Author: Melanie Dufour

By Jaime Welfelt, Biological Science Technician at Alaska Peninsula and Becharof National Wildlife Refuges

Aerial insectivores, birds that capture their invertebrate prey from the air, have declined more than any other group of North American birds. To monitor aerial insectivore populations in Alaska, a dedicated group of federal, state, university, and nonprofit biologists formed the Alaska Swallow Monitoring Network (ASMN) in 2015. This coordinated effort aligns existing long-term swallow monitoring sites in Fairbanks and McCarthy, while providing a support system to add more sites across the state.

A banded female Tree Swallow collects grass to build a nest in the specially designed box. Once the grass nest cup is complete, the male will bring her white swan or duck feathers to insulate the cup. The side of the nest box is hinged so observers can quickly open the box and record its contents. Using fishing line, we can close the flap on the front of the box, allowing us to capture and band adult birds (photo by Carl Ramm).


The ASMN focused their efforts on Tree Swallows, a wide-ranging aerial insectivore in decline across the northern U.S. and Canada. Tree Swallows make an ideal avian study species because they readily use nest boxes and easily acclimate to human presence. Studies show that Tree Swallow breeding phenology and nesting success are sensitive to extreme weather events and changes in weather patterns over time.   

Alaska Peninsula and Becharof National Wildlife Refuges (AKPB) began monitoring a few Tree Swallow nest boxes in King Salmon in 2007. In 2015, with support from ASMN and a grant from the Environmental Protection Agency, AKPB increased the number of nest boxes and expanded the project to include the neighboring community of Naknek. Yukon Delta Refuge in Bethel joined the ASMN in 2017, as did the Alaska Songbird Institute (Fairbanks), University of Colorado (McCarthy), University of Alaska (Anchorage) and Juneau Audubon Society.

Tree Swallows lay one egg per day, with a typical clutch of 3-7 eggs. Occasionally, in Alaska, we see nests with eight eggs! (photo by Jaime Welfelt).

The Alaska Peninsula encompasses the southwestern-most boundary of the Tree Swallow’s range in Alaska, making it an ideal place to study population changes. On the peninsula, we installed nest boxes on buildings maintained by AKPB, Katmai National Park, Alaska Department of Fish and Game, local businesses, schools, and private residents. Refuge biologists, technicians, student interns, and volunteers check nest boxes regularly and record the number of eggs, when and how many chicks hatch, and when the chicks leave the nest box at the end of the season. The specially designed boxes have a trap door that allows us to capture and band both adults and chicks. The uniquely numbered leg bands allow us to identify individuals and estimate survival rates of recaptured birds. Data from this project will help us better understand the factors affecting Tree Swallow breeding phenology, productivity, and survival in Alaska.

Because AKPB can only be accessed by boat or plane, the Tree Swallow Project provides a unique opportunity to involve the communities of King Salmon and Naknek in our research.  The Tree Swallow Project has reached students across the Alaska Peninsula, including the remote villages of Chignik Lake and Perryville. During summer, Bristol Bay summer camps, homeschool students, and community members in King Salmon and Naknek join Refuge biologists in Tree Swallow banding demonstrations, providing an exciting opportunity to see science in action and live birds in the hand. Statewide, ASMN outreach events and social media posts have reached over 53,000 people.

This project has also been a great avenue for young scientists and summer interns to gain experience in biological field work, managing data, and leading educational events. Since 2016, interns have logged close to 5,000 hours of volunteer time monitoring birds. Business owners and private residents who have volunteered to host nest boxes have expressed much joy in watching the Tree Swallows attend their boxes each summer.

Refuge intern Emily Leung holds an adult Tree Swallow captured at the Bristol Bay School in Naknek (USFWS photo).

A joint analysis of the Tree Swallow data collected in King Salmon, Bethel, Fairbanks, Anchorage, and McCarthy between 2014 and 2019 is currently underway in cooperation with University of Alaska Anchorage and other partners statewide. The results of this analysis will provide a comprehensive look at how aerial insectivores at northern latitudes are responding to changes in their breeding environment. The citizen science approach has allowed us not only to collect excellent data, but has engaged youth and the community in science and natural resource management at AKPB.

Nothing much has changed since last month.  Campgrounds, trails and refuge lands are open as they have been and visitors are flocking to road accessible Kenai.  Visitors need to be extra responsible as there are no campground hosts and few seasonal staff.  Bring correct change for camping fees and firewood from home.  Offices and visitor centers are still closed with no timetable for reopening as the infection rate in Alaska is accelerating.  Kenai Refuge has found a safe way to reach out to visitors in a parking lot,open-air, tent staffed Thursdays through Saturdays.  

If you are traveling to Alaska, be sure to consult State of Alaska regulations which requires testing prior to flights or quarantine after.  If you are thinking of visiting a refuge off the road system, be aware that many rural communities have their own restrictions on travel.  Check with the State, the communities and the refuge you wish to visit for the latest information.

By Brie Drummond, Wildlife Biologist at Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge

A special bird that few people see, red-legged kittiwakes nest on only a few remote islands in the Bering Sea.  With few breeding colonies and a highly specialized diet of myctophid fish, red-legged kittiwakes are especially vulnerable to changes in their breeding and marine foraging habitats, including those brought about by climate change and introduced predators.  All red-legged kittiwakes in Alaska (85% of the global population) breed on Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge.  For the last four decades, Refuge staff have collected extensive data on this species during the summer breeding season, including numbers of birds returning to colonies each year, numbers of chicks hatching and fledging, and what chicks are fed.  However, we know very little about what happens to red-legged kittiwakes the rest of the year.  Research on other seabird species shows that winter conditions can play a large role in both survival and success at the colony the following summer, so we wanted to learn more about what kittiwakes experienced when away from the colony. 


Red-legged kittiwakes (photo by Brie Drummond, AMNWR)

We used geolocation loggers (or geolocators) to record locations and behaviors of red-legged kittiwakes during the winters of 2016-2017 and 2017-2018.  Geolocators are small data recording devices (~1 gram or the size and weight of a large raisin) that attach to a plastic leg band and record light levels and immersion in saltwater.  From those data, we generate twice-daily latitude and longitude positions for each bird and estimate how birds spent their time (flying, sitting on the water, or actively foraging). 

To explore whether red-legged kittiwakes from different colonies had similar wintering locations and behavior, we deployed geolocators on birds from the two largest breeding colonies in Alaska, St. George Island in the Pribilof Islands and Buldir Island in the western Aleutian Islands, separated by1000 kilometers.  We captured and tagged kittiwakes during the summer breeding season when birds were attending nests at the colonies.  Geolocators do not transmit data remotely, so biologists must recapture the birds in subsequent breeding seasons in order to retrieve devices and download data.  For the St. George component of the study, we collaborated with Dr. Rachael Orben, an Oregon State University researcher.

We found where red-legged kittiwakes from the two colonies spent the winters depended on the time of year.  Birds from both locations left their breeding colony in late August or early September.  During the fall and early winter (October-December), St. George kittiwakes were in the Bering Sea whereas Buldir kittiwakes were thousands of miles west off the Russian coast in the Sea of Okhotsk.  However, during late winter (January-March), the two colonies overlapped in their distribution, especially in an area east of the Kuril Islands.  By April, birds were back at their respective breeding colonies.  These patterns were almost identical during the two winters of our study.

From the behavior data, we learned that birds from both colonies had similar activity budgets during the non-breeding season, spending most of the night sitting on water and flying during the day.  Most active foraging occurred the hour before and after dawn; this may reflect foraging for myctophids, which are generally available at the ocean’s surface only at night.

We learned important information about where and how red-legged kittiwakes from Alaska’s two largest colonies spend their time when away from the breeding grounds.  The region east of the Kuril Islands appears to be crucial for the global red-legged kittiwake population; interestingly, this area is a winter vacation hotspot for many other Alaskan seabirds.  We hope to publish these data in a scientific journal soon to share this information with other seabird researchers.

Need a stunning backdrop for your next zoom meeting?  How about a quick virtual yoga break with wildlife?  Are the kids getting you down?  Need new distractions for them where they will also learn something?  Dreaming of escaping to a wild place teeming with wildlife?  Alaska’s Refuges have you covered!  Check out these offerings.

• Eagle, puffin, walrus or salmon to loom over your shoulder during your next zoom meeting.  Download the zoom backgrounds here.
• Arctic Refuge Wildlife Yoga with Refuge Ranger Allyssa Morris. On Facebook here.  Also Kanuti Refuge Wildlife Yoga. and coming soon – Yukon Flats Wildlife Yoga
• Spring ice fishing story time for kids with Selawik National Wildlife Refuge Ranger Brittany Sweeney.
• A hot-off-the presses virtual tour of the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge.  Stunning scenery and impressive wildlife footage of bears, fish and birds highlight this 17-minute film made by Cornell Lab of Ornithology.  Download here.

I am hoping we can embed these urls  maybe the highlighted words would be best to link

Caption:  Would two photos side by side work or not enough width?  Maybe best to stick with one for those who view on phones. If one I am thinking the eagle what do you think?

Alaska Regional Friends Coordinator Helen Strackeljahn models one (some) of the wildlife zoom backgrounds available from Alaska Refuges online.  Helen is our principle contact in the Fish & Wildlife Service and is a great supporter of Friends.

By Delia Vargas-Kretsinger, wildlife biologist at Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge

Elodea, the genus for waterweed, can be a nasty plant outside its native range. Known as the first submersed aquatic invasive plant to establish in Alaska, it propagates vegetatively from stem fragments. These fragments hitchhike on boats, trailers and float plane rudders to waterbodies all over Alaska where they can establish and spread quickly. Elodea degrades aquatic habitats by reducing oxygen, increasing sedimentation, altering stream flow and displacing native flora. Dense infestations impede boat navigation into hunting and fishing areas, even hindering floatplane operations.

Rosemary McGuire (FWSCD crew) sampling Bettles floatpond.

Elodea was probably introduced to the Fairbanks area via an aquarium dump. Chena Slough was chock full of Elodea when it was first identified there in 2009 by a couple of Forest Service scientists. Fortuitously, they had a copy of the Introduction to Common Native & Potential Invasive Freshwater Plants in Alaska.

The discovery led invasive species managers to think about where else Elodea had spread. The Fairbanks Soil and Water Conservation District (FSWCD) took the early lead, conducting Elodea surveys in Chena Slough and popular lakes in the Fairbanks North Star Borough, even as fragments continued to flow down the Chena River. A fellow Fairbanksan said in 2015 that Elodea could be seen adrift in the current from the shore of the Chena Pump House Restaurant.

In 2015 I worked with the National Park Service, Fairbanks Soil and Water Conservation District (FSWCD), University of Alaska Fairbanks and other USFWS biologists to survey for Elodea downstream of Fairbanks. It has been found in Totchaket Slough and Manley Hot Springs Slough on the Tanana River, apparently in route to the Yukon River. The Koyukuk, Nowitna, Innoko, Kanuti and Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuges are all at risk, either downstream of known Elodea infestations or within the dispersal range of floatplanes.   

Data sheet

When we considered the scope of the area and the abundance of waterbodies associated with the Yukon River and its major tributaries (Tanana and Koyukuk Rivers), it became clear pretty quickly that we’d have to weed out waterbodies that did not fit the habitat criteria for Elodea. In flowing systems, Elodea seems to prefer low velocity and clear water. Known infestations on the Tanana were found in sloughs with only one entrance (no upper mouth) so this is something we key into when reviewing aerial and satellite imagery. And, of course, we look for waterbodies with a clear connection to the main river. Then, navigating with an iPad, we search for Elodea from the boat or shore, using throw rakes to sample the water column. GPS coordinates are collected for each throw rake location. Collectively we put in a lot of boat time on these rivers.

Delia Vargas surveying Totchaket Slough

The good news is that even as we survey for Elodea, the FSWCD has begun treating infestations in the Fairbanks area with fluridone, an aquatic herbicide that at extremely low doses can eradicate Elodea but not native flora. To date, fluridone has been applied in Chena and Totchaket Sloughs, Chena Lake and Bathing Beauty Pond.  Birch Lake and Manley Hot Springs Slough will be treated this spring, but the coronavirus may derail that schedule.  Similarly, we had planned to survey the middle Yukon River this summer but the pandemic has put that on hold for now.

We are hopeful that Elodea can be contained and eradicated before it spreads further, but we need your help. Inspect your boat, plane and fishing gear before traveling to other waterbodies. If you see an aquatic plant that looks different, take a photo, note the location and REPORT IT: 1-877-INVASIV (468-2748).  Here’s a great app to help you identify Elodea and other weeds: Help us keep our waters free of invasives!