Distribution and Movements of Birds in the Bering 
and Chukchi Seas 
L. G. Swartz 1 
This paper reports on pelagic observations of 
about 29 species of birds in the northern Bering 
Sea and the Chukchi Sea during a cruise in 
the late summer of I960. This work represents 
part of a larger study of the sea bird colonies 
at Cape Thompson, Alaska (Swartz, 1966). 
The problems presented by the offshore dis- 
tribution and movements of sea birds have 
proved refractory to many workers. Primarily, 
efforts to delineate and solve these problems 
have been incidental to other objectives of sea 
voyages and have centered in the North At- 
lantic and Barents Sea. Wynne-Edwards (1935) 
has brought together much of this scattered 
work from the North Atlantic, and Belopolski 
(1957) summarized data from the Barents Sea. 
Recently, Kuroda (I960) and Shuntov (1961) 
have published observations extending into the 
Bering Sea. Jacques (1930) is the only worker 
to publish substantial pelagic observations north 
of Bering Strait. 
THE ENVIRONMENT 
An intensive investigation of the Chukchi 
Sea (Fig. 1) began in 1959 when the De- 
partment of Oceanography of the University 
of Washington, under the direction of Dr. 
R. H. Fleming, and the Bureau of Commercial 
Fisheries sent their respective research vessels, 
the "Brown Bear” and the "John Cobb,” to 
the area. These organizations together under- 
took extensive physical, chemical, and biologi- 
cal investigations. In I960, the Department of 
Oceanography sent the "Brown Bear” to these 
waters again in order to extend and verify the 
results of the 1959 cruise. 
Two publications (Wolfe, I960, 1962) in- 
clude brief summaries of the scope of the ma- 
rine programs but present little actual data. 
1 Biological Sciences Department, University of 
Alaska, College, Alaska. This work was done under 
Contract No. AT- (04-3) -310 with the United States 
Atomic Energy Commission. Manuscript received 
June 29, 1966. 
The results of these projects have been pre- 
sented in preliminary form in several reports 
prepared for the individual financing agencies. 
Formal publication has been made of some of 
the University of Washington work (Creager 
and McManus, 1961; Fleming et ah, 1961; 
Fleming and Heggarty, 1962), and a large 
volume has recently been published including 
the work of many individuals which provides 
comprehensive coverage of almost all aspects of 
the marine environment included within the 
scope of this paper (see Swartz, 1966). 
The following brief summary of the char- 
acteristics of this environment is summarized 
from personal experience, the preliminary re- 
ports mentioned, the published works, and 
from personal communication and conversation 
with the individuals involved in the marine 
programs. 
The Chukchi Sea, in which most of the 
Fig. 1 . The Bering and Chukchi seas showing 
the area included within this study. Major sea bird 
colonies near the cruise track are indicated with the 
circular symbol. 
332 
