SHORT COMMUNICATIONS 653

The Condor 98:653-657 0 The CooperOrnithological Society 1996

BLACK BRANT FROM STAGING AND WINTERING IN JAPAN’

DIRK V. DERKSEN,KAREN S. BOLJJNGER,DAVID H. WARD National Biological Service,Alaska ScienceCenter 1011 E. Tudor Road, Anchorage,AK 99503

JAMESS. SEDINGER Institute of Arctic Biology and Department of Wildlife Universityof Alaska, Fairbanks, AK 99775-0180

YOSHIHIKOM~YAJSAYASHI JapaneseAssociation for Wild GeeseProtection Minamimachi 16. Wakayanagi 989-55, Japan

Key words: Alaska; Aleutian Islands; Black Brant; ekpuk Lake area, aqua for Prudhoe Bay, blue for Can- bemicla nigricans; Izembek Lagoon: Japan; ada, and red for Russia. wintering. We used telescopes(up to 130 x) to read codes on tarsal-bandedbrant at the major fall and spring staging Black Brant (Branta berniclanigricans) nest in colonies and wintering areasin , 1989-1994 and in arctic Canada, Alaska, and Russia (Derksen and Japan, 199l-1 995. Plastic tarsal bands, but not metal Ward 1993, Sedingeret al. 1993). Virtually the entire bands, could be read at distancesto 250 m. Band code population stagesin fall at Izembek Lagoon near the and color, age of , number of in the flock tip of the Alaska Peninsula (Bellrose 1976) before with marked birds, and behavior of marked brant were southward migration (Dau 1992) to winter habitats in recordedon field forms and later entered in a computer British Columbia, Washington,Oregon, , and data base. Baia California (Subcommittee on Black Brant 1992). We obtained upper wind data for October and No- A small number of Black Brant winter in Japan,Korea, vember 1990-l 994 from Environment Canada to help and China (Owen 1980). In Japan, 3,000-5,000 brant us determine possiblemigration corridors of brant de- of unknown origin stop over in fall, and a declining parting from Alaska in the fall. In Canada, 6-hour syn- population (< 1,000) of birds winter here, primarily optic vertical and horizontal upper wind data were in the northern islands (Brazil 1991, Miyabayashi et plotted on a map and objectively interpolated to a al. 1994). Here, we report sightingsof brant in Japan global grid by personnelat the Canadian Meteorolog- that were marked in Alaska and propose a migration ical Centre. This information was then usedin program route based on historical and recent observationsand Trajectory (Environment Canada, unpubl. data) to es- weather patterns. timate the 24-hour movement of a hypothetical float- ing balloon released at Izembek Lagoon, Alaska and METHODS at various pressuregradients. We then used program Between 1986 and 1994 we captured flightless brant TrajPlot (Environment Canada and J. D. MacNeil, un- in drive traps at colonies and molting areas in Alaska publ. data) to graph the daily position of the balloons on the Yukon-Kuskokwim (Y-K) and Colville River over a 5-day period. deltas and at the Teshekpuk Lake area and Prudhoe Bay; in Canada on the Anderson River Delta, and on RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Banks, Prince Patrick, Victoria and Melville Islands; Nearly 35,000 Black Brant were marked with plastic and in Russia on the Anadyr River Delta and Wrangel and metal bands since 1986. Nine of these birds with Island (Fig. 1). Birds were aged by plumage character- plasticbands were observedon Hokkaido and Honshu istics and sexed by cloaca1examination (Bent 1925: islands,Japan between 1991 and 1995. Four birds with 243, Hanson 1967). unique bands were seen a total of 18 times and three On each bird we attached a three-character, alpha- other bands were observed once each but the codes numeric coded plastic band (27 mm tall) to one tarsus were not read (Table 1). A bird with code KV6 was and a standard U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service metal seen but the color was not determined. band to the other leg. Plastic bands were color-coded Brant whose band color and code were read in Japan for geographicareas: yellow, white, and orangefor the were marked at the Tutakoke River colony on the Y-K Y-K Delta, greenfor the Colville River Delta and Tesh- Delta (n = 3) and at Pt. McIntyre near Prudhoe Bay (n = 1). Three of the birds (two females and one male) were aged as hatching-year(HY) and one as an after- hatching-year(AHY) female at the time of their capture ’ Received 4 January 1996. Accepted 29 April 1996. (Table 1). All three HY birds were resightedin Japan 654 SHORT COMMUNICATIONS

, _ “. -’ ’ Aleutian Islands

N Sanriku Coast

S Sanriku Coast

FIGURE 1. Locationswhere Black Brant were banded (shadedcircles). Staging and wintering habitats (hatched areas)in Japan; stars show resightinglocations (Table 1) of brant marked in Alaska (squares).

during the winter of their first year, and one of these China, although not documented with band returns, (G2T) returned to Japan the subsequentwinter as a has been assumedto be nestinggrounds along the East one-year-old. The other bird, marked as an AHY fe- SiberianSea coast between the rivers Yana and Chauna male, was resighted at Hakodate Bay, Japan, for the (Fig. 1, Uspenski 1960, Owen 1980). Dement’ev and first time the second winter (1993-1994) following Gladkov (1967) give the nestingrange of this wintering banding; she staged at Izembek Lagoon in fall 1992 population as occurring from the delta of the Lena and wintered in Mexico in 1992-l 993. One bird (G2T) River to the upper basin of the Anadyr River and was seenon the South Sanriku coaston Honshu in two Chukotka Peninsula;also on New Siberian, De Long, successivewinters. and Wrangel islands. Ward et al. (1993) showed that Marked brant were resightedin Japan as early as 5 Wrangel Island brant, which are primarily molt mi- November and as late as 15 March. They were ob- grants from Alaska and perhaps eastern Russian col- served alone or in small flocks (range: 3-58 birds) in onies, stagedat Izembek Lagoon in fall and wintered coastalbays (Fig. 1) where Black Brant have tradition- in Baja California. Numerous individuals that molted ally stagedand wintered. on Wrangel Island and were marked with a red tarsus The origin of brant wintering in Japan, Korea, and band have been observed breeding on the Y-K Delta

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. Iwo rnb =

0. 850mb I 146Om v . 704 mb = 3.010 m J

FIGURE 2. The tracksof weather balloonsdenloved from Cold Bav. Alaska (16 km south of Izembek Laaoon) on 6 November 1991 (open symbols) and 10 No;ember 1991 (shaded symbols) are shown at daily int&vals for four pressurelevel gradients.In 1991, the major departureof brant from Izembek Lagoonto Mexico occurred on 10 November.

(J. S. Sedinger, unpubl. data), establishinga link be- brant have been reported (Gizenko 1955) in this group, tween these molting and breeding areas. We have had which is an important migration corridor for other no recoveries or resightingsin Japan of brant marked waterfowl (Kistchinski 1973). on Wrangel Island or at the Anadyr River. The shortestdistance between Izembek Lagoon and Theseare the first recordsofbrant from North Amer- Hokkaido Island is 3,850 km, about 560 km less than ican coloniesstaging and wintering in Japan. Although the minimum migration distancebetween Izembek and only one of the four marked birds was resighted at winter habitats in Mexico (Dau 1992). Cyclonic weath- Izembek Lagoon in autumn, we believe that the other er systems that originate in and generate winds three, all of which were HY birds from the Tutakoke that aid southeastwardmigration of brant also produce River colony, also made landfall at this key estuary. winds favorable for a westward migration from Iz- Izembek Lagoon serves as an important fall staging embek Lagoon as they track acrossthe North Pacific area for brant nesting on the Y-K Delta (Reed et al. (Brower et al. 1988). The neak concentration of brant 1989, Ward unpubl. data). in eastern Hokkaido occurs in late October to early Brant forage on eelgrass(Z&era marina) for 29 to November (Miyabayashi et al. 1994). Basedon weath- 68 daysbefore most birds departIzembek Lagoon(Reed er data from the North Pacific during October and et al. 1989). Low pressuresystems that produce north- November, 1990-l 994, there were at least 3 days (me- westerly winds acrossthe Gulf of Alaska trigger their dian = 5, range: 3-15 days) each year that produced departure for wintering areas in Mexico, usually by tailwinds favorable for brant migration to the west mid-November (Fig. 2, Dau 1992). A small number (Fig. 2). (4.300 to 13.200 between 1985 and 1994) of this stae- A transoceanic flight route to Japan is reasonable ing population remain at Izembek Lagoon’and adjaceit becausethis behavior is consistent with autumn mi- estuaries and bays through the winter months (C.P. gration of brant to Mexico (Dau 1992). Satellite trans- Dau, pers. comm.). mitters (Petersen 1995) may offer new opportunities Hansen and Nelson (1957) indicated a minor au- to further define migration corridors of brant and other tumn migration corridor for brant from Izembek La- birds that spend most of their lives in marine habitats. goon west throughthe Aleutian Islands, but there were This work was supportedby funding from the Bureau no sightings available then to document this route. of Land Management, Minerals Management Service, More recently, investigatorshave recordedsmall num- National Biological Service and the U.S. Fish and bersofbrant alongthe Aleutian Chain in fall and winter Wildlife Service. We thank the many individuals who months (D. Gibson, B. Kesseland J. Williams, unpubl. assistedin banding brant. B. Anderson, B. Ritchie, and data; Byrd et al. 1974, Byrd and Day 1986). A. Stickney (Alaska Biological Research,Inc.) marked In the Commander Islands, brant were seen in au- brant GHA in the Prudhoe Bay area. We especially tumn (Stejneger1885, Johansen 196 1) and early winter thank members of the JapaneseAssociation for Wild (Stejneger 1887). A migration corridor along the east Geese Protection for making observationsof brant in coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula (E. Lobkov, pers. Japan. N. Gerasimov and E. Lobkov provided unpub- comm.) is used by up to 6,000 brant in fall (N. Ger- lished data on brant migration along the Kamchatka asimov, unpubl. data) and evidently fewer in spring Peninsula, C. P. Dau on wintering brant at Izembek (E. Lobkov, pers. comm.). The Kuril Islands are little Lagoon, J. Williams summarized brant observations SHORT COMMUNICATIONS 657 from Adak Island, and B. Kessel and D. Gibson pro- sexualmaturity in CanadaGeese. Illinois Nat. Hist. vided their observationsof brant from Amchitka, She- Surv. Div. Biol. Notes No. 49. mya and Attu islands. Trajectory plots of wind data JOHANSEN,H. 1961. Revised list of the birds of the were provided by Environment Canada with the as- Commander Islands. Auk 78:44-56. sistanceof E. M. Taylor, J. D. MacNeil, and B. Pabla. Kts~cm~srq A. A. 1973. Waterfowl in north-east J. Pearcetranslated papers from the Russianliterature. Asia. Wildfowl 24:88-l 0 1. C. P. Dau, C. R. Ely, R. E. Gill, Jr., S. R. Johnson, MIYABAYASHI,Y., H. SUGAWA,AND M. KURECHI. and an anonymous reviewer provided helpful com- 1994. Inventory of goosehabitat in Japan: com- ments that improved this manuscript. pilation of the inventory and conservation issues identified. v. 35-65. In Y. Mivabavashi led.1. In- ventory of- habitat in Japan: Japanese ’ As- LITERATURE CITED sociationfor Wild Geese Protection, Wakayanagi, BELLROSE,F. C. 1976. Ducks, geese and swans of Japan. North America. StackpoleBooks, Harrisburg, PA. OWEN,M. 1980. Wild geeseof the world. Batsford, BENT,A. C. 1925. 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Rep., U.S. Fish and habitat needs of the Black Brant. Fish and Wildl. Serv., Portland, OR. Wildlife Leaflet 13.1.15. Washington, DC. USPENSKI,S. M. 1960. The Brent Goose (Branta ber- GUENKO,A. I. 1955. Birds of the Sakhalin Region. nicla L.) in the Soviet Union. Wildfowl Trust Ann. Academy of Sciences,Moscow, USSR. (in Rus- Rep. 11:80-93. sian) WARD, D. H., D. V. DERKSEN,S. P. KHAR~TONOV,M. HANSEN,H. A., AND U. C. NELSON. 1957. Brant of STISHOV,AND V. V. BARANXJK. 1993. Status of the Bering Sea-migration and mortality. Trans. Pacific Black Brant Branta bernicla nigricanson N. Am. Wildl. Conf. 22:237-254. Wrangel Island, RussianFederation. Wildfowl 44: HANSON,H. C. 1967. Characters of age, sex, and 39-48.