Birds Found on the Arctic Slope of Northern Alaska

by James W. Bee

In the evening of the first day of observation, the female together with her two young was on land. The male was swimming approximately 200 feet out on the lake. The female was shot as she was flushed from the bank. The largest ovum was four mm in diameter. On the morning of the second day (15 hours after the female was shot) the male was observed tending the young; one young was by his side and the other had wandered to a point 40 feet away. A parasitic jaeger came and hovered above the straying young loon and then dived vertically to seize it. The male loon was too far away to reach its young before the jaeger departed. As the jaeger was leaving the area, three other parasitic jaegers pursued the first in an attempt to wrest from its beak the young loon. The contest for possession of the young loon continued as far as the eye could follow the contestants.

On August 2, at 3:35 P.M. the surviving members of this loon family—the male and the one young—rested on the water of the lake, approximately 200 feet from shore. The adult dozed with its head tucked under its wing—head end oriented into the wind except for occasional complete turns. These were made without visible change of posture. The young one alternated by swimming around its parent and resting at which time it tucked its head under its wing. Toward evening, the male was shot. A survey of the area the following morning disclosed the absence of the young loon, not to be seen again during our stay. It was noted that during our sojourn of seven days, when the male was left with the orphaned young, the parent would fly to Teshekpuk Lake some 1½ miles to the south to procure food. The young loon when left alone would dive under water when approached.

On August 4, a pomarine jaeger pursued the male loon as it was returning from fishing on Teshekpuk Lake. When the birds first were seen, the jaeger was approximately 200 feet behind the loon, but in a distance of approximately 300 feet the jaeger overtook the loon which had reached the shore of Barrier Lake. When the jaeger was ready to strike in order to make the loon drop the fish it was carrying, the loon dropped over the erosional cliff and splashed into the water. After 30 seconds of hovering over the submerged loon, which remained under water for one minute, the jaeger departed to the west. The loon came to the surface holding the fish tightly crosswise in its beak.

Numerous calls of the Arctic loon were heard on the Barrier Lake area. When a person enters the territory of a family of loons, the male makes a sound similar to a courting tomcat. The female responds with a like sound and in addition concludes her call with a high pitched note. When mildly disturbed, low [guttural] notes are uttered by both sexes, and are continued as a person penetrates farther into the territory of the loons, especially when young are present. In addition to the above-mentioned calls, loons have a ravenlike call, one resembling the cackling of a domestic fowl, and another resembling the bleating of a lamb.

The male concerns himself less than does the female with the safety of the family; nevertheless, attempts were noted in which the male endeavored to decoy the intruder and allow the female and young to retreat from the area. The loons react to caribou, if these animals approach too closely to the shore line adjacent to the territory of the loons.

On July 30, 1951, pairs of loons were flying over the tundra between Barrier Lake and Teshekpuk Lake.

On an airflight from Teshekpuk Lake to Point Barrow (Aug. 4, 1951) I saw Arctic loons as follows: 63 miles from Point Barrow, one; 25 miles from Point Barrow, two; 10 miles from Point Barrow, four.

At Chandler Lake (Aug. 12, 1951), a single Arctic loon was frequently heard at the southeast end near the mouth of the Chandler River. In the evening of August 13, the wind changed from the normal southern wind to a cold wind from the north. Thereafter no Arctic loon was detected at the mouth of the river until August 22 when a bird there called at three intervals in the day. Presumably the change in direction of wind caused the fish and the loon to leave the south end of the lake. Arctic loons in other parts of the lake were heard every day from August 8 to August 25 inclusive.

On August 19, 1952, when we flew from Umiat to Gavia Lake, the loons seemed to be more restless and more easily disturbed than on our earlier flights. Wariness probably increases as the season advances.

On August 20, 1952, through August 23, 1952, six pairs of Arctic loons and 10 old squaw ducks were on Gavia Lake (named after the Arctic loon, genus Gavia). These were the only large birds on the lake on these dates. The loons dove as they sensed danger, emitting, before the dive, a single doglike yelp.