The Eider Pass at Point Barrow, Alaska

Abstract

Daily observations were made on king (Somateria spectabilis) and Pacific eiders (Somateria mollissima v. nigra) at the Camp, Point Barrow, Alaska, July 14-September 1, 1953. Mean flock size was 105 birds from a sample of 497 flocks. The flight was segregated as to sex and age. In the period August 8-17, the king eider sex ratio shifted from a preponderance of males to a preponderance of females. The mean weight of 41 adult king eider males (1,668 grams) differed from the mean weight of 140 adult females (1,567 grams) at a high level of significance. Limited observations on molt phenology indicated a relatively high degree of synchronization of molt pattern within each sex. Molt of body plumage had reached the caudal tract in king eider males by August 14; females were not so far advanced. Peak eider flights tended to occur with favorable winds; however, the birds were not sensitive to wind velocities below 9 miles per hour. An average of 987 eiders per hour was recorded in 46 days of observation in 1953. The average number of hunters per hour was 4.1. In their average performance, these 4.1 hunters fired 11.5 shots, killed 3.5 eiders, and failed to recover 1.5 cripples per hour. Total mortality to southbound adult eiders from Point Barrow hunters was estimated to be 0.5 percent in 1953. The at Point Barrow, Alaska, is one of the most spectacular shooting passes on the North American continent. All of the king (Somateria spectabilis) and Pacific eiders (Somateria mollissima v. nigra) breeding east of Point Barrow migrate over the base of the narrow spit which extends 6 miles northward into the Arctic Ocean. The Duck Camp is a temporary village of tents and other shelters thrown up each summer at the base of the spit (see inset map, Fig. 2). This modern hunting camp occupies the site of the middens of Birnirk (Spencer 1959:16), indicating that the precontact Barrow Eskimo successfully hunted eiders at this same pass, using essentially stoneage weapons. W. K. Carter (Personal communication) has informed me that bone and ivory bola weights are the most common weapons among more than 30,000 artifacts recovered from the Birnirk site by Harvard University archeological survey crews from 1951 to 1953. Carter estimates this material to date from the period 500 to 1000 A. D. While eiders were not a vital part of the game economy of the Barrow Eskimo (Murdock 1898:732), they were (and still are) a substantial item in the diet of many families. The tradition of a summer encampment during the annual eider shoot is strongly rooted in their hunting culture. However, the modern Eskimo is subject to the same regulations in hunting waterfowl as any other citizen of the United States. In 1941, the Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife initiated a combined educational and law enforcement program aimed at bringing about better game law observance on the part of the native population of Alaska. Satisfactory progress has been slow because of a limited enforcement staff and the vast land area requiring coverage. Initially the program was directed at people living in or near the larger population centers. Since 1959 the program has been extended into the more 1 Contribution of the New York Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit: New York Conservation Department, Cornell University, U. S. Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife, and Wildlife Management Institute, cooperating.