Biological Projects

Shorebirds:

Alaska provides breeding habitat for more shorebird species than any other state. Seventy-one species of shorebirds have occurred in Alaska. On Togiak National Wildlife Refuge, a total of 39 species of shorebirds are known to occur. Thirty-seven species, including several unique Beringian species and Old World species, regularly breed in the region.

Since the creation of the Cape Newenham National Wildlife Refuge in 1969, which was later included in the Togiak Refuge (created in 1980), staff have conducted few shorebird studies. However, on either side of the Nushagak Bay area (i.e., Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta and Alaska Peninsula estuaries) there is a comparably rich body of material on seasonal shorebird use. Given the extent of intertidal habitats in upper Bristol Bay and the use of adjacent areas by shorebirds, it was suspected that the Nushagak-Kvichak area is important to shorebirds, especially during late summer and autumn.

Because of this, surveys were initiated in late fall of 1999 and 2000 to document shorebird use along the southern tip of the Nushagak Peninsula. Four small estuaries in the Cape Constantine area were chosen as regular survey sites. The sandy beaches between the estuaries and the adjacent coastal lowland tundra were also searched for migrating shorebirds. The species, number, location, habitat, and behavior of the shorebirds were recorded. Combining the two years, a total of 33 separate shorebird species have occurred on the southern Nushagak Peninsula. In both years, dunlins (Calidris alpina) constituted about half of all shorebirds observed, western sandpipers (C. mauri) accounted for the largest number of small sandpipers identified to species, and dowitchers (Limnodromus spp.) and greater yellowlegs (Tringa melanoleuca) were also observed in high numbers. Other numerous shorebird species observed were rock sandpipers (C. ptilocnemis), black-bellied plovers (Pluvialis squatarola), sanderling (C. alba), and whimbrel (Numenius phaeopus). Although individual birds were checked for color-marked leg bands or flags, none were seen.

These data, along with data from a 1997 aerial survey of Nushagak Bay, demonstrated Nushagak Bay's importance for staging and migrating shorebirds. Thanks in part to this work, Nushagak Bay has been designated as a Regional Shorebird Reserve in the Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network (WHSRN), a network of sites providing important shorebird wintering, migrating, and breeding habitat.

For more information regarding the late summer occurrence of shorebirds, contact the Togiak National Wildlife Refuge.