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Outfoxed Aleutians: Back in the Skein Lane
Dramatic success stories in wildlife conservation are uncommon. While many citizens are aware of the recovery of the Bald Eagle and Peregrine Falcon, and the whisking-away-from-the-brink of the Whooping Crane, fewer may know the story of the Aleutian Cackling Goose (B. h. leucopareia)
This medium-sized waterfowl, confined to the Pacific Flyway, was formerly considered a subspecies of Canada Goose, and has been reclassified as a subspecies of the “new” species, Cackling Goose. In times preceding scientific record, it may have been an abundant breeding bird on most of the Aleutians, the long chain of volcanic islands extending across the North Pacific in an arc from southwestern Alaska. During the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, Russian expeditions, looking to establish a future fur source, introduced foxes on a great many Aleutian islands to which those predators weren’t native. As a result, the Aleutian Cackling Geese disappeared everywhere—except on a couple of islands to which foxes, fortuitously, had not been transplanted.
With their white “chinstrap” and black “neck stocking,” Aleutian Cackling Geese are similar to other Cacklers. They may be distinguished by the variable, but typically quite prominent, white ring at the lower end of the neck, and a dark terminal ring or mark below the white. As they spend much time in a maritime environment, they have evolved an enlarged salt gland above the bill, which produces a high-domed or abrupt look to the forehead. This Aleutian Cackler was photographed at the Humboldt Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Humboldt Co., California on 24 January 2006 (Photo taken by Ron LeValley using a Canon EOS 20D camera with a Canon 300mm f4 lens and a Canon 1.4 teleconverter)
Dr. Paul F. "Doc" Springer 1922-2007 (Photo provided by Tom Leskiw).
Until the mid-1960s, this taxon was thought possibly to have become extinct. However, some birds suspected of being Aleutians were detected wintering in the Central Valley of California. Further exploration led to the discovery of their remnant breeding grounds, which supported only a precious few hundred geese. The bird was listed under the Endangered Species Act, and an intensive program of fox removal was undertaken on many Aleutian islands. The late Dr. Paul Springer spearheaded this U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service program. "Doc" Springer, as he was affectionately known, was also an Adjunct Professor of Wildlife at Humboldt State University (HSU) in Arcata, California, and an avid birder. In his 2008 master's thesis, completed at HSU, Dominic Bachman credits Springer's "tenacity" and his 30+ years of dedication to the Aleutian recovery effort with necessitating his research, which deals with managing pasturelands for this formerly rare goose (Bachman 2008).
We have since learned that, in autumn, Aleutian Cackling Geese migrate from their breeding islands southeastward directly across the open Pacific Ocean to the coast of southern Oregon and far northern California. They then continue across the Klamath Mountains and the Coast Range to wintering grounds which are chiefly in the San Joaquin Valley. In spring, the birds move northwestward, “staging” (essentially, fattening up) in dairy pastures of coastal Humboldt and Del Norte counties in California and in neighboring coastal Curry County in Oregon.
During the 1970s and 1980s, the recovery of Aleutians progressed incrementally, but about twenty years ago the population seems to have reached a critical mass and things really took off. Today the geese number in excess of 100,000! Especially in late winter and early spring, their burgeoning flocks concentrate on pastures where competition for forage with dairy cows can produce local “bio-political headaches” for landowners and wildlife managers. It has been stated that twenty Aleutian Cackling Geese may eat as much grass in one day as a cow! Today the dairymen most affected are allowed to “haze” the geese with dogs, propane cannons, and ultralight aircraft. The effect of this hazing has been to disperse the flocks and reduce foraging pressure. A limited hunt is now allowed. The occasional conflicts created by the exponential growth of the Aleutian Cackling Goose population reportedly led Doc Springer to quip, "“Some might say I have been too successful” (Bachman 2008).
During February and March, much of the population of Aleuts “bottlenecks” in time and space around Humboldt Bay, which is surrounded on three sides by thousands of acres of pastureland--lush with the sprouting grass the birds relish. Many Aleutians spend the night on managed wetlands of the Salmon Creek Unit of Humboldt Bay N.W.R. Rising before sunrise each day they fly out nearly en masse as they head for outlying foraging sites. The uplifting spectacle of tens of thousands of Aleuts flying off the refuge within the span of an hour has become a well-known phenomenon. In recent years, these daily flights have spawned the “Fly-off Weekend” in early March, during which the Refuge staff swings open the main gate before dawn on Saturday and Sunday to offer coffee, pastry, interpretive materials, kids’ activities, and a wildlife extravaganza to hundreds of visitors from all walks of life.
The skeins of Aleutian Cackling Geese visible in this image, taken at dawn on 10 March 2009 near Fields Landing, Humboldt County, California, represent a fraction of the typical morning fly-out one might expect to see over South Humboldt Bay in late winter/early spring. (Photo taken by Gordon Inkeles)
As spring arrives, the flocks begin to disperse northward, with many of the geese stopping over to make use of equally fertile pastures in neighboring Del Norte County. Many then roost at night on Castle Rock, a sea island just northwest of Crescent City. As Castle Rock is one of the most important seabird nesting sites along the West Coast, and is covered with fragile soils, biologists are concerned that mobs of geese may negatively impact burrow-nesting seabirds. In recent years, Aleuts have increasingly spent time in coastal bottomlands of the New River, in south-coastal Oregon. Small flocks now occur in migration or winter elsewhere along the Oregon and northern California coast. It seems that each year brings more geese, more public attention, and also subtle shifts in the habits of the birds.
Their flight call is a loud yelp that is similar to that of the more widespread minima Cackling Goose, but a bit lower-pitched. Distant calls are often heard well before one catches the first sight of a skein of Aleuts coming in off the ocean. It’s a joyous experience indeed, and one that we might not experience if not for the work of Dr. Paul Springer and others.
Literature Cited:
Bachman, Dominic, C., 2008. "Managing Grassland Pastures at Humboldt National Wildlife Refuge for Aleutian Geese" M. S. Thesis, Humboldt State University. 34 pp.
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