JPM Myers 1976 Journal 47-a Nuvuk, Pt Barrow, Alaska 12 August (cant'd) The birds, according to Connors crew (Jim Carleton, invertebrate zoologist par excellence), the phalaropus terns, sabine gulls, etc., are eating euphausids, swept up to shore by the wind. The dispersion of birds suggests that their swarms are extremely patchy in their distribution: 1st - birds are markedly patchy in distributing themselves. Aggregation of the 3 main species (Phalaropus, Xema, Rissa) are very dense when they occur, but there may be several hundred meters of beach between their different flocks. Second, the birds appear to be tightly locked to a particular section of beach, suggesting that there, and only there, are euphausids very abundant. My evidence for this is entirely qualitative: when I park beside a swarm, even though initially the birds may scatter, very quickly they return to feed in the same spot, even though I am within 1-5 meters distant, and despite many meters of unaltered beach on either side. This willingness to return extends to Rissa and Xema, as well as to Phalaropus. 15 August I did not go to the point today, but Connors et al. did. They report that birds are extraordinarily well dispersed along the coast and out to sea. Weather conditions are quite different today, with almost no wind. Carleton reports a lower density of euphausids, and no obvious swarming by the shoreline. Connors says that he saw a few patches of discolored water out to sea, upon which terns seemed to be congregating. The other factor which may be important today is the abundance of humans - it's a warm Sunday and the ice is out. Eskimoes glorying in water sports, primarily target shooting at birds along the shoreline, and soaring after them in boats.