Observations on Natural Mortality and Native Use of Eider Ducks along the Beaufort Sea Coast

Abstract

ity oF Kine Emers, Somateria spectabilis, and other sea birds in the Beaufort Sea area can be quite extensive.Natural catastrophes due to late break-up of the sea-ice can cause a 10 per cent starvation loss of the population which uses the Arctic coast migration routes, but heavy losses can also be caused by predation and from freezing-in before the birds reach flight stage in the autumn.However, native kill usually amounts to only one per cent or less of this population.On Monday, June 22, 1964, the Tundra Times of Fairbanks, Alaska, carried the following note from their Point Barrow reporter, Guy Okakok, headlined "Open Water Late in Coming to Farthest North Region.""Yesterday, a word came into Barrow that several ducks died of starvation.Why did they die?Answer is clear and simple.Its because they can't find any water nowheres. .."This is the first published report, and an accurate one, of an extensive die-off of King Eiders and other seabirds during the spring migration along the Beaufort Sea in 1964.