By

• Main Authors: Christian P. Dau, William W. Larned
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2005
• Subjects: Key Words; Aerial population survey; Common Eider; waterbirds; barrier islands; Arctic Coastal; Arctic; Barrier Island; Barrier Islands; Barrow; Beaufort Sea; Chukchi; Point Barrow; Alaska
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.516.7120; http://www.fws.gov/alaska/mbsp/mbm/waterfowl/surveys/pdf/coei05pdf.pdf

The seventh consecutive aerial survey of common eiders and other waterbirds along the coastline of the Arctic Coastal Plain (ACP) of Alaska, including barrier islands, was conducted from 24 to 27 June 2005. Observations were made from an amphibious Cessna 206 (N61599) by pilot/observer and right seat observer. The study area, established when the survey was initiated in 1999, encompasses approximately 1,050 km of the Chukchi and Beaufort sea coastlines from Omalik Lagoon north and east to the Canadian border and an additional 190 and 325 linear kilometers, respectively, of barrier island habitats off Kasegaluk Lagoon and from Point Barrow to Demarcation Bay. Shorefast ice cover in 2005 was more extensive than 2004 in both the Chukchi and Beaufort seas. Ice free areas in the Beaufort Sea were especially limited and most barrier islands were accessible to terrestrial predators. A total of 2,581 common eiders, including 1,121 indicated breeding pairs (pairs+single drakes), was observed in 2005. Totals and indicated breeding pairs were down 14.9 and 16.3 percent, respectively, from 2004 and down 5.0 and up 24.8 percent, respectively, from the long-term averages (1999-2005). The decline in total common eiders observed in 2005 occurred despite more extensive ice cover which is believed to either delay (short-stop) migrants or alter their