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Landbird Research in Alaska Active

By Alaska Science Center July 13, 2017

On this page, learn about USGS work on Beak Deformities and Boreal Partners in Flight.

Return to Ecosystems >> Terrestrial Ecosystems

 

Alaska Landbird Monitoring Survey (ALMS)

Biologist looking through binoculars on the tundra of the Seward Peninsula, Alaska
Sources/Usage: Public Domain.
USGS biologist Skyler Vold conducts a bird survey on Alaska’s Seward Peninsula.
(Credit: Lance McNew, USGS)

Alaska provides breeding habitat for >140 regularly occurring species of landbirds, half of which breed predominantly north of the U.S.–Canada border. The road-based North American Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) provides some data on population trends in Alaska, but most northern species are inadequately monitored by that continental program because of a paucity of roads. Boreal Partners in Flight developed the Alaska Landbird Monitoring Survey (ALMS) to monitor breeding populations of landbirds in the vast off-road areas of Alaska and to complement data collected from the roadside BBS.

Beak Deformities in Landbirds

The Alaska Science Center began research on a cluster of beak deformities in landbirds in Alaska in 1999. We have since identified more than 3,000 Black-capped Chickadees affected by this disease, known as avian keratin disorder, which represents the highest concentration of such abnormalities ever recorded in a wild bird population!  More recently, increasing numbers of other species, including nuthatches, woodpeckers, crows, and jays have also been reported with beak deformities by biologists and local residents.

Boreal Partners in Flight

Alaska Landbird Resource Information System, the official web site for Boreal Partners in Flight!  Here is the place to learn more about the Boreal Partners in Flight program and our efforts to understand and conserve northern populations of landbirds.

 

Below are other science projects associated with this project.

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Caribou grazing near the Dalton Highway in the northern part of Alaska.

Changing Arctic Ecosystems

Arctic regions of Alaska are important for cultural and economic sustainability and host a wide variety of wildlife species, many of which are of conservation and management interest to the U.S. Department of the Interior. The USGS and collaborators provide information about Arctic ecosystems that are used by Arctic residents, management agencies, and industry.
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Land Management Research Program, Species Management Research Program, Alaska Science Center
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Changing Arctic Ecosystems

Arctic regions of Alaska are important for cultural and economic sustainability and host a wide variety of wildlife species, many of which are of conservation and management interest to the U.S. Department of the Interior. The USGS and collaborators provide information about Arctic ecosystems that are used by Arctic residents, management agencies, and industry.
Learn More
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A Black-capped Chickadee on a branch with a grossly deformed beak

Beak Deformities in Landbirds

Over the past 20 years, Alaskans have witnessed a startling increase of beak deformities among Black-capped Chickadees and other species of resident birds. This disease, called avian keratin disorder (AKD), is characterized by debilitating beak overgrowth and other abnormalities of keratinized tissues. Affected birds have difficulty feeding and preening, and may suffer high rates of mortality.
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Biological Threats and Invasive Species Research Program, Species Management Research Program, Alaska Science Center
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Beak Deformities in Landbirds

Over the past 20 years, Alaskans have witnessed a startling increase of beak deformities among Black-capped Chickadees and other species of resident birds. This disease, called avian keratin disorder (AKD), is characterized by debilitating beak overgrowth and other abnormalities of keratinized tissues. Affected birds have difficulty feeding and preening, and may suffer high rates of mortality.
Learn More
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Logo for Boreal Partners in Flight

Boreal Partners in Flight

WELCOME to the Alaska Landbird Resource Information System, the official web site for Boreal Partners in Flight! Thanks for taking the time to learn more about the Boreal Partners in Flight program and our efforts to understand and conserve northern populations of landbirds.
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Species Management Research Program, Alaska Science Center
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Boreal Partners in Flight

WELCOME to the Alaska Landbird Resource Information System, the official web site for Boreal Partners in Flight! Thanks for taking the time to learn more about the Boreal Partners in Flight program and our efforts to understand and conserve northern populations of landbirds.
Learn More

Below are data or web applications associated with this project.

Data for Estimating McKay's Bunting (Plectrophenax hyperboreus) Population Change on St. Matthew and Hall Islands, Alaska

This dataset consists of three tables relating to (1) detections of adult McKay's Buntings from line transect with distance estimation surveys on St. Matthew and Hall islands in Alaska between May 30 and June 29, 2003 and June 6 and 11, 2018, (2) environmental covariates associated with detections of adult McKay's Buntings in less than or equal to 250-m long contiguous transect segments, and (3) e
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Alaska Science Center

Arthropod Abundance and Shrub Cover and Height on the Seward Peninsula, Alaska, 2015-2016

This data set contains information (in three tables) with numbers and biomass of invertebrates (primarily arthropods) collected in pitfall-trap arrays and sweep-net samples on a series of plots (n = 13 total) at one coastal and one interior study site on the Seward Peninsula in northwestern Alaska during the summers of 2015 and 2016. Associated data on the horizontal cover and height of shrub vege
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Alaska Science Center

Plasmodium Parasite Infection Data from Mosquitoes Collected in South-central Alaska, 2016

This data set includes two tables associated with a study of Plasmodium parasite infection in mosquitoes collected in south-central Alaska during the summer of 2016. The first table contains data regarding mosquito collection from three sites using CO2 baited CDC light traps. Mosquitoes were sorted and pooled according to collection date, genus, and location and subsequently screened for Plasmodiu
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Alaska Science Center

Blood Parasite Infection Data from Northwestern Crows (Corvus caurinus), Alaska, 2007-2008

This data set consists of two tables associated with a study of Haemosporidian parasite infection in Northwestern Crows (Corvus caurinus) sampled at six locations throughout southcentral and southeast Alaska in 2007-2008. The first table contains species, location, banding, and morphometric data for all samples. The second table contains results from heamosporidian parasite screening of crow blood
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Alaska Science Center

Below are multimedia items associated with this project.

Filter Total Items: 37
Misty pine trees overlaid with photo of man with short black hair wearing hiking gear on snowy landscape. link
A female McKay's Bunting songbird standing on the ground
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A male McKay's Bunting songbird sitting on a rock
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A male Wilson's Warbler songbird in a shrub
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A Black-capped Chickadee with a beak that has grown long and crossed
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A male longspur songbird in short grass
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An owl perched on an old log
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A close up of a male Willow Ptarmigan
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A nest of a warbler in a bush
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A bird nest camouflaged in the grass
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A Boreal Chickadee with a slightly longer upper beak than the lower beak
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A Red-breasted Nuthatch
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Young Arctic Warbler on branch with a band, Seward Peninsula, Alaska
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A sparrow in a bush
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Songbird sitting on the tundra
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Adult male Bluethroat with bands
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A Black-capped Chickadee with a severely deformed beak where the upper beak is elongated and curved down while the lower beak is
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A Black-capped Chickadee with a severely deformed beak where the upper beak is elongated and curved down while the lower beak is
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Black-capped chickadee with a normal beak
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A Black-capped Chickadee with an upper beak slightly longer than the lower beak
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A little gray bird
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Below are publications associated with this project.

Willow drives changes in arthropod communities of northwestern Alaska: Ecological implications of shrub expansion

Arthropods serve as complex linkages between plants and higher-level predators in Arctic ecosystems and provide key ecosystem services such as pollination and nutrient cycling. Arctic plant communities are changing as tall woody shrubs expand onto tundra, but potential effects on arthropod abundance and food web structure remain unclear. Changes in vegetation structure can alter the physical habit
Authors
Molly Mcdermott, Patricia Doak, Colleen M. Handel, Greg A. Breed, Christa Mulder
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Alaska Science Center

Implications of historical and contemporary processes on genetic differentiation of a declining boreal songbird: The rusty blackbird

The arrangement of habitat features via historical or contemporary events can strongly influence genomic and demographic connectivity, and in turn affect levels of genetic diversity and resilience of populations to environmental perturbation. The rusty blackbird (Euphagus carolinus) is a forested wetland habitat specialist whose population size has declined sharply (78%) over recent decades. The s
Authors
Robert E. Wilson, Steven M. Matsuoka, Luke L. Powell, James A. Johnson, Dean W. Demarest, Diana Stralberg, Sarah A. Sonsthagen
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Alaska Science Center

Climate-change refugia in boreal North America: What, where, and for how long?

TThe vast boreal biome plays an important role in the global carbon cycle but is experiencing particularly rapid climate warming, threatening the integrity of valued ecosystems and their component species. We developed a framework and taxonomy to identify climate‐change refugia potential in the North American boreal region, summarizing current knowledge regarding mechanisms, geographic distributio
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Diana Stralberg, Dominique Arseneault, Jennifer Baltzer, Quinn Barber, Erin Bayne, Yan Boulanger, Carissa Brown, Hilary Cooke, Kevin Devito, Jason Edwards, Cesar Estevo, Nadele Flynn, Lee Frelich, E. H. (T.) Hogg, Mark Johnston, Travis Logan, Steven M. Matsuoka, Paul Moore, Toni Lyn Morelli, Julienne Morissette, Elizabeth Nelson, Hedvig Nenzén, Scott Nielsen, Marc-André Parisien, John Pedlar, David Price, Fiona Schmiegelow, Stuart Slattery, Oliver Sonnentag, Daniel Thompson, Ellen Whitman
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Climate Adaptation Science Centers, Wildland Fire Science

At the end of the road: Lessons learned from comparing model- and design-based approaches to estimate population sizes of boreal birds in Alberta, Canada

Estimating population abundance is a challenging task complicated by the amount, type, and quality of available data. Conservationists have relied on design-based estimates from Partners in Flight (PIF), which primarily uses roadside data from the North American Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) to estimate populations sizes. However, the BBS was not designed to estimate population sizes. We developed mo
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Peter Solymos, Judith D Toms, Steven M. Matsuoka, Steven G. Cumming, Nicole K. S. Barker, Wayne E. Thogmartin, Diana Stralberg, Andrew D. Crosby, Francisco V Denes, Samuel Hache, C Lisa Mahon, Fiona K A Schmiegelow, Erin M. Bayne
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Alaska Science Center

Further information on the avifauna of St. Matthew and Hall Islands, Bering Sea, Alaska

In June and July 2018 and July 2019 we surveyed birds on St. Matthew and Hall islands, isolated in the central Bering Sea. Our surveys were focused on the McKay’s Bunting (Plectrophenax hyperboreus), Rock Sandpiper (Calidris ptilocnemis ptilocnemis), and Pelagic Cormorant (Phalacrocorax pelagicus) but encompassed all birds and yielded 13 species and four subspecies new to the islands’ avifaunal li
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Bryce W. Robinson, Jack J. Withrow, Rachel M. Richardson, Steven M. Matsuoka, Robert E. Gill, Andrew S. Johnson, Irby J. Lovette, James A. Johnson, Anthony R. DeGange, Marc D. Romano
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Alaska Science Center

Cryptic and extensive hybridization between ancient lineages of American crows

Most species and therefore most hybrid zones have historically been defined using phenotypic characters. However, both speciation and hybridization can occur with negligible morphological differentiation. Recently developed genomic tools provide the means to better understand cryptic speciation and hybridization. The Northwestern Crow (Corvus caurinus) and American Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos) are
Authors
David Slager, Kevin Epperly, Renee Ha, Sievert Rohwer, Christopher W. Woodall, Caroline R. Van Hemert, John Klicka
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Alaska Science Center

Prevalence and diversity of avian blood parasites in a resident northern passerine

Background: Climate-related changes are expected to influence the prevalence and distribution of vector-borne haemosporidian parasites at northern latitudes, although baseline information about resident birds is still lacking. In this study, we investigated prevalence and genetic diversity of Plasmodium, Haemoproteus, and Leucocytozoon parasites infecting the Northwestern Crow (Corvus caurinus), a
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Caroline R. Van Hemert, Brandt W. Meixell, Matthew M. Smith, Colleen M. Handel
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Alaska Science Center

Evaluating time-removal models for estimating availability of boreal birds during point count surveys: Sample size requirements and model complexity

We used conventional and finite mixture removal models with and without time-varying covariates to evaluate availability given presence for 152 bird species using data from point counts in boreal North America. We found that the choice of model had an impact on the estimability of unknown model parameters and affected the bias and variance of corrected counts. Finite mixture models provided better
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Peter Solymos, Steven M. Matsuoka, Steven G. Cumming, Diana Stralberg, Patricia C. Fontaine, Fiona K. A. Schmiegelow, Samantha J. Song, Erin M. Bayne
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Alaska Science Center

Avian keratin disorder of Alaska black-capped chickadees is associated with Poecivirus infection

BackgroundAvian keratin disorder (AKD) is an epizootic of debilitating beak deformities, first documented in black-capped chickadees (Poecile atricapillus) in Alaska during the late 1990s. Similar deformities have now been recorded in dozens of species of birds across multiple continents. Despite this, the etiology of AKD has remained elusive, making it difficult to assess the impacts of this dise
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Maxine Zylberberg, Caroline R. Van Hemert, Colleen M. Handel, Joseph L. DeRisi
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Alaska Science Center

Montane-breeding bird distribution and abundance across national parks of southwestern Alaska

Between 2004 and 2008, biologists conducted an inventory of breeding birds during May–June primarily in montane areas (>100 m above sea level) in Aniakchak National Monument and Preserve (Aniakchak NMP), Katmai National Park and Preserve (Katmai NPP), and Lake Clark National Park and Preserve (Lake Clark NPP) in southwestern Alaska. Observers conducted 1,021 point counts along 169 transects within
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Courtney L. Amundson, Colleen M. Handel, Daniel R. Ruthrauff, T. Lee Tibbitts, Robert E. Gill
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Alaska Science Center

Phylogeny and species traits predict bird detectability

Avian acoustic communication has resulted from evolutionary pressures and ecological constraints. We therefore expect that auditory detectability in birds might be predictable by species traits and phylogenetic relatedness. We evaluated the relationship between phylogeny, species traits, and field‐based estimates of the two processes that determine species detectability (singing rate and detection
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Peter Solymos, Steven M. Matsuoka, Diana Stralberg, Nicole K. S. Barker, Erin M. Bayne
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Alaska Science Center

Biogeography of boreal passerine range dynamics in western North America: past, present, and future

Many of the Neotropical migrant bird species that breed throughout the Canadian boreal region are not found in the Alaskan boreal region, separated by the northwestern cordilleran mountains, despite the presence of climatically suitable habitat. We asked whether biological or climatic factors constrain certain species from crossing this geographic barrier. Analyzing a comprehensive dataset for 80
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Diana Stralberg, Steven M. Matsuoka, Colleen M. Handel, Fiona K.A. Schmiegelow, Andreas Hamann, Erin M. Bayne
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Alaska Science Center

Below are news stories associated with this project.

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Story Map on the Alaska Landbird Monitoring Survey

A creative story map showcasing the Alaska Landbird Monitoring Survey (ALMS) has recently been developed by the Alaska Migratory Bird Management of...

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