A Dovekie on the Pribilof Islands, Alaska

Abstract

Until recently, the only record of the Dovekie (Plautus alle) in Alaska was of one specimen taken in 1935 near Point Barrow (Gabrielson and Lincoln, Birds of Alaska, 1959). In 1965, however, B6dard (Condor 68:503506, 1966) collected one Dovekie and sighted four more among the large concentrations of colonial sea birds on St. Lawrence Island, Alaska, and in the same year, Breckenridge (Auk 83:680, 1966) collected two individuals and reported other observations of this species on Little Diomede Island, Alaska. With the occurrence of Dovekies along the west coast of Alaska now substantiated, I will report here an observational record of this species from a yet more southerly locality in the Bering Sea, St. George Island, Pribilof Islands, Alaska. On 8 July 1958, while censusing alcids along the low cliffs one mile northeast of the village of St. George, I observed a single Dovekie among a small group of Least Auklets (Aethia pusilla), Crested Auklets (A. cristatella), and Parakeet Auklets (Cyclorrhynchus psittacula). This group was sitting atop a large boulder at the base of a 60-foot cliff, which was populated with many more small auklets and with kittiwakes (Rissa spp). The Dovekie remained on the boulder during the hour that I was present, but was gone when I returned later that afternoon. I was unable to find the bird on subsequent trips to the area. Although Dovekies have not previously been reported from the Pribilofs, a region in which there have been relatively intensive ornithological activities, several natives of St. George were familiar with the species and indicated that they usually see a few every year. Present evidence, therefore, suggests that Dovekies may be more regular, although certainly uncommon, inhabitants of islands in the Bering Sea than had previously been thought.