Alaska Shorebird Group Annual Summary Compilation

Alaska Shorebird Groupconnecting changes in rocky coast shorebird migration patterns to possible climate change ontheir breeding grounds.Contact: Mary Anne Bishop, Prince William Sound Science Center, PO Box 705, Cordova, AK99574. Phone: 907-424-5800 x 228; email: mbishop@pwssc.org.#3 MONITORING SEMIPALMATED PLOVERS BREEDING ATEGG ISLAND, COPPER RIVER DELTAINVESTIGATORS: MARY ANNE BISHOP, PRINCE WILLIAM SOUNDSCIENCE CENTER AND ERICA NOL, TRENT UNIVERSITYNorth American shorebirds have experienced population declines over the last several decades.Semipalmated Plover, however, are one shorebird species whose numbers are apparently stable.Building on research conducted in 2006 and 2008, we began a study in 2011 on a breedingpopulation of Semipalmated Plovers at Egg Island, a barrier island on Alaska’s Copper RiverDelta. The objectives of our study are to monitor breeding phenology and to determinesurvivorship based on return rates of banded breeders. During the first week of June 2012, welocated 17 nests. Nest initiation was approximately one week later than in previous years withfull clutches observed in only 10 of the 17 nests. In all, we banded seven adult Semipalmatedplovers and resighted 18 plovers banded previously on Egg Island. Additional field work isplanned for Egg Island in 2013.Contact: Mary Anne Bishop, Prince William Sound Science Center, PO Box 705, Cordova, AK99574. Phone: 907-424-5800 x 228; email: mbishop@pwssc.org.9Adult breeding Black Turnstone at Cape Krusenstern National Monument, June 2012.E. D’Astous/USFWS