Birds Found on the Arctic Slope of Northern Alaska

by James W. Bee

A nest of four eggs, first examined on July 5, 1951, ¼ mile southeast of the Arctic Research Laboratory, was abandoned on July 11.

At Topagaruk (July 7, 1951) we flushed several adult semipalmated sandpipers whose behavior suggested that they were nesting. Two days later one nest held newly hatched young. This species was third in abundance there, adults constituting 15 per cent of the avian population. They were numerous on polygons having low centers and on high windswept knolls in association with black-bellied plovers, ruddy turnstones and pectoral sandpipers. The call resembled that of the Hammond flycatcher and was accompanied by wing vibration.

At Topagaruk (July 9, 1951) a female semipalmated sandpiper fluttered off a nest, uttered a sharp cry, feigned injury by fluttering around the observer, became seemingly indifferent but refused to return to her nest, uttered sharp cries, came to within seven feet of the observer who was sitting within three feet of the nest and alternately chattered, ate several large dipterous insects from the ground and in approximately five minutes went back on the nest, within easy reach, although she still was not completely quiet. When the observer rose to leave she again fluttered off the nest and feigned injury (the bird was preserved as a specimen). The nest was concealed in a small depression surrounded on all sides by tufts of vegetation and contained four young, one of which had hatched no more than three hours before.

On a four field trip at Kaolak River (July 15, 1951) we counted 14 juveniles in large stands of willows among sand dunes. These juveniles were making short flights of from 15 to 40 feet. In contrast to the situation at Topagaruk (July 5-10), there were fewer semipalmated sandpipers than Baird's sandpipers at Kaolak River (July 12-18, 1951). July 16 was the first date on which family groups of sandpipers here ventured out on the exposed sand bars along the river for feeding. One juvenile was carried by wind over the river where it dropped into the water. When last seen the juvenile was being floated upstream by the wind. Next day in the same general area where winds had driven water on the sand, four semipalmated sandpipers were feeding with dunlin. These five birds kept together both on the ground and in flight.

At Point Barrow (July 27, 1951) semipalmated sandpipers were forming small groups and feeding on small lakes and ponds adjacent to the Arctic Ocean. At the south end of Lake Peters (Aug. 3, 1952) several semipalmated sandpipers were feeding in dry areas of alluvium trampled by caribou.

Limosa lapponica baueri Naumann: Bar-tailed godwit.—At Kaolak River on July 18, 1951, one godwit was in company with a pair of golden plovers on a bare slope of an old sand dune along the edge of the river. The godwit when approached flew 150 feet and alighted and when pursued again flew another 150 feet and then departed for a lake 1⁄5 mile away.

Phalaropus fulicarius (Linnaeus): Red phalarope.—Specimens, 11: Topagaruk River, 155°48', 70°34', 10 ft., 11, Nos. 30715-30725 including 10 ad. males and 1 ad. female, July 6-9, 1951.

At Topagaruk (July 5, 1951), we located a nest and four eggs on the edge of a small drainage channel on the tundra. The nest was among mosses and lichens, one foot from open water. The bird left the nest when the observer was only four feet distant but on a second approach one hour later, left when the observer was 20 feet away. In each instance the bird pretended to have an injured wing. On July 7, this nest held four eggs. On July 8, there were four young, hatched either the previous afternoon or night and the female left the nest when the observer was 30 feet away. Ten adult males, shot at Topagaruk (July 5-10, 1951), averaged 50(45-54) grams in weight. These birds had testes that averaged 6.5(2.5-9.0) mm long. The red phalarope on July 7 was the fifth most common bird in the area, making up two per cent of the avian population and was commonly seen on polygons having high centers.

At Kaolak River (July 12-18, 1952) red phalaropes were uncommon. On July 15, a female was noted but seemed not to have young or to be nesting. A juvenile from Kaolak (July 22, 1951) was 180 mm in length and weighed 31 grams. On September 6 and 7, we observed hundreds of these birds, mostly juveniles, feeding in the ocean two to three feet beyond beaches at Point Barrow. Small lakes and open water in marshes had been frozen over since September 5, but larger lakes still were open. Except for a few birds around edges of open bodies of water, the great bulk of red phalaropes was (Aug. 7, 1951) on the Arctic Ocean. On September 11, there was none at Point Barrow. Thomas Brower, a resident at Barrow Village, stated that he had never before seen this species congregate on the Arctic Ocean bordering the shore.

Lobipes lobatus (Linnaeus): Northern phalarope.—Specimens, 5: Topagaruk River, 155°48', 70°34', 10 ft., 2, Nos. 30729, ad. male, July 9, 1951, and 30730, ad. female, July 8, 1951; Kaolak River, 159°47'40", 70°11'15", 30 ft., 3, Nos. 30726-30728 including 2 ad. males and 1 ad. of unknown sex, July 14, 15, 1951.