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Black-Backed Wagtail Nests on Attu Island, Alaska

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Black-Backed Wagtail Nests on Attu Island, Alaska SCIENCE only as a casualstraggler, mostly from the West Coast. However, a numberof late winter and spring records (Morlan 1981; Am. Birds BLACK-BACKED 39:347, 1985; Am. Birds 40:517, 1986)from California, Oregon, and Washingtonundoubtedly represent WAGTAILNESTS ON individuals that had wintered in the New World.Since this coastal spe- ciesdoes not migratesouth of the 20thparalld in Asia,the assumption ATTUISLAND, that individuals have wintered in the A.O.U. area(north of Panama's 10thparallel) becomes unavoidable. ALASKA Althoughthe Black-backed Wag- tail has been recorded several times byGeorge E lgner alongthe coast of mainlandAlaska, it isa reoccurringspecies only on St. Lawrence Island and in the western Aleutians. On St. Lawrence Island, whereWhite Wagtailsbreed, it ap- pearsto be a rare,irregular, spring overshoot.Jon Dunn (pers.comm.) encounteredonly a lone bird three out of sevenyears at Gambell.The WITH THE PUBLICATION OF THE reportof six individualsthere in sixth edition of the A.O.U. Check- 1977 (Morlan 1981), if correct, listof North American Birds (1983), wouldindeed represent an extraor- theBlack-backed Wagtail (Motacilla dinaryevent. lugens)received recognition asa full In the western Aleutians, from anddistinct species. It was included Adak to Attu, the Black-backed in the A.O.U. area on the basisof its Wagtailis encounteredannually in regularoccurrence in the western small but significant numbers; Aleutians and St. Lawrence Island mostly during spring migration and occasional records from main- (Byrd et aL 1978; Gibson 1981; landAlaska as well as Oregonand Wagnerpers. obs.). It occursmost California. It was not known to oftenand in greatestnumbers in the breedin Alaska.However, investiga- western section -- the Near Island tions at Attu Island, Alaska, resulted Adult male Black-backedWagtail on Group.On Attuand Shemya, it has in a nestingdiscovery and lead to territory.Holtz Valley, Attu Island,Alaska. beenrecorded every year since 1975, the suggestionthat the eventwas June9, 1985. PhotograplVG.F. Wagner. withup to halfadozen birds present not an isolated incident. at onelocation in someyears. Small Morlan (1981) adequatelydis- ernJapan (Hokkaido and northern numbers have been recorded here as cussed the identification and West Honshu) and southeasternUSSR far backas 1913 (Thayerand Banks Coastoccurrence (through 1980) of (northwestcoast of theSea of Japan, 1921).Attu, the westernmostisland bothwagtails -- M. lugensand M. Sakhalin I., the Kuril Is., and Kam- in thisgroup, lies only 600 km (380 albaocularis (White Wagtail). Since chatka Peninsula),but not on the miles) east of the USSR's Kam- the mostcurrent field guide (Far- Commander Islands (Dement'ev chatkaPeninsula, where M.' lugens rand 1983, National Geographic and Gladkov1970, Johansen 1961). is a fairly commonbreeder (De- Society1987) reflect those points of The specieswinters in southern ment'ev 1970). identification,they will not be re- Japan,southeastern China, Taiwan, On August4, 1983, on Attu's peatedhere. and southern South Korea. This Massacre Beach, I encountered a The Black-backedWagtail is a wagtailhas been documented in groupof threeBlack-backed Wag- common coastal breeder in north- North America outside of Alaska tails,an adultmale in post-breeding Volume 45, Number moltand two fullyfeathered juve- with dry,wild rye stemsand lined first,G. Maisel(pers. comm.) ob- niles.The twojuveniles closely fol- with vegetablefluff or animalhair. servedand photographed a male M. lowedthe adultbird as it foragedThese materials are available on lugensatsuch a suspectedmixed nest alongthe edgeof the beachveg- Attu. at Nome in the summer of 1973. In etation. On numerous occasions, Like the nest, the brood of five the other,Jon Dunn (pers.comm.) theadult was observed feeding the youngwas also normally hidden be- observeda male M. lugenscopulat- insectsit collectedto the begginghind being fed to revealthe gray- ingwith a femaleM. albaocularis at young.These two dependent young brown down on their heads and Gainbell, St. Lawrence Island, in andthe adult male undoubtedly in- necks.They werejudged to have early June 1983. Both of these dicateda successfulnesting nearby. hatched at least a week earlier and eventstook placeat siteswhere the Trueto the fleetingnature of wag- nolonger appeared to requireregu- Black-backedWagtail is quiterare tails,this familytrio wasobserved larbrooding during the day. and where White Wagtails are for only a shorttime beforeit flew Initially,both parents were pre- knownbreeders (Kessel and Gibson off. sentnear the nest, but by August 10, 1978). In the western Aleutians, On August6, an adultfemale of onlythe female was seen servicing it. wherethe White Wagtail has yet to the specieswas detected west of the The malehad departed and was not bedocumented, no interbreedingis United States Coast Guard Station. seenin the areaagain. The female expected.In 1983,both parentsof collected various insects and their larvaefrom the surroundinglush vegetationor from the rockyriver bed,and evencaught them on the wing,and fed thisaggregate to the young.The feeding intervals ranged from less than one minute to as much as 15 minutes. White fecal sacswere routinelyremoved from thenest by the parent and disposed of somedistance away. Adultfemale Black-backed Wagtail Adultfemale Black-backed Wagtail When the nest was checked on gatheringinsects. Peaceful River, feedingyoung at nest.Peaceful River, Attu Island,Alaska. August 7, 1983. August16, it wasempty. The young Attu Island,Alaska. August 7, 1983. PhotograplVG.F. Wagner. hadmoved onto the rocky river bed. PhotograplVG.F. Wagner. This was some 3 km (2 miles) There the female continued to feed the secondAttu broodwere posi- southwestof the family trio locality. them. At this time, their headsstill tivelyidentified as M. lugensto com- After a day of surveillance,the fe- retainedsome down, and their tails pletelyrefute the possibility of such maleled me to an old dilapidatedhad not grown to fulllength. By Au- interbreeding. woodenbridge over the lowersec- gust23, theywere mostly on their When faced with two successful tion of Peaceful River. There I dis- own, as the femalewas only seen nestingsin oneyear in a smallpor- covered an active Black-backed brieflyfeeding one of herprogeny. tion of a largeisland group whose Wagtailnest containing five young. Thereafter, she left the area and was breedingpotential has not previ- The nest was located out of view not seenagain. The five juveniles, ouslybeen investigated, thequestion underthe bridge, on a brokensup- however,remained in thevicinity of arisesas to whetherthe discovery port cross-beam.The river flowed the Coast Guard Station and fre- representsa tip of the proverbial directlybeneath, some two m (6 quentedits refusedump. They iceberg.Certainly, in this case,it is feet) below the nest.This location stayedtogether in looseassociation clear that the NearIsland Group offeredcomplete protection against in thisarea through mid-September, does not support a breeding popula- predation from the introduced and were last recordedon the island tionof Black-backedWagtails. The BrownRats (Rattus norvegicus) and on September27, 1983. speciesdoes not migrateto thisis- Arctic'Foxes (Alopex lagopus). The Althoughthese two broods repre- land group,but arrivesthere as a structureand makeupof the nest sent the first successfulnesting wandererfrom the nearbyAsian couldnot be examined owing to its recordsfor the species in Alaska,two coast.The complementsof the two inaccessiblelocation. Nests on Kam- otherbreeding attempts were previ- 1983 nests did not return to Attu in chatka (Dement'ev and Gladkov ouslynoted. However,both were 1984. Breedingthere is probably 1970)were reported to belarge, well believed to have involved inter- thereforea happenstance occurrence built, cup-shapedstructures, made breedingwith White Wagtail. In the for thisspecies. It onlytakes place AmericanBirds, Spring 1991 when a numberof chancyand in- 1983, paired birds in 1985, and consistent conditions are met. adult malessinging on territoryin In order for nesting to occur 1985 and 1986 supportthe con- there,the most difficult criterion ap- The 1983nesting jecture that this species is an irregu- pearsto be theactual pairing of two discoveryshould not be lar but consistent nester in the Near sexuallymature birds. Sincethis Islands. ß species'arrival there is a fortuitous dismissedas a unique, occurrenceowing as much to chance one-time occurrence. Acknowledgements and weatherevents as to any other I wish to thank C. Fred Zeillemaker of the Aleutian Islands National Wildlife factor, the probabilityof sucha Black-backedWagtails Refugeand the U.S. Fishand Wildlife successfulpairing is small.It is fur- have been recorded Servicefor their supportand coopera- ther complicatedby the fact that tion in the underlyingstudy which M. [ugensdoes not reachits adult in small numbers in mademy tripsto Attu possible.I also plumageuntil the thirdyear (Mor- extendmy appreciationto Jon Dunn, the Near Islands as far lan 1981) and second-yearbirds, Mike Karmody,Gerry Maisel, Rich whichare more apt to wanderthan Stallcup,and Paul W. Sykes,Jr. for theJr back as 1913. observations.P.W. Sykes, Jr. kindly re- adults,represent a sizableportion viewedan earlydraft of thisarticle. of NearIsland records. In thespring of 1982, at least half a dozen dif- did I find evidence of successful Literature Cited ferentBlack-backed Wagtails were Black-backedWagtail nests there. AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGISTS' UNION 1983. Check-list of North American
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