Howell (1948) noted only double-crested cormorants at Double Island, Kodiak. Shortly after that the leaflet, Birds of the Kodiak Island National Wildlife Refuge (first issued in 1955), listed red-faced cormorants as common summer residents. The red-faced cormorant was next found at Katchemak Bay about 1963. Isleib (Isleib and Kessel 1973) first noticed red-faced cormorants wintering in Prince William Sound in 1969. In July 1972 Isleib and Sowl had found a colony containing 75 nests at Point Elrington at the western approach to Prince William Sound. By 1974 Isleib and Haddock (unpublished data, FWS, Anchorage, Alaska) found them east of the Copper River Delta at Wingham Island.
The relatively rapid expansion of the range and apparent population size of the red-faced cormorant is remarkable. But has this been a real expansion into vast stretches of new territory? The record in the literature which I have summarized shows, I think, something else. We can demonstrate a historical range for the red-faced cormorant that extends on the Asiatic Coast from North Cape, Siberia, south to the Kurile Islands, the entire Aleutian Arc including the Commander Islands, all the Bering Sea islands north to Bering Strait, Norton Sound, Nelson Island, and the islands south of the Alaska Peninsula at least as far east as Kodiak Island. The recently occupied coast from Cook Inlet to the Copper River may represent a real range extension. The breeding range of this species at the present time does not include parts of its historical range west of the Commander Islands or north of the Pribilof Islands.
The fragmentary record appears to show a long-term perturbation in the range and populations of the red-faced cormorant that covers at least 100 years. I believe that we are probably seeing a recovery of lost range and a return to something resembling a former distribution and abundance.
What caused the perturbation? I am not prepared to answer this question, but there are two occurrences which I find suggestive.
It is interesting to note (Dement'ev and Gladkov 1966) that on the Commander Islands the red-faced cormorant was most abundant during the first 50-odd years after the pelagic cormorants had been wiped out in the winter of 1876-77. Perhaps some clues are to be found in the interactions between these similar species.
It does not appear that the introduction of fox could have been a causative factor. The first observations of population expansion were noted almost concurrently with the heyday of the fox-farming industry. Because of its choice of nesting habitat (very steep cliffs), this cormorant would not have been affected by predators except for the one that went into a very rapid population decline at a time that would fit—the Aleut.
Jochelson (1968) and Hrdlicka (1945) summarized references to Aleut clothing in the diaries and reports of early Russian visitors to the Aleutian Islands. Evidently Aleut women sometimes wore a long, robe-like parka made of harbor seal (Phoca vitulina) skins or, for women of high rank, parkas made of sea otter (Enhydra lutra). The men in almost all reports were said to have worn bird-skin parkas; puffins and guillemots appear to have been preferred, but cormorants were sometimes used. It took about 40 puffin skins to fabricate a parka and a man evidently needed from one to three of these garments each year.
Sea otter populations were drastically reduced by Russian hunters. Rats were introduced to the Aleutians very early during the Russian period and must have had a substantial impact on populations of tufted puffins and guillemots. The introduction of fox would have had a further impact on burrow-nesting birds. Turner (1885) noted that Aleuts in the Near Islands kept the fox confined to Attu so that they could keep the fox away from the birds on Agattu. This is evidence of an Aleut recognition of serious competition. Could cormorants, particularly red-faced cormorants, have been preferred sources of fiber? Were Aleuts forced to rely more heavily on cormorant skins as puffin and guillemot numbers were reduced by rats and fox and sea otters by men?
Whatever the cause and effect, the status of red-faced cormorants now appears to be better in the Gulf of Alaska than for at least the last 100 years.