WESTERNBIRDS OF THE KETCHIKAN BIRDS AREA, SOUTHEAST ALASKA Volume 40, Number 2, 2009 BIRDS OF THE KETCHIKAN AREA, SOUTHEAST ALASKA STEVEN C. HEINL, P. O. Box 23101, Ketchikan, Alaska 99901; steve.heinl@ alaska.gov ANDREW W. PISTON, P. O. Box 1116, Ward Cove, Alaska 99928; andrew.piston@ alaska.gov ABSTRACT: Historically, the Ketchikan area was visited by ornithologists only briefl y in the early 1900s, and there has been no formally published, comprehensive treatment of the avifauna of southeast Alaska. Here we outline the status of 260 species of birds that have been recorded in the Ketchikan area, southeast Alaska, including 70 confi rmed or probable breeders and 10 possible breeders, largely on the basis of our personal observations from 1990 to 2008. The avifauna of the Ketchikan area is typical of the coastal temperate rainforest but also, as a result of its location on the inner islands of the Alexander Archipelago, includes elements of both the open marine environment along the outer coast to the west and mainland river habitats to the east. The city of Ketchikan is located on Revillagigedo Island at the southern terminus of the Alexander Archipelago, just north of Dixon Entrance, in southeast Alaska (Figure 1). Ketchikan lies near the heart of the coastal temperate rainforest that stretches from northwestern California north and west along the Pacifi c coast to the Kenai Peninsula and Kodiak Island, Alaska. There has been no formally published, comprehensive treatment of the avifauna of southeast Alaska, and published information from the Ketchikan area is particularly limited. Most early ornithological explorations of southeast Alaska took place in the spring and summer, and ornithologists often spent only a short time in any one location. The Ketchikan area was visited briefl y by Alexander Wetmore (Gabrielson and Lincoln 1959), Ira N. Gabrielson (Gabrielson and Lincoln 1959), and Harry S. Swarth (1911), who collected specimens at Gravina Island and at Portage Cove, Revillagigedo Island. George Willett visited southeast Alaska seasonally beginning in 1912, and he was the fi rst ornithologist to live year round in southern southeast Alaska, from 1919 to 1926. His published observations during that time concerned mainly the avifauna of St. Lazaria Island, Forrester Island, the Wrangell area, and Craig, Prince of Wales Island; however, he also lived 54 Western Birds 40:54–144, 2009 BIRDS OF THE KETCHIKAN AREA, SOUTHEAST ALASKA Figure 1. Coastal Alaska and British Columbia, showing the location of Ketchikan within the Alexander Archipelago and southeast Alaska, along with locations mentioned in the text. in Ketchikan from the spring of 1924 through the winter of 1925–1926 (Willett 1927, 1928, Howard 1946). Much of the historical ornithological information on southeast Alaska was summarized by Gabrielson and Lin- coln (1959) and Kessel and Gibson (1978), the two primary publications on the status and distribution of birds in Alaska. Our purpose is to provide a detailed summary of the status and distribution of birds in the Ketchikan area in southern southeast Alaska. AREA COVERED “Southeast Alaska” as a biogeographic region was defi ned by Kessel and Gibson (1978) as all of Alaska east of Cape Fairweather and south to Dixon Entrance, an area approximately 600 km long and 140 to 270 km wide (Figure 1). Major features include the more than 1000 largely mountainous islands that constitute the Alexander Archipelago, the sheltered waters of the Inside Passage, and a narrow strip of the mainland, separated along its length from the interior of the continent by the rugged Coast Mountains. Within this region, we consider the Ketchikan area to include the islands of Revillagigedo, Gravina, Annette, Pennock, Bold, Betton, and Hassler and the adjacent bodies of water (Behm Canal, Clarence Strait, Nichols Passage, and Revillagigedo Channel). This area is nearly encapsulated by the Alaska mainland on the east and an extension of the mainland, the Cleveland Peninsula, on the north and west (Figure 2). Prince of Wales Island (Alaska’s second-largest island after Kodiak Island) and smaller islands to the west separate the Ketchikan area from the Pacifi c Ocean, more than 100 km to the west. 55 BIRDS OF THE KETCHIKAN AREA, SOUTHEAST ALASKA Figure 2. Map of the Ketchikan area showing major features and sites mentioned in the text. 1, sw Annette Island; 2, Metlakatla; 3, Dall Head; 4, Bostwick Inlet; 5, Blank Inlet; 6, Walden Rocks; 7, Pennock Island; 8, Ketchikan airport/northeast Gravina Island; 9, Ketchikan; 10, Deer Mt.; 11, Mountain Point; 12, Herring Cove; 13, Mahoney Mt.; 14, Silvas Lakes; 15, George Inlet; 16, Harriet Hunt Lake; 17, White River; 18, Dude Mt.; 19, Talbot and Connell lakes; 20, Ward Lake; 21, Ward Cove; 22, Tongass Narrows; 23, Vallenar Bay; 24, Guard Island; 25, Kasaan Peninsula; 26, Point Higgins; 27, Tatoosh Rocks; 28, Betton Island; 29, Clover Passage; 30, Naha River; 31, Jordan and Heckman lakes; 32, Margarita Bay and Margaret Lake; 33, Traitors Cove; 34, Traitors Creek; 35, Neets Bay; 36, Hassler Island; 37, McDonald Lake; 38, Unuk River; 39, Chickamin River; 40, Portage Cove; 41, Mt. Reid; 42, Carroll River; 43, Carroll Inlet; 44, Manzanita Lake; 45, Ella Bay; 46, Princess Bay; 47, Thorne Arm; 48, Bold Island; 49, Hog Rocks; 50, Snail Rock. The vast majority of our bird observations come from the Ketchikan road system, the western half of Revillagigedo, the northeast shore of Gravina (including the area around the Ketchikan airport), and the Metlakatla area, on southwestern Annette (including 35 km of road). The primary feature of the Ketchikan road system is the Tongass Highway, which runs along the shore 21 km south and 26 km north from downtown Ketchikan and includes the small town of Saxman about 3 km south of Ketchikan. Revilla Road extends 14 km inland from Ketchikan and provides access to logging roads and several freshwater lakes. Much of the eastern half of Revillagigedo lies within the Misty Fjords National Wilderness, and it has been little explored by birders and ornithologists. At the time of the 2000 census, the popula- 56 BIRDS OF THE KETCHIKAN AREA, SOUTHEAST ALASKA tion of the Ketchikan Gateway Borough was 14,070, and the population of Metlakatla was 1375. CLIMATE High annual precipitation, gray skies, and cool, moderate temperatures characterize the climate of southeast Alaska. The average annual precipita- tion at Ketchikan is 387 cm a year, with monthly averages ranging from 17 cm a month in both June and July to a peak of 56 cm in October. Climatic conditions vary as a consequence of the region’s mountainous terrain (Ala- back 1982); for example, the average annual precipitation at Metlakatla, only 24 km from Ketchikan, is 276 cm a year. The average summertime high and low temperatures at Ketchikan are 18° C and 10° C, the average wintertime high and low temperatures 5° C and –1° C. AVIAN HABITATS Habitats found in the Ketchikan area include most of those described in Kessel’s (1979) classifi cation of Alaska’s avian habitats. The temperate climate supports dense coniferous forests dominated by western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla) and Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis), with western redce- dar (Thuja plicata) and yellow-cedar (Cupressus nootkatensis) also present in wetter areas (Dellasala et al. 1996; Figure 3) (plant names from http:// plants.usda.gov, 15 October 2008.). Blueberry and huckleberry (Vaccinium spp.), devil’s club (Oplopanax horridus), currants (Ribes spp.), and rusty menziesia (Menziesia ferruginea) form a dense understory of shrubs. Birds that nest primarily in mature coniferous woodland include the Sooty Grouse, Marbled Murrelet, Barred Owl, Red-breasted Sapsucker, Hairy Woodpecker, Steller’s Jay, Chestnut-backed Chickadee, Brown Creeper, Golden-crowned Kinglet, Varied Thrush, Townsend’s Warbler, and Red Crossbill. The spruce–hemlock woods are naturally fragmented by open Sphagnum bogs, or muskegs, that include a range of habitats, from wet meadow to dwarf- shrub meadow, low- to medium-shrub thicket, and dwarf forest (Figure 4). Muskegs commonly cover fairly level low-lying areas of poor drainage but are also found on steeper slopes, from sea level to timberline, where drainage is slowed or impounded (Neiland 1971). They are covered with sparse, scrubby shore pine (Pinus contorta) and shrubs, including stunted yellow-cedar, com- mon juniper (Juniperus communis), bog-laurel (Kalmia polifolia), Labrador tea (Ledum groenlandicum), and sweet gale (Myrica gale), interspersed with isolated dense stands of pine, yellow-cedar, and western and mountain hemlock (Tsuga mertensiana) (Pojar and MacKinnon 1994). Virtually the entire southwestern portion of Annette and the northeastern shore of Gravina are covered by muskeg. Muskegs and associated woodland are the primary nesting habitat of the Greater Yellowlegs, Northern Flicker, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Lincoln’s Sparrow, and Dark-eyed Junco. The coniferous forests of southeast Alaska have been fragmented by logging, particularly since the 1950s (Harris and Farr 1974). Clearcuts and logging roads are common on the larger islands in the Ketchikan area. Most clearcuts quickly fi ll with a dense growth of Vaccinium spp., currants, 57 BIRDS OF THE KETCHIKAN AREA, SOUTHEAST ALASKA salmonberry (Rubus spectabilis), and conifer saplings (Alaback 1982). These temporary shrub habitats are used by nesting Orange-crowned Warblers, Wilson’s Warblers, Fox Sparrows, Dark-eyed Juncos (Kessler and Kogut 1985, Dellasala et al. 1996), and others, until the conifers close out the canopy and the shrub understory is eliminated (about 25–35 years after logging; Alaback 1982). Deciduous forest is of limited extent in the Ketchikan area and is often mixed with conifers. Narrow riparian stands of red alder (Alnus rubra), with a dense understory of salmonberry, devil’s club, elderberry (Sambucus racemosa), and currants, grow along the larger creeks, and patches of this habitat develop along the margins of salt-water shores, in disturbed areas around towns, on old logging roads, and in moist areas of clearcuts.