Environmental Implications - Other birds
Sea Duck
Sea ducks visit the 1002 region for 2 to 4 weeks every year.
While they do not breed here, they use the area for molting purposes.
Anywhere from 10,000 to 30,000 birds visit the region each year. Predators
include the arctic fox and glaucous gulls.
Critical Time Periods
Sea ducks visit the 1002 region from mid-July to mid-September.
Sensitivities
There has been a decline in the number of sea ducks and other marine birds
in the area, which raises concern about the impact that oil drilling will
have on them, especially if there is a spill. Sea ducks are especially
vulnerable during their stay on the North Slope because the time they
spend there is for molting. This leaves them unable to fly for 3-4 weeks.
Molting also requires a large amount of protein to grow new feathers.
Oil drilling could potentially disrupt the ducks' foraging capabilities,
depriving them of much needed nutrients. However, one study showed that
the ducks' foraging patterns are not significantly altered by minor disturbances,
which perhaps suggests that oil drilling will not have a large impact
on them. Another study that was performed showed that seismic activity
does disturb ducks. Their results show a decline in population in a certain
area where seismic activity starts, although underwater seismic activity
had no effect on them.
Buff Breasted Sandpiper
General Information
Buff-breasted Sandpipers migrate to their wintering grounds in groups
from 500-2200; their populations suffered from development of agriculture
in the Great Plains of North America and the Pampas of South America.
The Sandpiper's key wintering sites must be protected.
Critical Time Periods
The Buff-Breasted sandpipers arrive in their Alaskan breeding grounds
in mid-April and vacate their breeding grounds in mid-July.
Sensitivities
The Buff-breasted Sandpiper mates in leks, or an area of ground approximately
8 acres in size, each containing about 10 males. Therefore the ground
taken up by a mating Buff-breasted Sandpiper flock is fairly extensive.
Human development of winter habitats infringes on land, disrupts the mating
pattern and also attracts predators to the area.
Tundra Swan
General Information
Twice a year, Tundra Swans migrate 6,000 km between breeding areas in
Alaska and The Canadian Arctic and wintering areas in eastern and western
North America. Approximately 150 pairs of tundra swans nest on the coastal
plain. Tundra swans feed on the following plants: foxtail and other grasses,
wild celery, pondweeds, smartweeds, square-stem spike rush , arrowhead,
coontail, mermaid weed, muskgrasses, bulrushes, horsetail, wigeon grass,
and bur reed. Rice and barley are eaten in stubble fields. Tundra swans
also feed on waste corn in both dry and flooded fields and upon harvested
potatoes. These swans commonly fly as far as 10 to 15 miles (16-24 km)
inland to glean waste corn and soybeans and to browse upon shoots of winter
wheat. Animals that prey on tundra swans include: Golden Eagles, jaegers,
wolves, foxes, and bears.
Critical Time Periods
Tundra swans start nesting between May and late June, depending on location
and weather. During fall migration, tundra swans leave their major breeding
grounds in the 1002 area in late September and early October. For their
spring migration, tundra swans leave their central California winter grounds
in mid-February, and most of the birds have departed within 3 weeks. By
early April almost all of them have migrated north to Alaska and Canada.
Sensitivities
Scientists believe that new Tundra swan pairs are less likely to establish
themselves on lakes where humans reside. They are extremely sensitive
to noise pollution and as a
result, inadvertent disturbance can cause adult swans to abandon their
nests and cygnets. |