McKay's Bunting
Common
Name: McKay's Bunting (MCBU)
Scientific
Name:
Plectrophenax
hyperboreus
Global/Continental
Conservation Status: IUCN 2004 Red List – NT
(Near Threatened)
National-level
Conservation Status:
U.S.
– Bird of Conservation Concern
Key
Reference(s):
BNA No. 198-199 (Lyon and Montgomerie 1995)
Distribution:
Breeds in
Alaska
on islands in the Bering Sea (Hall and St. Matthew, also rarely on
St. Paul
in the Pribilofs and on St. Lawrence).
Winters on the coast of w and se
Alaska
(
Nome
to
Cold
Bay
, including
Nunivak
Island
), casually to the Aleutians (Adak, Unalaska) and s-coastal
Alaska
(
Kodiak Island
, Homer) (AOU 1998).
Habitat
Associations:
Open rocky ground, beaches, and shores of tundra pools; in
migration and winter in open rocky or sandy areas (AOU 1998).
Source(s)
of Research/monitoring Needs: Alaska Bird Conservation
Plan; BNA No. 198-199 (Lyon and Montgomerie 1995); PIF Monitoring Needs
document (Partners in Flight Science Committee 2004)
PIF
Continental Plan Monitoring Needs Category: Mo1 (Essentially no data on
population trend) and Mo3 (species with inadequate northern coverage)
RESEARCH/MONITORING NEEDS (source(s) of needs)
Monitoring
- Priority
monitoring action – Conduct species-specific surveys (PIF Monitoring
Needs doc); (similar) Survey of breeding grounds to determine
population density and assess whether populations are stable or
threatened (BNA)
- High
priority candidate for rapid status assessment (PIF Monitoring Needs
doc)
- Determine
population status for MCBU in western/southwestern
Alaska
(
Alaska
)
Habitat
Needs/Ecology/Life History
- Studies
of behavioral, molecular, & evolutionary ecology of this
relatively recent geographical isolate (BNA)
[Link
to References]
[Link
to PIF Bird Conservation Plans]
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