Boreal Partners in Flight 2006 Annual Meeting Proceedings and Project Descriptions December 6 & 7, 2006 Anchorage, Alaska TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS .................................................................................................i A NOTE FROM THE COMPILER.....................................................................................................iii PRESENTATION ABSTRACTS....................................................................................1 Berg - Landscape drying, spruce bark beetles and fire regimes on the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska.............. 1 Booms - Gyrfalcon Site Fidelity on the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge: The Rest of the Story.. 1 Capitan - Whats new with Audubon Alaskas education program ........................................................ 2 Corcoran - Nesting Dynamics of Rusty Blackbirds on Innoko National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska A Preliminary Study, Spring 2006............................................................................................................ 2 Drovetski - University of Alaska Anchorage Ornithology: Research and Collections............................ 3 Mercury Levels in Passerines ............................................................................................................... 4 Handel - Alaska Landbird Monitoring Survey (ALMS)......................................................................... 4 Kendall - Smith's Longspur Studies in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve, June 2006. ................................................................................................ 1 Matsuoka - Virology and demography of Eastern Yellow Wagtail in the Askinuk Mountains, Alaska.... 3 Meyers - Rusty Blackbirds on the Copper River Delta, AK................................................................... 4 Rabe - Species Ranking Project and Implementation of the Alaska Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Strategy (CWCS)............................................................................................................ 4 Riordan - Using Remote Sensing to Examine Changes in Surface Water Area in Interior Alaska from 19502002........................................................................................................................................... 5 Sharbaugh - All-Bird Conservation Plan for BCR4 Update ................................................................... 6 Shaw - Rusty Blackbird research across the continenet ......................................................................... 6 Shaw - Icterids and Asiatics: Research into the breeding ecology of Arctic Warblers and Rusty Blackbirds in interior Alaska. ............................................................................................................... 7 Sinclair - Update on the Canadian Landbird Program............................................................................ 7 Sullivan - AKN: The Avian Knowledge Network, Federating Data Across the Western Hemisphere; and, eBird: a Level 1 monitoring tool................................................................................................... 7 van Hemert - Bill Deformities in Northwestern Crows .......................................................................... 8 Welker - Isotope (18O & D) characteristics of precipitation and migratory bird studies ......................... 9 Wike - Repeatability of Riparian Avian Point Counts along the Itkillik River Corridor in Gates of the Arctic .................................................................................................................................................. 9 GENERAL LANDBIRD PROJECTS............................................................................10 Ajmi - Project: Annual Summary of Land Bird Projects for Fort Wainwright, AK, 2006 .................... 10 Benoit - Project: Annual Summary of Land Bird Projects, USFS, Seward Ranger District, 2006......... 11 Corcoran - Project: Nesting Dynamics of Rusty Blackbirds on Innoko National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska A Preliminary Study, Spring 2006. .................................................................................................. 13 Handel - Project: 2006 update of the Alaska Landbird Monitoring Survey (ALMS) and Alaska Off-road Breeding Bird Survey......................................................................................................................... 14 Handel - Project: Bill deformities in Black-capped Chickadees and other birds in Alaska ................... 18 Johnson - Project: Migration monitoring activities in Alaska and the Yukon, 2006.............................. 21 Krosby - Project: Using mitochondrial DNA sequence and nuclear microsatellite markers to recontruct the evolutionary histories and study the dynamics of genetic exchange between Townsend's and Hermit Warblers. ........................................................................................................................................... 22 Matsuoka - Project: 2006 update on the North American Breeding Bird Survey, Alaska...................... 25 Matsuoka - Project: Virology and demography of Eastern Yellow Wagtail in the Askinuk Mountains, Alaska ............................................................................................................................................... 26 i Matsuoka - Project: Evaluating the effects of timber harvest and subsequent forest management on bird and vegetation communities on Prince of Wales Island. ...................................................................... 28 Meyers - Project: Summary of 2006 Landbird Projects for Chugach National Forest, Cordova Ranger District............................................................................................................................................... 29 McIntyre - Project: Assessing changes in species composition, frequency of occurrence, and peak singing times of passerines along the Denali park road........................................................................ 30 McIntyre - Project: Long-term monitoring of passerine birds in Denali National Park and Preserve, Alaska. .............................................................................................................................................. 31 Oehlers - Project: Yakutat Ranger District Landbird Project Summary............................................... 31 Payne - Project: The link between salmon and birds: Reproductive success and stable isotopes of Tree Swallows in Wood-Tikchik State Park................................................................................................ 33 Rabe - Project: Southeast Spruce Grouse Study .................................................................................. 34 Savage - Project: Summary of 2006 Landbird Activities for the Alaska Peninsula and Becharof National Wildlife Refuges................................................................................................................................ 35 Savage - Project: Avian Influenza Surveillance in Tundra Swans on the Northern Alaska Peninsula ... 36 Sinclair - Project: Landbird update from Canadian Wildlife Service, Yukon, 2006 ............................. 39 Tessler - Project: Landbird update from Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Region II .................. 39 Sofaer - Project: Life-history evolution in Orange-crowned warblers (Vermivora celata)..................... 42 Stenhouse - Project: Identifying and cataloging the Important Bird Areas of Alaska............................ 42 Stenhouse - Project: Update of the Alaska WatchList.......................................................................... 43 Willson - Project: American Dipper Nesting and Productivity in the Juneau area................................ 44 RAPTOR PROJECTS ...................................................................................................45 Ambrose - Project: American Peregrine Falcon Monitoring along the Upper...................................... 45 Yukon River, Alaska, 2006 ................................................................................................................ 45 Bente - Project: Distribution and abundance of cliff-nesting raptors in selected areas in northwest Alaska: Seward Peninsula, 2006......................................................................................................... 46 Booms - Project: 2006 Yukon Delta NWR Gyrfalcon Breeding Ecology............................................. 47 Kissling - Project: Distribution, abundance, and ecology of forest owls in southeast Alaska................ 48 Mangipane - Project: Raptor Population Inventory-Bald Eagles, Lake Clark National Park and Preserve, Alaska, 2006...................................................................................................................................... 49 McIntyre - Project: Monitoring Occupancy of Nesting Territories and Reproductive Success of Golden Eagles and Gyrfalcons in Denali National Park and Preserve, Alaska.................................................. 50 Payer - Project: Raptor survey of the Porcupine River, Arctic and Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuges, Alaska, 2006........................................................................................................................ 51 Reid - Project: Occupancy and Productivity of Nesting Bald Eagles, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve,