Distribution and Subspecies of the Dovekie in Alaska

Abstract

The Dovekie (Alle alle) is a primarily North Atlantic alcid that also breeds in the Arctic Basin of the northeastern U.S.S.R. and probably eastward to the Bering Strait and the northern Bering Sea (Vaurie 1965, Kessel and Gibson 1978, AOU 1983). In the latter areas, the Dovekie occurs annually and almost certainly breeds at Little Diomede Island, King Island, and western St. Lawrence Island (Kessel and Gibson 1978), where it is seen on talus slopes containing colonies of auklets (Parakeet Auklet, Cyclorrhynchus psittacula, Least Auklet, Aethia pusilla, and Crested Auklet, A. cristatella). Surprisingly, there is no record of the Dovekie from the auklet colonies at Big Diomede Island (Portenko 1973). The only published Alaska records of Dovekies away from these islands are single records from Point Barrow (Bailey 1948), Wainwright (Hersey 1916), and St. George Island (Holmes 1968; also see Fig. 1). In this paper, we report additional records that further outline the range, and we discuss the subspecific status, of the Dovekie in Alaska. The only records of Dovekies from the Alaska sector of the Beaufort Sea are from Cooper Island, approximately 20 nm east of Point Barrow. Divoky has seen Dovekies there in three of the past 12 years (1976 to 1987): lone birds on 23 July 1980, 23 June 1983, and 16 June 1986. These birds landed in a Black Guillemot (Cepphus grylle) colony at times of the day when the guillemots' attendance was at its maximum (500 to 700 birds), suggesting that the Dovekies were attracted by the large number of guillemots. There also is a record of a Dovekie from the Alaska sector of the Arctic Basin, an adult female collected 20 July 1968 in heavy pack ice at 84030'N, 144000'W, approximately 850 nm north of Barter Island (UAM 1000). Dovekies may be more numerous in the Canadian Beaufort, for Smith (1973) found them to be regular along western Victoria Island and sporadic along western Banks Island, whereas Divoky (1984) saw none during approximately 300 hr of pelagic seabird transect research in the Alaska Beaufort. There are five Dovekie records from the Alaska sector of the Chukchi Sea. An immature was collected near Point Barrow on 13 July 1935 (CAS 7864; Bailey 1948), and two birds were seen near Wainwright on 10 August 1914 (Hersey 1916). On 15 September 1981, J. Nelson (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Anchorage, Alaska; pers. comm.) saw three Dovekies at 71004'N, 161058'W, approximately 110 nm west of Barrow; on the following day, he saw four more at 70031'N, 161054'W, approximately 40 nm west of Wainwright. On 30 August 1987, A. E. Stone (University of Alaska, Fairbanks; pers. comm.) saw a breeding-plumaged bird at 67038'N, 167035'W, approximately 130 nm northeast of Little Diomede Island. Dovekies have been recorded recently at St. Matthew Island, central Bering Sea, in three different years. At least nine were seen offshore from Big Lake on 28 May 1982 (A. L. Sowls, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Homer, Alaska; pers. comm.), and one or two were seen in auklet colonies near Glory of Russia Cape on 12 to 24 June 1983 (B. A. Cooper, University of Alaska, Fairbanks; pers. comm.) and 10 July 1985 (Sowls, pers. comm.). There are no specimens from St. Matthew Island. There are four Dovekie records from the Pribilof Islands, two from St. Paul, one from St. George, and one at sea near the Pribilofs. At St. Paul, lone birds were seen with flocks of auklets off Reef Point on 13 June 1981 and 19 June 1984 (Kessel and Gibson, UAM; unpubl. records). The St. George record is of a single bird in a mixed flock ofauklets east of St. George village on 8 July 1958 (Holmes 1968). The at-sea record is of one bird seen at 58009'N, 171035'W (approximately 70 nm northwest of St. Paul Island) on 26 May 1978 by K. L. Wilson and A. E. Good. There are no specimens from the Pribilof Islands. There are three pelagic records of Dovekies from the North Pacific near the Aleutian Islands, two from the eastern Aleutians and one from the vicinity of the west'Received 5 October 1987. Final acceptance 22 February 1988.