KILBUCK AND AHKLUN MOUNTAIN BIRDS 



83 



had large downies to recently fledged young. At north Chagvan Spit, all 

 young were flying or within a week of flying on 19 July 1974. Terns were 

 still present at Goodnews Bay between 12 and 15 September 1977. 



Aleutian tern {Sterna aleuticd), Csr (5 June-23 July). 



Aleutian terns nested along the coast and were occasionally seen 

 inland. We found a large colony of Aleutian Terns each year at south 

 Goodnews Spit (DNW photo). Pairs or single adults were seen in coastal 

 areas at Chagvan Bay (possibly nesting before 1952; B. Huffmon, personal 

 communication), Nanvak Bay (this study), and Hagemeister Island 

 C'likely" nesting; Ameson 1977). Two pairs were seen at Hagemeister 

 Strait on 5 July 1970 by Gibson (Kessel and Gibson 1978) and one bird 

 was seen flying near Round Island (T. J. Eley, unpublished). Inland, J. L. 

 Hout (personal communication) saw one bird at the Kanektok River. 



The colony at Goodnews Bay expanded, from 60 to 75 pairs in 1933 

 (Bull in Friedmann 1933) to at least 250 pairs in 1974. It was much larger 

 in 1980, but was reported by B. Huffmon (personal communication) to 

 be down to fewer than 10 pairs in 1984; there were probably more than 

 200 pairs in 1986 and 300 pairs in 1988. We found nests in dwarf shrub 

 mat and grass meadow habitats. Young moved to grass-heath meadows 

 near their nests soon after they hatched and to grass meadows as they 

 grew. 



As with arctic terns, nesting chronology of Aleutian terns at Good- 

 news Bay was difficult to determine because of egg gathering by local 

 people. In 1974, eggs were found by local people from 5 June; some nests 

 had one or two eggs on 19 June (unknown if first or second clutches); 

 no eggs were seen and adults were feeding young on 17 July; young 

 ranged from downy to fully feathered stages on 17-19 July, and most 

 chicks seen (about 40) were almost flying on 23 July. Adults were feeding 

 young at downy stages and partly feathered young on 4 August 1988; no 

 fledged young were present. Of about 50 or so adults seen bringing food 

 to chicks in 1974 and 1986, about 80% brought sandlances. Eggs and 

 chicks were taken by common ravens, dogs, jaegers, and foxes (B. Huff- 

 mon, personal communication). 



Common murre QUria aalge), Asr (27 April-3 September). Speci- 

 mens: UAM2618, YDNWR(CRNWR 113), and YDNWR(CRNWR 114). 



Murres (Fig. 19) nested on mainland cliffs and islands along the 

 coastal portion of the study area from Bird Rock near Cape Newenham 

 to Round Island. Sowls et al. (1978) estimated that more than 1,036,000 

 murres nested in the study area, but accurate estimates are extremely 

 difficult. Most murres reported in Sowls et al. (1978) nested at Bird Rock, 

 Cape Newenham, Cape Peirce (two MHD specimens; MHD photo; MRP 



