Annotated accounts have been published on the breeding avifauna of St. Matthew, Hall, and Pinnacle islands by Elliott (1882), Hanna (1917), Bent (1919), and Gabrielson and Lincoln (1959). Klein (1959) presented quantitative data on the birds he observed incidental to his study of reindeer (Rangifer tarandus).
The avifauna of the Yukon-Kuskokwim delta, which is rich both in numbers and diversity, has been treated extensively in the literature. Nelson (1883, 1887), Turner (1886), Conover (1926), Brandt (1943), Gabrielson and Lincoln (1959), Williamson (1957), Kessel et al. (1964), Harris (1966), Dau (1972), and Holmes and Black (1973) all described the avifauna in the same general area of the delta, i.e., the eroding portion in the general vicinity of Hooper and Hazen bays. The avifauna of the aggrading portion of the Yukon delta and of the Kuskokwim's mouth have not been accorded similar attention. Populations of waterfowl nesting on the delta and their wintering affinities were described by King and Lensink (1971) and U.S. FWS (1973c).
Studies of particular species of marine birds on the delta (again, all in the general vicinity of Hooper and Hazen bays) were reported by Hansen and Nelson (1957) and Shepherd (1960) for black brant (Branta bernicla), by Headley (1967) and Eisenhauer and Kirkpatrick (1977) for emperor geese (Anser canagica), by Dau (1974) and Mickelson (1975) for spectacled eiders (Somateria fischeri), by Petersen (1976) for red-throated loons (Gavia stellata), and by Holmes (1970, 1971, 1972) for dunlins (Calidris alpina) and western sandpipers (C. mauri).
Birds of Nunivak Island were reported by Swarth (1934), but the importance of the island to marine birds was not put into proper perspective until the Nunivak National Wildlife Refuge was evaluated for designation as a wilderness area (U.S. FWS 1972).
The Pribilof Islands have served as a focal point for ornithological investigations of the Bering Sea in much the same way that Barrow has for the Arctic. The avifauna of the Pribilofs has been described by Coues (1874), Elliott (1882), Palmer (1899), Hanna (1918), Preble and McAtee (1923), Gabrielson and Lincoln (1959), Kenyon and Phillips (1965), and a host of others that mainly added new species to the record list. Although most of these ornithologists marveled at the numbers of birds, information is lacking from which most changes in populations can be noted. (An exception is the record of common and thick-billed murres, Uria aalge and U. lomvia, which formerly nested in such abundance on Walrus Island that annually several tons of eggs were gathered for consumption by residents of the islands [Palmer 1899], but were greatly reduced in numbers by the summer of 1973, when J. C. Bartonek, J. G. King, G. J. Divoky, and D. T. Montgomery observed only a few thousand murres on a small portion of the island. Most of the suitable nesting sites, especially the flat areas often used by common murres, were occupied by Steller's sea lions, Eumetopias jubata, which, apparently because of reduced hunting pressure, occupied the island and displaced the murres.)
For some unexplained reason the numerous and large marine bird colonies along the north side of Bristol Bay appear to have been largely overlooked until recent years (Bartonek and Gibson 1972). Gabrielson and Lincoln (1959) summarized the few observations by Osgood (1904) and Turner (1886) in this area, but obviously were unaware that, in aggregate, these colonies rival those of the Pribilofs. Dick and Dick (1971) made an exemplary study of marine birds and their numbers at Cape Peirce and on nearby Shaiak Island. Murie (1959) provided annotated remarks on marine birds of Amak Island, but not of nearby Sealion Rocks.
Status and Distribution
Seven groups of colonies of cliff-, burrow-, and crevice-nesting birds are found on the headlands and islands in the coastal region, each numbering more than 1 million birds; nine colonies range downward to 100,000 birds; and a host of others range downward to 1,000 birds (Fig. 2). Un-estimated numbers of other marine birds nest on the lowlands about Kotzebue Sound, the Yukon-Kuskokwim delta, and Bristol Bay, but are not shown in Fig. 2. The occurrence at colonies of 20 of the nearly 100 species of marine birds is shown in Fig. 3; their relative numbers at these sites are not shown because data are generally lacking.
