Five arctic ducks, and one other, constitute the sea ducks of the area. The common eider (Somateria mollissima), king eider (S. spectabilis), and the oldsquaw (Clangula hyemalis) are widespread, and circumpolar or nearly so; hunting and down-robbing in other parts of the Arctic may provide clues as to their relative tolerance of primitive or advanced civilization. The spectacled eider (S. fischeri) and Steller's eider (Polysticta stelleri) are restricted to the Bering Sea coasts and neighboring High Arctic coasts, respectively; their status is precarious.
| Species | Distribution | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Circumpolar | Widespread in North Pacific | North coast of Alaska | Beringia[48] | Aleutian Islands | South coast of Alaska[49] | Temperate northeast Pacific coast[50] | |
| Fulmarus glacialis | x | w | x | x | x | w | |
| Oceanodroma furcata | x | x | x | x | |||
| O. leucorhoa | x | x | x | x | x | ||
| Phalacrocorax auritus | x | x | x | ||||
| P. penicillatus | (x) | x | |||||
| P. pelagicus | x | x | x | x | x | ||
| P. urile | x | x | x | ||||
| Branta bernicla | x | x | x | (w) | (w) | w | |
| Anser canagicus | x | w | w | ||||
| Clangula hyemalis | x | w | x | x | w | w | w |
| Histrionicus histrionicus | x | w | w | w | w | w | |
| Polysticta stelleri | x | x | (w) | ||||
| Somateria mollissima | x | x | x | x | x | ||
| S. spectabilis | x | x | x | w | (w) | ||
| S. fischeri | x | x | |||||
| Larus hyperboreus | x | w | x | x | w | w | w |
| L. glaucescens | x | x | x | x | |||
| L. occidentalis | (x) | ||||||
| L. argentatus | x | w | x | (x)w | |||
| L. thayeri | w | x | w | w | w | w | |
| L. canus | x | w | x | x | (x)w | ||
| Rissa tridactyla | x | w | x | x | x | x | w |
| R. brevirostris | x | x | (x) | ||||
| Xema sabini | x | x | x | w | |||
| Sterna paradisaea | x | w | x | x | x | w | |
| S. aleutica | x | x | |||||
| Uria aalge | x | x | (x) | x | x | x | x |
| U. lomvia | x | x | x | x | x | x | |
| Alle alle | x | * | |||||
| Cepphus grylle | x | x | w | ||||
| C. columba | x | x | x | x | x | ||
| Brachyramphus marmoratus | x | (x) | x | x | |||
| B. brevirostris | x | x | x | ||||
| Synthliboramphus antiquus | x | x | x | x | x | ||
| Ptychoramphus aleuticus | x | x | x | ||||
| Cyclorrhynchus psittacula | x | x | |||||
| Aethia cristatella | x | x | |||||
| A. pusilla | x | x | |||||
| A. pygmaea | x | ||||||
| Cerorhinca monocerata | x | x | x | ||||
| Fratercula corniculata | x | x | x | x | x | ||
| Lunda cirrhata | x | x | x | x | x | ||
| Total number of nesting species | 17 | 11 | 15 | 27 | 25 | 24 | 17 |
| Total number of wintering species | 9 | 4 | 7 | 9 | 9 | ||
| Grand total | 17 | 20 | 15 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 26 |
The harlequin duck (Histrionicus histrionicus) stands alone without close relatives. It often breeds far from the sea, but spends the shortest time—only a few weeks—away from the rocky coast. There is a year-round population of yearlings in the sea. The drakes of the nearest breeding pairs at lower latitudes are back to the sea, abandoning their mates at the breeding stream when the alpine stream-dwellers are still at sea awaiting the thawing of their breeding grounds. Harlequin ducks live in large parts of Siberia, from arctic Alaska to central California and Colorado, and also in the eastern Arctic. They do not seem to me to be in immediate danger globally, though perhaps they are locally.
Gulls are a highly successful group of seabirds, and of the eight species on our coasts the four more southern ones—the western gull (Larus occidentalis), glaucous-winged gull (L. glaucescens), common gull (L. canus), and herring gull (L. argentatus)—are expanding wherever civilization creates new scavenging opportunities. Nothing is said about the populations of the kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla), black-legged kittiwake (R. brevirostris) and Sabine's gull (Xema sabini), or of the other two high arctic species (Pagophila eburnea, Rhodostethia rosea) which do not nest regularly in the area considered here.
The arctic tern (Sterna paradisaea) is circumpolarly widespread and successful, whereas the Aleutian tern (S. aleutica) is a very restricted Beringean endemic, and its status needs to be exactly known.
Almost one-third of the seabirds in this area are alcids, a family centered in the North Pacific and, more specifically, in the Bering Sea. Most species breed in enormous rookeries. Any impact of civilization is highly detrimental under such circumstances. Of the four circumpolar species the two Uria guillemots (murres) are important. The dovekie (Alle alle) is a sparse pioneer of Bering Strait, as is the black guillemot (Cepphus grylle) on our side of the Arctic Sea. Its congener, the pigeon guillemot (C. columba), is common and successful all the way to coastal central California. Of the remaining 11 species, special attention should be paid to the whiskered auklet (Aethia pygmaea) of the Aleutian chain; the Kittlitz's murrelet (Brachyramphus brevirostris) of the eastern Beringean and southern Alaska coast; and to the widespread, but very sporadic rhinoceros auklet, or puffin (Cerorhinca monocerata).
To sum up, I have tabulated these 42 species, and indicated whether modern life-history and population studies are extant:
| No. species | No. studied | |
|---|---|---|
| Procellariiformes | 3 | 2 |
| Phalacrocorax | 4 | 2 |
| Anseres | 2 | 1 |
| Anates | 6 | — |
| Lari | 9 | 2 |
| Sterni | 2 | — |
| Alcidae | 16 | 7 |
| Total | 42 | 14 |