KUBUCK AND AHKLUN MOUNTAIN BIRDS 



123 



kilometer on 20 June 1974. Along the cliff tops at Cape Peirce in 1976, 

 we found 5.6 ± 1.1 pairs per square kilometer. 



Nesting chronology varied between locations and years, with nests 

 along the coast appearing earlier than those inland. At the Tuluksak 

 River, some adults carried food on 7 July 1974, young were independent 

 in late July in all years, and birds were found as late as 10 October 1977. 

 At Chagvan Bay, flight displays were first noted on 23 May 1987 (D. F. 

 Parmelee and J. M. Parmelee, unpublished). Near Platinum, we found 

 newly fledged young and young in nests on 18-20 June 1974. At Cape 

 Peirce, pairs were on territories by 1 May 1973 and 2 May 1976. One 

 nest there (Fig. 23) had four eggs on 24 June, the eggs hatched by 1 July, 

 and the young fledged by 1 6 July 1970. Newly fledged young were fiurst 

 recorded on 27 June 1970 (three young; H. P. Brokaw, unpublished), 

 on 3 July 1984 (four young; D. R. Herter et al., personal communication), 

 and 25 July 1976. Independent young were generally found at Cape 

 Peirce in late July. 



Buntings migrated along the coast at Chagvan Bay in spring as early 

 as 18 April 1973 (D. I. Eisenhauer, personal communication). We found 

 flocks at Cape Peirce until 2 May, but thereafter we found only pairs and 

 singles. Spring migrants used the dune habitat extensively where they 

 fed on seeds of Honckenya peploides. Flocks of birds were first noted 

 on the coast in fall in early August and were common into October. Birds 

 on the coast foraged in intertidal as well as terrestrial habitats in summer 

 and fall. 



McKay's bunting (Plectrophenax hyperhoreus), VRv. 



One bird was seen among 15 snow buntings (D. I. Eisenhauer, 

 personal communication) on 18 April 1973 at Chagvan Bay. McKay's 

 buntings are occasionally found along the Bering Sea coast of mainland 

 Alaska in spring (Kessel and Gibson 1978). 



Red-winged blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus). VRv. Specimen: 

 UAM2631. 



MHD found one juvenile male in the marsh near Nanvak Bay on 

 2 September 1973. Red-winged blackbirds are considered a casual sum- 

 mer and fall visitant to western Alaska (Kessel and Gibson 1978). Other 

 records in the region are from Cape Lisbum, Cape Thompson, Kotzebue, 

 and Wales (Kessel and Gibson 1978). 



