Bristol Bay's Resident and Migratory Birds
Tundra Swans - Photo by Bill Schmoker (7) |
Steller's Eider - Photo by Mike Danzenbaker (8) |
|---|
Bristol Bay provides habitat for 85 species of resident and migrating birds (MMS, 1985). The area is home to Alaska’s second to largest population of breeding tundra swans (U.S. Coast Guard, 2001). Bristol Bay also provides nesting habitat for bald eagles, a variety of geese, peregrine falcons, golden eagles and osprey. Seabirds found in the area include murres, cormorants and puffins among others. Most migrating birds begin arriving in the Bristol Bay region in April and leave by October (U.S. Coast Guard, 2001). The federally endangered short-tailed albatross is a resident of this region, as is the federally threatened Steller’s eider, for which portions of the Bristol Bay region have been designated as critical habitat (U.S. Coast Guard, 2001). The federally threatened spectacled eider migrates through this region (U.S. Coast Guard, 2001).