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Biological Monitoring in the Central Aleutian Islands, Alaska in 2007: Summary Appendices

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Biological Monitoring in the Central Aleutian Islands, Alaska in 2007: Summary Appendices AMNWR 07/06 BIOLOGICAL MONITORING IN THE CENTRAL ALEUTIAN ISLANDS, ALASKA IN 2007: SUMMARY APPENDICES Brie A. Drummond and Allyson L. Larned Key words: Aethia cristatella, Aethia pusilla, Alaska, Aleutian Islands, banding, black-legged kittiwake, breeding chronology, Cepphus columba, common murre, crested auklet, Eumetopias jubatus, food habits, fork-tailed storm-petrel, Kasatochi Island, Koniuji Island, Leach's storm-petrel, least auklet, Mesoplodon stejnegeri, monitoring, Oceanodroma furcata, Oceanodroma leucorhoa, pelagic cormorant, Phalacrocorax pelagicus, Phalacrocorax urile, pigeon guillemot, population, red-faced cormorant, red-legged kittiwake, reproductive performance, Rissa brevirostris, Rissa tridactyla, Stejneger’s beaked whale, Steller sea lion, thick-billed murre, Ulak Island, Uria aalge, Uria lomvia U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge Aleutian Islands Unit 95 Sterling Hwy. Homer, Alaska 99603 September 2007 Cite as: Drummond, B. A. and A. L. Larned. 2007. Biological monitoring in the central Aleutian Islands, Alaska in 2007: summary appendices. U.S. Fish and Wildl. Serv. Rep., AMNWR 07/06. Homer, Alas. 155 pp. Photo B.A. Drummond Caldera from the east side, Kasatochi Island, Alaska Table of Contents Page INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................................................... 1 STUDY AREA ............................................................................................................................................... 1 METHODS .................................................................................................................................................... 3 INTERESTING OBSERVATIONS ................................................................................................................ 5 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS................................................................................................................................ 6 LITERATURE CITED .................................................................................................................................... 6 FIGURES AND TABLES............................................................................................................................. 10 Storm-petrels, tufted puffins, and other burrow nesters ..................................................................... 11 Reproductive performance ........................................................................................................... 11 Chick growth................................................................................................................................. 17 Morphology……………………………………………………………………………………………….19 Populations................................................................................................................................... 20 Food habits ……………………………………………………………………………………………... 22 Red-faced and pelagic cormorants..................................................................................................... 30 Reproductive performance ........................................................................................................... 30 Populations................................................................................................................................... 37 Glaucous-winged gulls........................................................................................................................ 41 Populations................................................................................................................................... 41 Food habits................................................................................................................................... 43 Black-legged and red-legged kittiwakes ............................................................................................. 47 Reproductive performance ........................................................................................................... 47 Populations................................................................................................................................... 50 Common and thick-billed murres ........................................................................................................ 54 Breeding chronology..................................................................................................................... 54 Reproductive performance ........................................................................................................... 56 Populations................................................................................................................................... 58 Pigeon guillemot ................................................................................................................................. 64 Populations................................................................................................................................... 64 Auklets ................................................................................................................................................ 66 Breeding chronology .................................................................................................................... 66 Reproductive performance ........................................................................................................... 75 Chick growth................................................................................................................................. 83 Adult survival ................................................................................................................................ 85 Morphology................................................................................................................................... 91 Populations................................................................................................................................... 96 Food habits................................................................................................................................. 108 Miscellaneous ................................................................................................................................... 126 Boat-based circumnavigations ................................................................................................... 126 Raptor prey remains................................................................................................................... 127 Off-road point count route .......................................................................................................... 128 Beach transects.......................................................................................................................... 130 Steller sea lion populations ........................................................................................................ 132 Annotated list.............................................................................................................................. 134 Breeding status........................................................................................................................... 146 Breeding chronology................................................................................................................... 147 Flowering chronology ................................................................................................................. 148 Mean air temperature ................................................................................................................. 150 Sea surface temperature............................................................................................................ 151 GPS coordinates for study areas on Kasatochi ......................................................................... 153 Kasatochi surface count plot characteristics .............................................................................. 154 Stejneger’s beaked whale sightings........................................................................................... 155 INTRODUCTION One of the nine annual ecological monitoring sites in the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge (AMNWR) is located in the central Aleutian Islands. This "site" includes seabird monitoring plots on three nearby islands: Kasatochi, Koniuji, and Ulak. As for all nine monitoring sites, the objective is to collect baseline status and trends information for a suite of species representing piscivorous and planktivorous trophic guilds, including key species that serve as indicators of ecosystem health. By correlating data with environmental conditions and information from other sites, ecosystem processes may be better understood. Brief visits were made to Kasatochi, Koniuji, and Ulak in the past, but 1996 was the first year that intensive, season-long monitoring occurred (Scharf et al. 1996). Previous work consisted primarily of boat-based circumnavigations (Early et al. 1981; Bailey and Trapp 1986; Byrd and Williams 1994; Byrd 1995a, 1995b). At Kasatochi, incidental seabird observations were recorded during an effort to remove introduced arctic foxes (Alopex lagopus) in the 1980s (Deines 1985, Deines and Willging 1985), and in 1991 crested and least auklet (Aethia cristatella and A. pusilla, respectively) population plots were set
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