Faunal Relationships of Birds in the Iliamna Lake Area, Alaska

• Main Authors: Williamson, Francis S. L., Peyton, Leonard J.
• Format: Report
• Language: unknown
• Published: University of Alaska. Institute of Arctic Biology 1962
• Subjects: Iliamna Lake; Alaska Peninsula; Aleutian Islands; eskimo*; Kodiak; Tundra; Alaska
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/11122/1427

Introduction -- Description of the region -- General ecological considerations -- Ecological formations -- Annotated list of species -- Racial relationships of Iliamna birds -- Faunal affinities of Iliamna birds -- Summary -- Literature cited Williamson, Francis S. L. and Leonard J. Peyton. 1962. Faunal relationships of birds in the Iliamna Lake area, Alaska. Biol. Pap. Univ. Alaska, No. 5. Pp. ii + 73. The authors studied animal-borne diseases and birds in the Iliamna Lake area, Alaska, for 86 man-days in May and June of 1958 and 1959. The ornithological history, climate, physiography, and major ecological characteristics of the area are discussed. Twelve ecological formations representing the Moist Coniferous Forest, Coniferous Forest, and Tundra Biomes are distinguished on the basis of plant life-form and geologic features and are used to analyze the distribution of birds. Eighty-one species of birds were observed and included in an annotated list of 103 species. Evidence of breeding and specimen data are presented. Other evidence indicates changes in abundance and range from earlier studies. Populations of Canachites canadensis, Parus hudsonicus, Vermicora celata, Dendroica petechia, Passerella iliaca are intermediate between these species' interior and coastal races. Passerella iliaca zaboria, P. i. unalaschensis, and P. i. sinuosa all occur. Intermediates between P. i. zaboria and the two other races are apparently rare. These and other racial relationships are discussed. The Iliamna avifauna is comprised of Sitkan (5 species), Hudsonian (38 species) and Eskimoan (20 species) avifaunal elements associated with the Moist Coniferous Forest, Coniferous Forest, and Tundra Biomes respectively. Nineteen widely distributed species were valueless in detective faunal relationships. The data suggest that extreme southeastern Alaska, Prince William Sound, and probably Kodiak and Afognak Islands constitute distinct faunal districts. The Iliamna-Cook Inlet region has a mixed avifauna.