AMNWR 2011/16 BIOLOGICAL MONITORING AT BULDIR ISLAND, ALASKA IN 2011 Photo: J. Warzybok John A. Warzybok Key words: Aethia cristatella, Aethia psittacula, Aethia pusilla, Aethia pygmaea, Aleutian Islands, black- legged kittiwake, breeding chronology, Buldir Island, crested auklet, food habits, fork-tailed storm- petrel, Fratercula cirrhata, Fratercula corniculata, glaucous-winged gull, horned puffin, Larus glaucescens, Leach’s storm-petrel, least auklet, Oceanodroma furcata, Oceanodroma leucorhoa, parakeet auklet, pelagic cormorant, Phalacrocorax pelagicus, populations, productivity, red- legged kittiwake, Rissa brevirostris, Rissa tridactyla, thick-billed murre, tufted puffin, reproductive success, survival, Uria lomvia, whiskered auklet. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge 95 Sterling Highway, Suite 1 Homer, AK 99603 December 2011 Cite as: Warzybok, J.A. 2011. Biological monitoring at Buldir Island, Alaska in 2011. U.S. Fish and Wildl. Serv. Rep., AMNWR 2011/16. Homer, Alaska. Photo: Slade Sapora ' -· East Cape, Buldir viewed from the seabird productivity plots at Spike camp - “I should mention also the great scientific value [of Buldir]; a strictly isolated island with an isolated fauna in which the elements may interact unhindered. This will be of great value and interest to the biologist of the future” - Olaus Murie, 1936 in Biological investigations of the Aleutian Islands and southwestern Alaska “We were a weather station, but in reality we soon realized that they did not care about our weather reports. They were getting them from other places, but if we failed to come on the air they could assume the Japanese had returned…Our group [of 5] which was there for 7 months had to have the other radio operator relieved. Went a bit balmy and we were afraid he was going to take a gun to us…” - Dave Grehl, 1943 U.S. Army weatherman stationed on Buldir Island “The cliffs of Buldir are forbidding; marine erosion is rapidly and steadily removing the island by peripheral attack.” - Robert Coats, 1953 in The Geology of Buldir Island, Alaska “We hope the weather gods allow a landing [at Buldir]” - Robert D. Jones, 1961 Refuge Manager, Aleutian Islands National Wildlife Refuge “It is the writer’s intent to convey the impression of land, sea, and sky alive with birds in all of their activities. Such a concentration of birds produces an immense volume of sound. Add to this the grunting and roaring of about 10,000 Steller’s sea lions and you have the bedlam of Buldir.” - Robert D. Jones, ~1964 Refuge Manager, Aleutian Islands National Wildlife Refuge “Every blade of grass [on Buldir] holds a quart of water…” - G. Vernon Byrd, 1975 Quote from the film Chain of Life TABLE OF CONTENTS Page INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................................... 1 STUDY AREA ............................................................................................................................................... 1 METHODS .................................................................................................................................................... 3 INTERESTING OBSERVATIONS ................................................................................................................ 5 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ................................................................................................................................ 5 REFERENCES .............................................................................................................................................. 5 ISLAND MAPS……………………………………………………………………………………………………… . 8 FIGURES AND TABLES ............................................................................................................................... 9 Fork-tailed storm-petrel ........................................................................................................................ 10 Reproductive performance ......................................................................................................... 10 Food habits ................................................................................................................................. 14 Leach’s storm-petrel ............................................................................................................................. 18 Reproductive performance ......................................................................................................... 18 Food habits ................................................................................................................................. 22 All storm-petrels .................................................................................................................................... 26 Reproductive performance ......................................................................................................... 26 Red-faced cormorant ............................................................................................................................ 30 Reproductive performance. ........................................................................................................ 30 Pelagic cormorant ................................................................................................................................. 33 Reproductive performance. ........................................................................................................ 33 Black-legged kittiwake .......................................................................................................................... 36 Breeding chronology ................................................................................................................... 36 Reproductive performance ......................................................................................................... 40 Populations ................................................................................................................................. 46 Food habits ................................................................................................................................. 52 Red-legged kittiwake ............................................................................................................................ 56 Breeding chronology ................................................................................................................... 56 Reproductive performance ......................................................................................................... 60 Populations ................................................................................................................................. 63 Food habits ................................................................................................................................. 69 Glaucous-winged gull ........................................................................................................................... 73 Breeding chronology ................................................................................................................... 73 Reproductive performance ......................................................................................................... 76 Food habits ................................................................................................................................. 79 Common murre ..................................................................................................................................... 85 Breeding chronology ................................................................................................................... 85 Reproductive performance.. ....................................................................................................... 88 Thick-billed murre ................................................................................................................................. 90 Breeding chronology ................................................................................................................... 90 Reproductive performance ........................................................................................................ 94 All murres .............................................................................................................................................. 98 Populations ................................................................................................................................. 98 Pigeon guillemot ................................................................................................................................. 104 Populations ............................................................................................................................... 104 i TABLE OF CONTENTS (continued) Page Parakeet auklet ................................................................................................................................... 105 Breeding chronology ................................................................................................................. 105 Reproductive performance ....................................................................................................... 109 Food habits 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