This summer, we conducted a series of systematic field surveys for breeding birds in the Red Dog Mine area.
The objective of these surveys was to quantify the occurrence of all bird species breeding in the area, including species of conservation concern, by using an existing network of survey points and standardized protocols that had been established as part of earlier avian field studies in the mid-1990s and early 2000s. We resurveyed portions of this network in 2022, and in 2023, we continued the surveys and added sampling points in habitats that were not represented in the 2022 plot network.
The DeLong Mountain Transportation System (DMTS) and helicopter support from Red Dog Mine facilitated access to the otherwise remote and logistically challenging Arctic ecosystems of northwestern Alaska, which are known to be experiencing shrubification, permafrost thaw, and other changes to habitat conditions as a result of climate warming.