Survival, Productivity, and Recruitment of Pacific Common Eiders Breeding at Kigigak Island, Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska

Project Number: 59

Year Funded: 2007

Lead Institution(s): US Fish and Wildlife Service

Project Lead: Bryce Lake

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Collaborator(s):

Location: Alaska

Focal Species: Common Eider (Somateria mollissima)

Project Description: Aerial surveys have documented a >90% population reduction over the past 40 years in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta population of Pacific common eiders (Stehn et al. 1993, Hodges et al. 1996) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Region 7) has identified Pacific common eiders as a “focal species” (USFWS 2006). This study builds upon a previously established sample of marked adult females (n = 190) and ducklings (n = 250) at one site (Kigigak Island) in an effort to characterize annual variation in survival and productivity.