On the Bristle-thighed Curlew problem: I saw one there once also but
haven't been back. Another thought about birders pursuing the retreating
frontier of BTC breeding across the tundra north of Nome... a factor that
should soon kick in to balance things is the Grizzly Bear population
alerted to the presence of easy prey (slow walking, slow talking Homo
sapiens, loaded down with camera gear) by the alarm calls of the birds.
After a few birders get eaten caution may once again set in allowing the
BTC's to return.

Gene Hunn (hunn at u.washington.edu)


On Wed, 31 Aug 1994, Dennis Paulson wrote:

> In response to Macklin Smith's comment about potential problems with
> leading bird tours to nesting localities, I have no doubt he is correct.
> There is lots of evidence to show that ravens, jaegers, arctic foxes and
> other animals clue in on nest sites discovered or disturbed by humans. And
> all it takes is one researcher, much less a tour group of 15 people.
>
> My (practical) response to this has been to think of a tiny proportion of
> the population of some less common birds (for example, those couple of
> nesting areas of bristle-thighed curlews accessible along the Kougarok Rd.
> north of Nome) as "expendable," that is that birders and bird tours should
> not be discouraged from seeking them out AT THAT LOCALITY. If the very
> people who admire them are responsible for their demise, then so be it. A
> feedback system is built in, and perhaps a couple of years of no or low
> birding pressure will allow the population to build back up. I think Bob
> Gill and others who are monitoring these birds have probably come to
> similar conclusions--a few territories are sacrificial to the birding
> community, but the line has to be drawn. No one's list takes precedence
> over the security of a bird population. I think there should be great
> resistance to allowing birders carte blanche on pursuing the "edge" of this
> population as it recedes (remember, these curlews breed over a wide area,
> most of them far from the nearest roads). Of course, you'd have to be an
> idiot to pursue the edge of the bristle-thighed curlew population; I went
> on an 8-mile hike across that horrendous tussock tundra just this July
> looking for that fabled bird--both at Coffee Dome and past the bridge at
> the end of the road--and didn't find one. I assume this was the declined
> population that Macklin wrote about (although the species was seen in both
> localities a few days before I visited). So I personally was affected by
> this, as well as the curlew populations! Rather than cursing jaegers *or*
> birders, I just concluded "just my luck, I'll have to go to the South Seas
> now."
>
> On the other hand, to my knowledge large shorebirds usually drive jaegers
> from their territories with great success. I have seen this interaction
> again and again with whimbrels, black-bellied plovers and others. Is there
> indeed evidence that jaegers take the eggs of these birds, even if they do
> determine the location of the nest?
>
> Dennis Paulson
>
>
>