Gabrielson (Gabrielson and Lincoln 1959) found marbled murrelets common near Yakutat, in Prince William Sound, in Resurrection Bay, and at Kodiak, and reported seeing them at the Chiswell Islands and at Chignik and Pavlof Bay on the Alaska Peninsula. Cahalane (1943, 1944) found them to be common in Kupreanof Strait, and along the Alaska Peninsula north of Katmai Bay. Murie (1959) found them all along the Alaska Peninsula. My own field notes from 1973 indicate that the only place where they were common along the Alaska Peninsula was at Wide Bay.
We can sample marbled murrelet numbers by using standard transect methodology; however, I have some very serious reservations about our ability to convert these data into a population estimate. This is not an unusual assessment for Alaskan seabirds in general, but I think it is particularly apropos to this species.
We are still able only to guess at where the marbled murrelet nests and we have not a clue as to what sort of nesting strategy they pursue. I am not prepared to accept, on the basis of one North American record (Binford et al. 1975), that tree nesting is its habit throughout its range. What has been proved is that the marbled murrelet nests in trees and not, as these authors would have us believe, that it does not nest on the ground. It has become rather fashionable to ignore the Chichagof Island record (a ground nest), but it has not been discredited. The color of the Chichagof egg differs from that of the Big Basin egg, but does agree with the one taken from an oviduct by Cantwell (Gabrielson and Lincoln 1959). My own experience leads me to believe that tree nesting, if it occurs, is not the common habit of marbled murrelets nesting in the Prince William Sound region.
After many hours of observing marbled murrelets over a period of several years, I am intrigued by a number of things. These birds, as often as not, appear to be clustered in "pairs" as they feed. This occurs even at what should be the height of the breeding season. On several occasions I have noted a very pronounced evening flight of these birds from gathering areas on the water up into the surrounding mountains at sunset. This has moved me to wonder if their nesting strategy includes incubating at night but less than full-time attendance on days when the eggs can be warmed by the sun. We know that periodic egg-neglect is an aspect of storm-petrel behavior (Pefaur 1974). Is this behavior also possible on a more regular basis in an alcid? If so, it would certainly help explain why nests are hard to find.
It is apparent that more needs to be known about the population dynamics and life history of the marbled murrelet before we can make a proper estimate of its abundance. In spite of the fragmentary record, I conclude that the marbled murrelet probably enjoys the same relative abundance and distribution that it did at the beginning of the century.
The Kittlitz's murrelet is not as abundant as the marbled murrelet, but locally it is sometimes found in large numbers. FWS surveys conducted during July-August 1972 provide an estimate of 57,000 murrelets of this species in Prince William Sound. Almost a fifth of these were concentrated in Unakwik Inlet above Unakwik Reef. Even more interesting, about 2,500 of these birds were concentrated in one loose flock.
In addition to Unakwik Inlet, Kittlitz's murrelets concentrate in College Fjord in Prince William Sound and in the waters fronting the Bering-Malaspina ice-fields (Isleib and Kessel 1973). Common as they are in these waters, this species is supposed to be even more abundant at Glacier Bay. The common feature of these waters is the amount of ice that can be found below their tributary glaciers.
The Kittlitz's murrelet is apparently distributed from LeConte Bay, east of Petersburg, Alaska, north to Point Barrow and west across the Aleutians to Attu, where Murie collected a pair (Gabrielson and Lincoln 1959). I once flushed a murrelet from an area of tread and riser topography near the top of the highest point on Kiska Island in heavy cloud cover, and although I could not see this bird well, I thought it to be of this species. From the range description in Gabrielson and Lincoln (1959) and Udvardy's (1963) range map, it is apparent that the distribution of this species is rather patchy, but I suspect that for the more mountainous part of its range this is more apparent than accurate. The record is too fragmentary to allow an assessment of any change in status during the historical period.
Chase Littlejohn (Bendire 1895) spent the spring and summer of 1894 collecting eggs on islands south of the Alaska Peninsula. He has left us a detailed record of what he saw but not where he saw it. Bent (1963) stated flatlythat the site of his collecting was Sanak Island and this has common acceptance. Several things in his account point to a site which was a small island with several peers close by, but this could not have been Sanak. It could have been an island in the Sanak Island group or it could equally well have been somewhere in the Sandman Reefs. Unfortunately, because of this the record is clouded. There has never been anything approaching a survey of the southern half of the Sandman Reefs. We do not know what breeding colonies are there.
At any rate, Littlejohn told of the large numbers of Leach's storm-petrels, fork-tailed storm-petrels, auklets (of which only Cassin's is specifically identified), and ancient murrelets which occupied a large number of small islands. He could not calculate the number of breeding murrelets on his small island, the size of which I interpret to have been of the same order of magnitude as two others which he estimated were about 2 acres. He does say that the murrelets must have numbered several thousand and could, if left alone by the Aleuts, have quickly grown too numerous for the island to accommodate.
Murie (1959) made a brief visit to Sanak in 1937 and learned that there were no longer any large colonies of seabirds. He attributes this to exploitation of the fisheries and to the fox-farming industry. Littlejohn told of the repeated visits of Aleuts to his small islands, where they took hundreds of birds each time and all of the eggs they could find. This kind of activity could not help but disrupt the breeding on these islands.
Littlejohn's description of the ancient murrelet's nest leaves little doubt that the birds could be reached by fox or rats with ease. The birds showed no particular care in selecting a nest site and often worked their way back no more than about a meter into the dead vegetative cover from preceding years, where they scratched out a shallow nest.
There are few records of the ancient murrelet from the northern and western Gulf of Alaska. Friedmann (1935) reported the collection of a series of eggs in 1884 on Kodiak Island. Chase Littlejohn (Bendire 1895) collected eggs from somewhere in the Sanak Group in 1894. In 1908 Dixon (Grinnell 1910) saw a bird in Port Nellie Juan. Several were seen by Jaques (1930) near Belkofski in May 1928. Gabrielson collected one bird at Cordova in September 1941 and another at the Chiswell Islands in July 1945 (Gabrielson and Lincoln 1959). He saw numerous flocks in the Gulf of Alaska on 30 July of an unnamed year. In 1943, he would have been near Cape Spencer on that date. In 1945 he would have been near the Chiswell Islands. In either case, he was probably somewhere in Blying Sound.
The ancient murrelet is relatively uncommon but regularly observed in the inshore waters along the outer coasts of the islands fronting Prince William Sound. FWS surveys in July-August 1972 provided an estimate of almost 1,000 birds, mostly in nonbreeding plumage, along the outer coast of Prince William Sound (Isleib and Kessel 1973). Small numbers were found feeding close to the Wooded Islands on 24 July (my personal observation). Rausch (1958) saw a few off Middleton Island in 1956. Isleib (Isleib and Kessel 1973) saw 400-500 widely distributed at the mouth of Yakutat Bay in July and August 1968. The only large numbers of ancient murrelets encountered on the FWS survey of the Alaskan Peninsula in 1973 were in the Shumagin Islands. They were very common in East Nagai Strait on 9 June and more than half of the 1,300 seabirds per square nautical mile encountered between Little Koniuji and Chernabura Islands on 11 June were ancient murrelets. At Nagai Island an estimated 5,000 ancient murrelets were observed in the west bay at Pirate Shake, and later (on 19 June) several were observed in the vicinity of Midun Island (FWS, Anchorage, Alaska, unpublished data).
On the basis of the observations recounted above, I have to conclude that ancient murrelets are fairly regularly, if patchily, distributed throughout the northern and western Gulf of Alaska. I do not believe that the void in their range shown for the northern Gulf of Alaska by Udvardy (1963) is correct. Several colonies are there, awaiting discovery.
Ancient murrelets are not abundant in the Gulf of Alaska but they are certainly more numerous than we have been able to prove. It is not possible to tell from the existing data whether they were once more abundant than they are now. I suspect, on the basis of the Sanak Island experience, that we can conclude that this species has been reduced in number by various of man's activities.
Cassin's auklet is a very uncommon bird in the northern Gulf of Alaska. In the western Gulf it is more common, particularly from the Shumagins west.
This auklet apparently once bred in great numbers on islands in or near the Sanak Group where Chase Littlejohn (Bendire 1895) found them to be twice as numerous as the ancient murrelets. Murie (1959) did not find them there.
Littlejohn began encountering Cassin's auklets at sea some 290 km southeast of Unga, Shumagin Islands. Murie (1959) encountered them near the Shumagins in May 1937. During the FWS 1973 reconnaissance survey of the Alaska Peninsula, these auklets were not encountered (or at least not identified) until we reached the vicinity of Unga Strait where we saw a few in mixed flocks with other murrelets and auklets. They were most numerous in East Nagai Strait. We encountered them only twice in a situation which indicated they might be breeding—on Hall and Herendeen islands on the north end of Little Koniuji Island.
Murie (1959) considered Cassin's auklet to be no longer common west of Kodiak. In Gabrielson's many voyages through the northern and western Gulf of Alaska he encountered them only twice, once off Cape Spencer and once in the Chiswell Islands.
Thoresen (1964) commented that throughout the northern part of its range the Cassin's auklet has become gradually less frequent. Although there are no data to dispute this, I believe, as do Isleib and Kessel (1973), that they are more numerous than observations would indicate, and I would apply this to the entire area. There are certainly colonies remaining in the Shumagin Islands, and quite probably along the south coast of the Kenai Peninsula. When it is possible to fully explore the Sandman Reefs there is a good probability that they will be found there.
We can only guess at the reasons for their decline. Bendire (1895) and Murie (1959) have described some contributing factors.
Gabrielson and Lincoln (1959) described the parakeet auklet as the least colonial of any of the Alaskan auklets. They also considered the Aleutian Islands to be its principal nesting grounds. There are old records of breeding parakeet auklets from Kodiak (Friedmann 1935) and Little Koniuji (Bean 1882). Grinnell (1910) reported two that were seen on Green Island, Prince William Sound, and several more that were seen near Knight Island.
Murie (1959) did not see any parakeet auklets near Kodiak and Afognak islands which he considered to be the eastern part of their range. He did not think they were abundant anywhere along the Alaska Peninsula. He found a few near Sutwik Island in May 1936 and then noted that they were fairly common near the Shumagins in May 1937.
Gabrielson found this species to be quite numerous on the north side of Chowiet Island in the Semidi Islands in 1945 (Gabrielson and Lincoln 1959). He also saw numerous individuals in Marmot Strait and saw one in the Chiswell Islands during the same year. David Roseneau (Isleib and Kessel 1973) found hundreds close to East Amatuli Island in the Barren Islands in 1965.
During FWS colony surveys, parakeet auklets have been found in close proximity to six seabird colonies in Prince William Sound. During the July-August 1972 surveys, they were estimated to number about 3,000 in the Sound. They have also been found closely associated with Chisik Island (David Snarski, personal communication), the Chiswell Islands, Nord and Sud islands in the Barrens, Sea Otter Island, and Central and Long islands along the Alaska Peninsula. They were most numerous in the Shumagin Islands, where they were found near Castle Rock, Hall (9,000), Herendeen (3,000), Atkins (more than 5,000), and Little Koniuju islands. They were again encountered south and west of Cold Bay at High, Fawn, Let, Amagat, Umga, and Patton islands. Many of these islands are in the north half of the Sandman Reefs, the only portion where any attempt has been made to survey seabird colonies.
The parakeet auklet may not be abundant anywhere in the Gulf of Alaska but, based on the numbers of places it has been seen in recent years, its population appears to be well dispersed and probably doing very well. This auklet is most abundant from the Shumagin Islands westward. It is almost certainly morenumerous than has been thought. Its habits are secretive enough so that it could easily escape notice.
Because the parakeet auklet nests predominantly under boulders, it probably was not much affected by fox. Rats would certainly have reduced its numbers wherever these were introduced into its breeding habitat. We have no data to tell us whether there may have been population fluctuations in the past, but there undoubtedly were at least minor ones locally after rats were introduced.
Udvardy (1963) shows the breeding range of the crested auklet as extending from southern Kodiak Island westward. Within the northern and western Gulf of Alaska, it is certainly most abundant in the eastern Shumagin Islands.
Isleib saw this auklet in Prince William Sound 3 times during the winter of 1972-73. These are the only records he was aware of for that area (Isleib and Kessel 1973). David Roseneau (Isleib and Kessel 1973) saw several in Amatuli Cove, Barren Islands, in June 1965. I observed one in the vicinity of Cape Spencer in August 1973.
Friedmann (1935) listed the crested auklet as a breeding bird at Kodiak, but considered it to be much more abundant as a wintering bird. Townsend (1913) has provided us with a vivid description of the myriads of crested auklets he encountered at Yukon Harbor, Little Koniuji Island. Gabrielson and Lincoln (1959) noted large numbers of crested auklet around Simeonof and Bird islands in the Shumagin Islands in 1946 and stated that the Yukon Harbor colony was still thriving.
Crested auklets were not encountered on the 1973 FWS reconnaissance survey until we reached the Shumagin Islands. They were abundant only at the southeastern end of Little Koniuji, where we encountered perhaps 10,000 in Yukon Harbor and more than 50,000 in a small cove directly south of Yukon Harbor on the opposite side of the island. As numerous as they were, they did not match Townsend's myriads or even come close to his assessment that they "were here more numerous than the 'choochkies' at St. George." St. George Island in the Pribilofs is famous for its least auklets which, in the past, have been estimated to number as high as 36 million (Peterson and Fisher 1955). The numbers there today do not even approach this level and we have no way of knowing how abundant they were when Townsend visited the Pribilofs, but I think it is safe to say that they probably numbered in the millions. There are probably more crested auklets than we observed on Little Koniuji, but there is certainly no longer anything approaching millions of birds. Properly pronounced, Koniuji is the Aleut name for the crested auklet, so we can assume that the original inhabitants were impressed by its numbers.
During the 1973 FWS survey we did not see crested auklets at either Simeonof or Bird islands. On the overgrazed and cattle-trampled Simeonof it does not seem possible that any could still exist.
I suspect that a cattleman's greed has been the undoing of any crested auklets that may have nested on Simeonof Island. This would not account for the loss of any colonies that may have been on Bird Island, but the decaying fox-trapper's cabin on that island undoubtedly tells the story. Churnabura, with its feral cattle, presents much the same problem as Simeonof. As for Little Koniuji, have horned puffins been partly responsible for the decrease in crested auklets? The puffin colony at the south end of Little Koniuji must be exactly where Townsend's millions of crested auklets once nested.
No least auklets were encountered in FWS surveys in the Gulf of Alaska in the early 1970's. Udvardy (1963) shows their breeding range as starting well west in the Aleutians. Gabrielson and Lincoln (1959) give the eastern limit of their breeding range as the Shumagin Islands. Bent (1963) listed their breeding range as extending east to Kodiak Island, and Friedmann (1935) knew of only a few specimens taken in the winter from Kodiak. Perhaps least auklets nested somewhere in the western Gulf of Alaska, and they may still, but at the moment we have no evidence to prove that they do.
Udvardy (1963) would have us believe that the rhinoceros auklet did not nest betweensoutheastern Alaska and the southern Kurile Islands. Bent (1963b), on the other hand, lists their breeding range as extending from Washington to Agattu. Clark (1910) noted this species in small numbers at Atka and Agattu. Because of the lack of proof, Udvardy probably had no options. I believe that Bent was probably closer to describing their original range. I base this assumption on recent observations and on the additional fragments of information reported by Gabrielson and Lincoln (1959). Murie (1959) failed to find this species anywhere in the Aleutians, but his primary reason for being there, the fox-farming industry, may have had a lot to do with his not being able to find any.
The FWS surveys in Prince William Sound in July-August 1972 located small numbers of rhinoceros auklets in breeding plumage at the Wooded Islands and at Stoney Island and Channel Island in Montague Strait. These birds gave every impression of being local breeders. David Roseneau (Isleib and Kessel 1973) encountered two at the Barren Islands in June 1965. Isleib and Kessel (1973) list a few other records from this area.
My own experience leads me to believe that there is a large colony somewhere on Afognak Island, probably on or near Tonki Cape. On 30 May 1973 I noted a lone bird north of Afognak Island. Later, on 8 and 9 August, I saw several in the same area. On 13 August in Marmot Strait I observed a number of rhinoceros auklets, either singly or in groups of up to 12. Some of these had small fish in their beaks. As they flushed, they all flew off toward Tonki Cape. This observation was made just at last light, and I believe that there were many others about that could not be seen in the dying light. We did not encounter this species along the Alaska Peninsula during the FWS survey in 1973 until we reached the end. There I had one quick glimpse of what I was certain was a rhinoceros auklet at Amagat Island.
The horned puffin is one of the most abundant breeding birds in the Gulf of Alaska. There are only a few really large colonies but these birds breed just about anywhere there is a cliff (even a low one) with suitable fractures and crevices. During the Alaska Peninsula surveys in 1973, I estimated that the frequency with which these birds were seen on the water was about half that of the tufted puffin. They have been recorded in so many places that there is nothing to be gained by a reiteration of the record in the literature.
The horned puffins reach their greatest density in the Gulf of Alaska west of Kodiak Island. Murie (1959) estimated that the colony at Amagat Island, Morzhovi Bay, contained 15,000 birds, one of the largest he had seen. It contained at least 50,000 in 1973. Even at that, it was no match for the colony on Little Koniuji Island with its minimum 140,000 horned puffins. Other colonies with large horned puffin components were at High Island (40,000), Castle Rock (20,000), Mitrofani Island (35,000), and Sosbee Bay (15,000).
Earlier in this paper, I commented at length on the great and often rapid fluctuations in populations of tufted puffins. The same phenomenon affects horned puffins. In 1975 there were relatively small numbers of horned puffins at Little Koniuji where they had flourished 2 years earlier (James Bartonek, personal communication). Because they are apparently subject to erratically oscillating populations, it is hard to tell how they have fared over the years.
The tufted puffin, as previously indicated, is also a bird with widely fluctuating populations. Until we develop an understanding of their population dynamics and can understand the underlying cause of these fluctuations it will not be possible to assess trends in their populations or understand the implications of such trends.
Tufted puffins are abundant throughout the Gulf of Alaska. Small colonies can be located almost anywhere. Along the Alaska Peninsula there are a number of colonies with an estimated breeding population in 1973 of more than 15,000 birds. These are: Ashiiak Island (20,000), Central Island (90,000), the Brother Islands (45,000), The Haystacks (19,000), Castle Rock (85,000), Bird Island (none, but may contain 500,000-1,000,000 at times), Peninsula Islands (35,000), the Twins (18,000), Amagat Island (40,000), and Umga Island (22,000). These colonies correspond to the area where colonies were listed for thehorned puffin.
Tufted puffin populations respond readily to some undetermined short-term perturbations. This is clearly demonstrated by their rapid population fluctuations. Because of their numbers and because of the apparent rapidity with which their numbers rebound, it is not so apparent that they have been affected by long-term perturbations, as so many other seabirds apparently have.
There is much unused or underused nesting habitat suitable for this species. In some cases there are very strong clues pointing to why this habitat is vacant. On many islands along the Alaska Peninsula, which have very good-looking tufted puffin nesting habitat and no puffins, there are visible signs of the presence of fox—either fox trails or abandoned trappers' cabins. I also suspect that the brown bear(Ursa arctos)is another possible contributing factor to population declines of burrow nesters along this coast. I have seen brown bears swimming from island to island on foraging expeditions. George J. Divoky (personal communication) has found brown bears visiting Ugaiushak Island, which is 13 km from shore. There are other islands between Ugaiushak and the mainland but the shortest route from shore would require one swim of 7 km. The motivation must be strong.
Tufted puffins may shift from colony to colony. This could be an explanation for apparent local population fluctuation, but if so, I am puzzled by the apparent tenacity with which puffins cling to some sites. Their constant occupancy of sites where the vegetative mat is breakaway tundra (Amundsen 1972) or is underlain by sand results in the destruction of these sites. Tufted puffins often cling to them in spite of the fact that they have been reduced to "slums."
My conclusion is that in spite of their large numbers it appears that tufted puffin populations in the Gulf of Alaska probably have been reduced to a level below that of their undisturbed state.
Seabird numbers in the Gulf of Alaska are not static. Generally, they are probably much less abundant than they were when Bering made his voyage of discovery. There are, nonetheless, considerable numbers of seabirds breeding along the coasts of these waters. Some species show signs of recovery from past insults by man. With enlightened management there is still time to preserve the vast natural heritage that they represent and, in many cases, to improve their status.
In attempting to address a complicated subject in short space and a relatively narrow frame of reference, I have certainly erred a number of times. I would like to see the wealth of new data that will be derived from current work applied to this concept. An understanding of past population fluctuations and the underlying perturbations that they reflect is essential for managers faced with the problem of making good decisions on measures to mitigate the potential adverse impact of development.
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Sowl, L. W., and J. C. Bartonek. 1974. Seabirds—Alaska's most neglected resource. Trans. N. Am. Wildl. Natl. Resour. Conf. 39:117-125.
Spring, L. 1971. A comparison of functional and morphological adaptions in the common murre(Uria aalge)and thick-billed murre(Uria lomvia). Condor 73:1-27.
Stejneger, L. 1885. Results of ornithological explorations in the Commander Islands and in Kamtschatka. Bull. U.S. Natl. Mus. 29:1-382.
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U.S. Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife. 1973. Semidi Islands wilderness report. Semidi Islands, National Wildlife Refuge. (Unpublished report)
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Walker, E. P. 1923. Definite breeding record for the Aleutian tern in southern Alaska. Condor 25:113-117.
Willet, G. 1914. Birds of Sitka and vicinity, Southeastern Alaska. Condor 16:71-91.
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