Monitoring of Populations and Productivity of Seabirds at St. Matthew Island,Bluff, Little Diomede Island, and Cape Thompson, Alaska, 1991. Monitoring Seabird Populations in Areas of Oil and Gas Development on the Alaskan Continental Shelf

摘要

Populations and productivity of seabirds were monitored at four colonies in theBering and Chukchi Seas: St. Matthew Island, Bluff, Little Diomede Island, and Cape Thompson. Murres and kittiwakes were monitored at all four colonies; lease and crested auklets were monitored at Little Diomede and auklet activity patterns were studied there and at St. Matthew. Populations of kittiwakes and murres at Bluff and Cape Thompson continued the stable trend observed in recent years. Data at Little Diomede suggested a decline in murres and an increase in kittiwakes since 1977, but data are too few for statistical analysis. Kittiwakes and thick-billed murrens declined significantly on St. Matthew between 1986 and 1991. Productivity of kittiwakes at Bluff and Cape Thompson was average. Success of murres was very high at Bluff; data from Cape Thompson were incomplete. Productivity of kittiwakes, thick-billed murres, and crested auklets at Little Diomede was near the mean for all Alaskan colonies, but produtivity was lower at this site for common murres and very low for least auklets. We have no data yet on normal productivity for any species at Little Diomede. Population trends are summarized for seabird colonies throughout the Bering and Chukchi Seas.