati Lake on 14 August 1962. 



Black-legged kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla). Asr (23 April-27 Septem- 

 ber). Specimens: UAM2620 and YDNWR(MHD 6905). 



Kittiwakes nested on cliffs and offshore islands along the coastal 

 portion of the study area. Recent population estimates for the area totaled 

 381,310 birds (Sowls et al. 1978). 



Kittiwakes were present along the coast during an aerial survey on 

 23 April 1981 (C. P. Dau, unpublished) and had arrived at Cape Peirce by 

 27 April 1973 and 29 April 1976. Rafts of up to 1,500 birds were present 

 in the waters around Cape Peirce on 27 April 1973; on 2 May, when birds 

 first occupied the cliffs, there was a raft of tens of thousands of birds in 

 the waters near the cliffs. Estimates of hundreds of birds used Chagvan 

 Bay for roosting and feeding in May 1987 (D. F. Parmelee and J. M. 

 Parmelee, unpublished). Kittiwakes at Cape Peirce used dried eelgrass 

 from Nanvak Bay for their nests; in spring, long lines of kittiwakes flew 

 continually from the cliffs to eelgrass drifts and bathing ponds. Nest-build- 

 ing activity began as early as 26 May (Table 4). The first eggs were laid at 

 Cape Peirce on 4 June to 24 June (Table 4). Birds laid eggs to as late as 

 20 July, eggs hatched from early July to early August, and young fledged 

 from late July to early September (Table 4). Of 2,631 pairs in 1976, 789 

 (30%) had chicks hatch and 434 (16%) had young fledge; 1 pair fledged 2 

 chicks and the remainder fledged 1. Of 136 pairs sampled on 21 August 

 1977, none had young nor were any fledged young seen in the area. 

 Nesting failures occurred in 4 of 1 1 years at Cape Peirce (Table 5). At Bird 

 Rock, J. L. Hout (personal communication) found pairs with eggs and 

 chicks on 26 July 1969. At Round Island, some chicks were in nests on 9 

 July 1962. 



In summer, flocks of kittiwakes bathed in freshwater ponds near 

 Nanvak Bay and on Cape Newenham, and groups of 10 to > 100 birds were 

 found in June bathing in ponds from Goodnews Bay south along the coast. 

 On 25 June 1977, about 7,500 kittiwakes bathed in a brackish lagoon on 

 Crooked Island (Ameson 1977). In 1973, hundreds of kittiwakes were still 

 present on nesting cMs at Cape Newenham on 24 September, although 

 many birds had left the colonies. On 25 September, a few kittiwakes 

 remained at Cape Peirce, and small flocks were at Nanvak Bay until our 

 departure on 27 September; two specimens were collected there in 1969. 



Foods from 10 adults included copepods (30% of birds), mysid (30%), 

 unidentifled fish (10%), walleye pollock (Theragra chalcogramma; 10%), 

 and sandlance (80%); and 10 chick regurgitations contained copepods 

 (20% of samples), mysid (20%), and sandlance (100%; Lloyd 1985). 



