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Aleutian Tern Satellite Tracking, Kodiak Archipelago, 2019

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Aleutian Tern Satellite Tracking, Kodiak Archipelago, 2019 U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Refuge Report 2020.2 Field Season Report: Aleutian Tern Satellite Tracking, Kodiak Archipelago, 2019 Jill E. Tengeres and Robin M. Corcoran Lisa USFWS Hupp, Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge April, 2020 The mission of the National Wildlife Refuge System is to administer a national network of lands and waters for the conservation, management and where appropriate, restoration of the fish, wildlife, and plant resources and their habitats within the United States for the benefit of present and future generations of Americans. Suggested Citation: Tengeres, J.E. and R.M. Corcoran. 2020. Aleutian Tern Satellite Tracking, Kodiak Archipelago, 2019. Refuge report 2020.2, Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Kodiak, AK. Keywords: Alaska, Aleutian Tern, Gulf of Alaska, Kodiak Archipelago, migration, movement patterns, Onychoprion aleuticus, seabird colony. Disclaimers: The findings and conclusions in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The use of trade names of commercial products in this report does not constitute endorsement or recommendation for use by the federal government. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Abstract ..........................................................................................................................................................................................1 Introduction ..................................................................................................................................................................................2 Study Area .....................................................................................................................................................................................2 Methods & Results ......................................................................................................................................................................4 Breeding Season Movements (Figure 5) .............................................................................................................................................. 7 Migration and Wintering Data (Figure 8) ........................................................................................................................................ 15 Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................................................................... 19 Literature Cited ........................................................................................................................................................................ 20 LIST OF TABLES Page Table 1. Summary of fate of satellite tagged Aleutian terns. ...................................................................................... 6 Table 2. Length of time satellite tags transmitted ........................................................................................................... 7 Table 3. Argos location classification data........................................................................................................................ 7 Table 4. Satellite transmissions from original tagging colony and additional active tern colonies ................ 8 LIST OF FIGURES Page Figure 1. Documented Aleutian tern breeding sites in the Kodiak Archipelago, Alaska, 1970-2019. .......... 3 Figure 2. Satellite tagging locations of Aleutian terns, 31 May - 4 June 2019. ..................................................... 4 Figure 3. Aleutian tern adult being extracted from bow net trap placed over nest. .............................................. 5 Figure 4. Nest camera images of PTT tagged adult Aleutian tern (right) landing at nest. ................................. 6 Figure 5. Breeding season movements of satellite tagged Aleutian terns from May-August. ....................9-13 Figure 6. Locations of satellite tagged Aleutian tern PTT ID 179616 during the breeding season. ............. 14 Figure 7. PTT tagged Aleutian terns associated with two previously undocumented sites ............................. 15 Figure 8. Migration movements and initial wintering sites of Aleutian terns. .............................................. 16-19 iii Refuge Report 2020.2 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge Aleutian Tern Satellite Tracking, Kodiak Archipelago, 2019 Jill E. Tengeres1 and Robin M. Corcoran2 Abstract Aleutian tern (Onychoprion aleuticus) counts at known breeding colonies in Alaska have declined dramatically over the last several decades. Unfortunately, conservation planning is limited by the lack of information on breeding season site fidelity, formation of new colonies, and with-in season dispersal after colony failure and abandonment. At two colony sites in the Kodiak Archipelago, 10 Aleutian terns were fitted with 2-g solar satellite telemetry tags (Microwave Telemetry, Inc.) from 31 May – 4 June 2019. Eight tags provided movement data throughout the June-August breeding season. Three tagged terns displayed extended fidelity to their capture location, with the maximum distance from their respective capture sites ranging from 60 to 190 km until the onset of migration from late July to mid-August. However, five tagged terns moved widely throughout the northeastern Gulf of Alaska, covering distances ranging from 300-750 km. One tagged individual visited the Yakutat region and spent nearly three weeks in the Copper River Delta, near known active Aleutian tern colonies. Tagged terns also visited two sites within the Kodiak Archipelago that may represent previously undocumented colony sites. Around Kodiak, terns foraged across the continental shelf with some trips to the shelf break up to 150 km offshore. Seven individuals that had working tags at the time of migratory departure displayed steady long-distance migrations to Southeast Asia, with two utilizing the eastern coast of Japan as a migratory route instead of passing between Hokkaido and Honshu. Five individuals transmitted from presumed overwinter locations, with three transmitting consistently from Indonesia (two in the Strait of Malacca, and one on the NW coast of Sumatra), one from the Philippines (vicinity of the Semirara Islands and SW coast of Mindanao Island), and one from Papua New Guinea (Massau, Rambutyo, New Hanover, and Bauddisson Islands). The two individuals associated with the Philippines and Papua New Guinea islands displayed larger scale overwinter movements than terns satellite tagged in previous years, as well as the individuals associated with Indonesia overwinter locations in 2019. 1Oregon State University, 104 Nash Hall, Corvallis, OR 97331; [email protected] 2Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge, 1390 Buskin River Road, Kodiak, AK 99615; [email protected] 1 Refuge Report 2020.2 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge Introduction Aleutian terns (Onychoprion aleuticus) are estimated to number only 31,000 individuals worldwide and have a restricted breeding range in Alaska and eastern Russia. At known breeding sites in Alaska the population has declined substantially since the 1960s (Renner et al. 2015). Unfortunately, there is some uncertainty concerning the extent of decline due in part to a lack of information on the degree of site fidelity to nesting colony locations, new colony establishment, and frequency and length of movements between colonies for renesting within a season. To help address some of this uncertainty, members of the Aleutian Tern Technical Committee (ATTC), representing researchers from multiple Federal and State Agencies, Universities, NGOs, and private consulting firms, formally collaborated on joint studies across much of the species range in Alaska. Recent technological advances reducing the size of satellite platform transmitter terminals (PTTs), including Microwave Telemetry’s, Inc. (MTI) development of the solar 2-g PTT in 2017, permitted researchers to track breeding season movements of terns for the first time. With funding from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation Pacific Seabird Program, ATTC researchers initiated satellite-tracking efforts in Dillingham and Yakutat, Alaska, tagging 27 adult Aleutian terns at the beginning of the breeding seasons in 2017-2018 (Rhoads et al. 2018). In 2019, this research continued with tagging of Aleutian terns nesting in the Kodiak Archipelago, Alaska. The major goals of this effort are to study breeding season movements, locate unknown colonies, document post-disturbance movements resulting from colony abandonment, and describe migration pathways for Aleutian terns. The intent of this report is to provide the public, research partners, funding organizations, and other stakeholders with preliminary results of the satellite tagging efforts in 2019. We anticipate additional tagging efforts during the 2020 tern breeding season, after which a complete analyses will be conducted. Study Area The Kodiak Archipelago is located in the Gulf of Alaska, 50 km east of the Alaska Peninsula and 140 km southwest of the Kenai Peninsula. National Weather Service data recorded at the Kodiak State Airport, northeastern Kodiak Island, indicated a long-term (1980-2019) mean annual temperature of 3.0° C. Total annual precipitation varies from 250 cm along the eastern coast of the archipelago to 60 cm over the western areas adjacent to Shelikof Strait. Mountains traverse more than
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