Staging and Wintering Areas of Snow Geese Nesting on Howe Island, Alaska

• Main Author: Stephen R. Johnson
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1995
• Subjects: Arctic; Howe Island; Mackenzie Valley; Yukon; Prudhoe Bay; Alaska
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.552.8626; http://pubs.aina.ucalgary.ca/arctic/arctic49-1-86.pdf

bands were put on 1714 of the leg-banded adults and subadults. During the period from September 1980 through May 1991, 3244 discrete, within-year resightings and recoveries were received of neck-banded and leg-banded birds during fall, winter, early spring, and late spring. During mid to late August each year, the Howe Island geese migrated eastward from the Prudhoe Bay area to staging/feeding areas in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska and in adjacent areas of the Yukon Territory. In mid to late September they moved southward down the Mackenzie Valley. Cluster analyses for the ten-year period 1980–90 revealed six separate distribution loci for the geese during the fall, with the largest proportion (84.7%) in one location in southeastern Alberta and southwestern Saskatchewan. Analyses revealed 11 separate distribution loci for the geese during winter from 1980 to 1991; the largest proportion (79.2%) was in northern California and southern Oregon. There were seven different distribution loci for the geese