U. S. Department of the Interior BLM-Alaska Open File Report 89 

Bureau of Land Management BLM/AK/ST-03/009+6501+024 

September 2003 

Alaska State Office 

222 West 7th Avenue 

Anchorage, Alaska 99513 

Survey of Cliff-Nesting Raptors, 

Dalton Highway Management Unit, 

Alaska, 1999-2002 

Tim Craig and Cindy Hamfler 
Cover Photo 

Adult and juvenile golden eagle at a nest site within the study area (photo by Tim Craig). 

Authors 

Tim Craig is the Wildlife Biologist for the Dalton Highway Management Unit in the BLM-Alaska Northern Field 

Office. Cindy Hamfler is a Wildlife Biology Technician in the same office. 

The BLM Mission 

The Bureau of Land Management sustains the health, diversity and productivity of the public lands for the use 

and enjoyment of present and future generations. 

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The mention of trade names or commercial products in this report does not constitute endorsement or recommendation for use by the federal government. 

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www.ak.blm.gov/affairs/sci_rpts.html. Related publications are also listed at http://juneau.ak.blm.gov. 
Survey of Cliff-Nesting Raptors,
 

Dalton Highway Management Unit,
 

Alaska, 1999-2002
 

Tim Craig and Cindy Hamfler 

BLM-Alaska Open File Report 89 

September 2003 

U. S. Department of the Interior
 

Bureau of Land Management
 

Abstract 

We surveyed the central portion of the Bureau of Land Management’s Dalton 

Highway Management Unit (DHMU) for cliff-nesting raptors and ravens from 

1999 to 2002. We primarily used helicopters to conduct the search and found 76 

unoccupied and 17 occupied nests. More raptors and raven nest sites occured in 

the Dietrich River Valley, which is the more mountainous, cliff-rich section of the 

study area. This information will provide population data to help land managers 

make informed land-use decisions in the future. 

Acknowledgments 

Special thanks to: John Payne, BLM-Alaska State Office, for providing funding; 

the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service-Kanuti National Wildlife Refuge for providing 

river transportation; Randi Jandt for assisting in survey work; Erica Craig, Craig 

McCaa, and Jim Herriges for editorial comments. 

i 

 

Table of Contents 

Abstract ............................................................................................................................................... i
 

Acknowledgments ............................................................................................................................... i
 

Introduction ........................................................................................................................................ 1
 

Study Area.......................................................................................................................................... 1
 

Methods ............................................................................................................................................. 2
 

Results ............................................................................................................................................... 4
 

Occupied Stick Nests ...................................................................................................................... 4
 

Occupied Ledges/Cavities .............................................................................................................. 7
 

Unoccupied Stick Nests .................................................................................................................. 7
 

Discussion .......................................................................................................................................... 7
 

Literature Cited................................................................................................................................. 10
 

Figures 

Figure 1. Area surveyed for cliff-nesting raptors in the central portion of the Dalton Highway
 

Management Unit, Alaska, 1999-2002 ........................................................................ 3
 

Figure 2. Locations of occupied and unoccupied raptor nests on cliffs in the central
 

Figure 3. Density of unoccupied stick nests used by cliff-nesting raptors in the
 

portion of the Dalton Highway Management Unit, Alaska, 1999-2002 ........................ 6
 

central portion of the Dalton Highway Managment Unit, Alaska, 1999-2002 .............. 8
 

Tables 

Table 1. Occupied and unoccupied nests found on inventories of raptor cliff nests
 

in the central part of the Dalton Highway Management Unit, Alaska, 1999-2002. ...... 5
 

ii 

 

 

 

 

Introduction 

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is 

responsible for management of public lands 

along the Dalton Highway and adjacent Trans 

Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS) between the 

Yukon River and the Arctic Coastal Plain. The 

BLM unit that administers this land is the 

Dalton Highway Management Unit (DHMU). 

Raptor surveys have been conducted by other 

agencies on land they administer adjacent to 

BLM lands in the general area (Swanson 1991). 

In addition, inventories of raptors that nest in 

close proximity to the TAPS have been 

conducted several times in the past (Roseneau 

and Bente 1979, Roseneau 1980, USFWS 

records, Bob Ritchie, pers. comm.). However, 

BLM-administered lands in the DHMU range 

over 20 miles beyond the TAPS and to our 

knowledge no thorough inventory of cliff 

nesting raptors has been conducted on all BLM 

lands in the DHMU in recent years. 

In 1999 the Northern Field Office of the Alaska 

BLM began searching for cliff-nesting raptors in 

the southern Brooks Range in the central portion 

of the DHMU. This effort was driven by agency 

policy in fulfillment of the Federal Land Policy 

and Management Act (FLPMA) of 1976. This 

law requires that the BLM manage public lands 

for multiple use and sustained yield of natural 

resources and requires that an inventory of all 

public lands, their resources, and other values be 

prepared and maintained on a continuing basis 

(Olendorff and Kochert 1992). As part of this 

mandate, Bureau policy directs that wildlife 

inventories and monitoring be performed in 

order to collect information on which to base 

management strategies and to assist in 

evaluation of implementation of land-use 

decisions (Olendorff et al.1989). 

Study Area 

The DHMU encompasses about 1,127066 ha 

adjacent to the Dalton Highway. This study 

occurred in approximately the central third of 

the DHMU (Figure 1) and included the foothills 

and mountains of the Brooks Range south of 

Chandalar Shelf (circa 68 02’N) and north of °

° the Kanuti River (circa 66 22’N). While most 

of the survey effort was spent on BLM 

administered lands, we also surveyed small 

segments of adjacent land that is administered 

by the State of Alaska (9045 ha) or other federal 

agencies (7726 ha) when cliffs on these lands 

were located very close to the BLM boundary or 

were continuous across administrative 

boundaries. In total we surveyed about 603,347 

ha during this work. 

Five major river valleys and their tributaries 

incise the study area: the Jim, Bettles, Dietrich, 

and Middle and South Fork Koyukuk Rivers. 

These mountain valleys host a variety of 

undisturbed habitats native to interior Alaska 

including montane tundra communities, shrubdominated riparian areas and patchy coniferous 

and deciduous forests. 

The topography in the study area ranges from 

rolling, tundra-covered hills in the south (base 

elevations over 425 m), to glacier-carved 

mountain valleys divided by flat-bottomed 

riparian areas in the north (peak elevations over 

1200 m). Cliffs are strewn sporadically 

throughout the study area. These cliffs range in 

size from short (less than 100 m tall), isolated 

monoliths called “tors” in the southern foothills 

to massive escarpments more than 500 m tall in 

the mountainous northern part of the study area. 

The exposed lithic material that is available to 

nesting raptors in the study area includes 

limestone/marble and granite cliffs and eroded 

alluvial bluffs that occur along watercourses. 

1 
 

Warm temperatures and continuous daylight 

characterize the study area’s arctic climate in the 

summer and contrast with extreme cold 

temperatures and abbreviated light in the winter. 

Average Wiseman, Alaska temperatures in July 

(central to the study area) were 14 C, while °

average temperatures in January were –27 C °

(Natural Resources Conservation Service, 

Anchorage, written comm.). Precipitation at 

nearby Bettles, Alaska, averages about 35 cm 

(National Weather Service data). 

Methods 

We conducted surveys for cliff-nesting raptors 

in the cental DHMU from 1999 through 2002. 

Most of our inventory effort was performed in 

conjunction with other resource work, and as a 

result, the complete survey of the area took eight 

different days over three consecutive seasons to 

complete. We conducted our search mainly by 

helicopter (six days). However, we also used 

boats and additionally searched part of the 

Kanuti River drainage on foot. We attempted to 

make one complete survey of the entire area and 

did not resurvey areas previously visited. 

We used two types of turbine-powered singleengine helicopters to conduct inventories. One 

was a Bell 206L3 and the other a Eurocopter 

ASTAR-350. On three of the survey days a 

single observer conducted the inventory and 

recorded the locations of nests from the 

helicopter’s GPS navigational system. Two 

observers collected data on the last three survey 

flights, one operating a hand-held GPS unit to 

mark electronic waypoints for each location 

during those flights. 

Helicopter flights took place on 11 August 2000, 

26 and 27 June 2001, 28 and 29 June 2002, and 

7 July 2002. In all, we spent about 20 hours and 

20 min. in aerial surveys, including ferry time 

within the study area. 

Resource managers commonly use helicopters 

to search for cliff-nesting raptors (Fuller and 

Mosher 1987) because they are effective in 

inaccessible country and provide a stable 

platform from which to observe nests. In spite 

of their cost, helicopters were the logical choice 

for inventorying most of the DHMU because 

much of the area is mountainous and unroaded. 

Helicopters have been used routinely to 

inventory raptor nests in the past with little 

negative affect to productivity. Nonetheless, 

helicopters can disturb nesting raptors when the 

birds are too closely approached (Watson 1993). 

In an effort to reduce this disturbance, we 

hovered near active nest sites only long enough 

to determine occupancy and used image 

stabilized electronic binoculars for closer 

inspection of the nests. 

Most aerial surveys were conducted when winds 

were calm and visibility was good. We 

conducted the inventories by flying up major 

water drainages and side tributaries within the 

boundaries of the study area while looking for 

likely nesting substrates. We then flew parallel 

to a vertical escarpment, either a shear cliff or a 

steep, open bluff, about one-third of the way 

down from the top and looked for nest sites. In 

most instances we flew no closer than about 30 

meters from the escarpment face. In two 

canyons that contained extensive cliffs, we 

selected an initial reference point, low in the 

drainage, and began our search from there, 

working across the face of each cliff. Unusually 

tall cliffs required us to make multiple passes 

before moving to the next cliff. In drainages 

where the cliffs on opposing hillsides were very 

close together, we flew over the canyons and 

looked for nests from above. 

2 
 

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FIGURE 1. Area surveyed for cliff-nesting raptors in the central portion of the Dalton Highway Management Unit,

Alaska, 1999-2002. 

3 
 

 

 

We recorded the presence of each stick nest, as 

well as all ledges or cavities that appeared to 

have been used by raptors as nest sites 

(evidenced by large quantities of fecal material, 

aka “whitewash,” near an obvious nest ledge or 

cavity). In addition we recorded what species of 

raptor we thought had originally built each stick 

nest on the basis of its size and physical 

characteristics. We included common ravens 

(Corax corax) in this inventory since they 

occupy an ecological niche that is similar to 

most of the large raptors that inhabit the study 

area. In an effort to reduce flight time and 

disturbance to nesting birds, we did not hover 

over each nest site to obtain GPS locations. 

Rather, we recorded the location from which we 

observed the nest, usually while we hovered 

briefly, directly in front of the nest. All nest 

locations were ultimately recorded in a GIS 

database and analyzed in ArcView and ArcMap. 

We recorded data in the following classification 

categories: 

Occupied Stick Nest- Nests that were 

occupied by raptors during the survey year. 

Occupied Ledges/Cavities- Ledges or 

cavities that appeared to have been used as 

nests during the survey year but no birds 

were seen, and locations where adult large 

falcons were seen at appropriate nesting 

cliffs but no nest was found. 

Unoccupied Stick Nest- Stick nests that 

were not used during the survey year.

 We conducted boat and ground surveys on 6 

June 2000 and 20 June 2001, respectively, and 

spent a total of 8 hours and 40 min. searching 

for raptor nests from boats and 4 hours on foot. 

Results 

The diurnal cliff-nesting raptor guild in the 

study area includes golden eagles (Aquila 

chrysaetos), gyrfalcons (Falco rusticolus), 

American peregrine falcons (Falco peregrinus 

anatum) and common ravens. The Harlan’s 

subspecies of the red-tailed hawk (Buteo 

jamacensis harlani) nests throughout the study 

area in trees (pers. obs.). However, we did not 

detect any active nests of this raptor on cliff 

faces and, in fact, saw no nests that appeared to 

have been built by any buteos during our 

inventory. Likewise, Roseneau and Bente 

(1979) who conducted raptor surveys in the area 

in the 1970’s, did not find any buteo nests on 

cliffs during their surveys. 

Occupied Stick Nests 

We located five actively used golden eagle stick 

nests in 6 hours and 10 minutes of helicopter 

flight time during our inventories in June 2001 

(Table 1). These nests occurred in the central, 

mountainous section of the study area (Fig. 2). 

Four of the five nests contained young that were 

almost fully feathered, and the other appeared to 

have already fledged young, based on the 

amount and character of the whitewash around 

the nest. In contrast, we found no active golden 

eagle nests in a different, but nearby, part of the 

study area in 2002 after searching for 13 hours 

and 51 minutes from the air and finding 49 

vacant stick nests. 

Golden eagles prey principally on mammals in 

North America. Species in the families 

leporidae and sciuridae are the most often 

selected prey animals taken (Olendorff 1976). 

Snowshoe hares (Lepus americanus) are known 

to be an important prey of large raptors, 

including golden eagles (Kochert et al. 2002), 

particularly when this cyclic mammal’s numbers 

4 
 

 

 

TABLE 1. Occupied and unoccupied nests found on inventories of raptor cliff nests in the central part of the 

Dalton Highway Management Unit, Alaska, 1999-2002.

Golden 

eagles 

Common 

Ravens Gyrfalcons Peregrine 

Falcons 

Unidentified 

Large Falcon Unidentified Total 

Occupied 

Stick Nest 5a 2 1 1b 3 12 

Unoccupied 

Stick Nest 76 76 

Occupied 

Ledge/ 

Cavity 

2 2c 1b 5 

Total 81 2 3 2 2 3 93 

a

 one active golden eagle nest fledged before we discovered it.

 b no adults seen
 

c

 locations where adult falcons were seen at appropriate nesting cliffs but no nest was found.
 

are high (McIntyre and Adams 1999, Boutin et 

al. 1995). During 2001, the population density 

of snowshoe hares in our study area was 

unusually high. During the following years 

(winter 2001-2002, through winter 2002-2003) 

the hare population declined dramatically. As 

evidence of the magnitude of this decline, in late 

June, 2001 we spotted 40 snowshoe hare on a 

timed 25-mile wildlife survey along the Dalton 

Highway. We spotted no hares along the same 

timed survey in June 2002. A study of 

snowshoe hare density and feeding ecology near 

our study area in Gates of the Arctic National 

Park also detected a similar drastic decline in the 

population of hares (Donna Difolco, pers. 

comm.). 

The major prey species of golden eagles on the 

northern slope of the Brooks Range is the arctic 

ground squirrel (Spermophilus parryi) (Young et 

al. 1995). The population of this small mammal 

is much higher on the north slope of the Brooks 

Range than in our study area on the southern 

slope (pers. obs.). Similarly, other potential 

prey species for golden eagles in our study area 

occur in relatively low densities (e.g. the Alaska 

marmot, Marmota broweri, and willow 

ptarmigan, Lagopus lagopus). We did not study 

the prey of golden eagles in the DHMU. 

However, it is our observation that when the 

snowshoe hare population peaked in 2000-2001, 

they were probably the most available prey to 

large raptors in the DHMU. In fact, during the 

peak in the hare population, we saw eagles 

feeding on road-killed hares in the study area 

and often observed the remains of hares (fur and 

feet) dangling from treetop perches, where 

raptors and ravens had fed on them. 

Apparently in response to this increase in prey, 

golden eagles remained in our study area 

throughout the winter of 2000-2001 when 

snowshoe hares were most abundant. During 

the following winters (2001-2002 and 2002-

2003), after the precipitous decline in the hare 

population, they were absent (Jack Reakoff, 

Curt Beddingsfield, pers. comm.). In addition to 

this change in the migratory behavior of golden 

eagles, we found that the productivity of active 

eagle nests in our study area was high (2.25 + 

0.57 young per nest; N = 4) when compared to 

the productivity reported by researchers 

elsewhere in the Brooks Range (1.2 yg/ 

successful nest, N = 9; Young et al. 1995). 

Unfortunately, we were not able to revisit active 

eagle nests found in 2001 in the following years. 

5 
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LEGEND 

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Town 

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System (TAPS) 

Kanuti River Kanuti River 

Dietrich River Dietrich River 

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Observed Raptor Nests 

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FIGURE 2. Locations of occupied and unoccupied raptor nests on cliffs in the central portion of the Dalton Highway

Management Unit, Alaska, 1999-2002. 

6 
 

 

 

 

However, we believe that the high productivity 

shown by eagles in 2001, their winter presence, 

and lack of active nests in 2002, are all directly 

related to the snowshoe hare population decline 

in our study area. 

In addition to active golden eagle stick nests, 

one gyrfalcon and two raven stick nests were 

found within the study area. The raven nests 

appeared to have been used during the survey 

year but the young had already fledged by the 

time we found the nests. We also found four 

stick nests that appeared to have been used 

during the survey year but were not able to 

definetly determine what species of raptor used 

them. At one site we ruled out use by ravens or 

eagles on the basis of nest condition and 

classified the observation as an Unidentified 

Large Falcon nest. 

Occupied Ledges/Cavities 

We located five ledges/cavities that appeared to 

have been nesting locations of large falcons 

based on the presence of adults or whitewash 

around the nest. Three of these nesting sites 

were at, or above, elevations where peregrine 

falcons usually nest in our study area (pers. obs., 

Roseneau et al. 1981, Wildman and Ritchie 

2000) or were in tundra uplands habitat (not 

appropriate nesting habitat for peregrine falcons 

in Alaska; see Roseneau et al. 1981). Gyrfalcons 

usually fledge from nests in our study area in 

early July (pers. obs.) Therefore, we believe 

that these three locations had been used by 

gyrfalcons but had been abandoned by the time 

we discovered them. At one site, no visual 

contact of an adult gyrfalcon was made and thus 

the location was recorded as an unidentified 

large falcon site. Roseneau et al. (1981) report 

that there were 5 nests that “have or may have 

been used” by gyrfalcons along the proposed 

Northwest Alaska Gas Pipeline Right of Way 

between the Yukon River and the crest of the 

Brooks Range (an area that included our study 

area). 

We recorded two locations within this category 

where adult peregrine falcons occupied 

appropriate nest sites in our study area. At one 

of these locations an adult female peregrine flew 

from a rock face as we floated down a nearby 

river. The falcon circled us slowly at a low 

altitude without vocalizing, then returned to the 

rock face. Peregrine falcons had also circled 

and vocalized the previous year when people 

floated through the same area (Barry Whitehill, 

pers. comm.). At another location along a side 

tributary to the Middle Fork Koyukuk River, we 

flushed an adult peregrine falcon from a narrow 

canyon containing sheer cliff faces as we passed 

overhead in a helicopter. The canyon was too 

narrow to approach in the helicopter and to 

avoid disturbing nesting birds we did not remain 

in the area to verify this potential nest site. No 

stick nests were seen at either of these two sites. 

We considered both of these to be occupied 

nesting territories (after Poole and Bromley 

1988). 

Unoccupied Stick Nests 

We located a total of 76 unoccupied stick nests 

in our study area. Even though golden eagle 

nests vary somewhat in character, they are 

usually distinguishable from buteo nests based 

on size. It is our opinion that most, if not all, of 

the vacant stick nests that we located had 

originally been built by golden eagles. 

Discussion 

Error was introduced into our results by 

recording nest locations at the spot from which 

we observed nests. As a result, the nest 

7 
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Study Area Boundary 

Major Rivers 

LEGEND 

Dalton Highway 

0 10 20 5 Kilometers �

Trans Alaska Pipeline 

System (TAPS) 

Town 

Kanuti River Kanuti River 

Unoccupied Stick Nest Density 

Nests / KM2 

0.0029 - 0.0126 

0.0127 - 0.0285 

0.0286 - 0.0637 

(based on a 10km search radius) 

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Observed Raptor Nests 

Occupied Golden Eagle 

Unoccupied Stick Nest 

FIGURE 3. Density of unoccupied stick nests used by cliff-nesting raptors in the central portion of the Dalton Highway

Management Unit, Alaska, 1999-2002. 

8 
 

 

elevations we calculated from these GPS 

locations actually would have been directly 

below the helicopter in front of the cliff face. 

The amount of error varies depending on the 

height of the cliff. The GPS locations we 

recorded for unoccupied nests in our study area 

ranged in elevation from 339 m to 1281 m, 

while those for occupied nests ranged from 282 

m to 1220 m. Roseneau et al. (1981) found that 

golden eagles nested up to about 1340 m, even 

though most of the nests they reported were 

under about 1066 m. 

Golden eagles are known to build alternate nests 

within their territories, and up to 14 nests have 

been observed in a single territory (Kochert et 

al. 2002). The reasons for this behavior are 

unknown. However, it has been observed that 

pairs sometimes use the same nest for several 

years, even though they add material to other 

nests (McGahan 1966, Boeker and Ray 1971) or 

even build alternate nests that are never used 

(pers. obs.). Eagle nests are also very persistent 

in the environment. Therefore, few inferences 

may be drawn from our data on unoccupied 

stick nests. Nonetheless, the density of vacant 

stick nests in portions of our study area may be 

seen as a measure of past nesting activity and 

therefore, perhaps habitat quality. It appears 

from our data that the more mountainous, cliffrich section of our study area, particularly the 

Dietrich River Valley, has been of greater 

importance to golden eagles in the past than the 

rest of the study area (Figure 3). The locations 

of all of the occupied golden eagle nests we 

found during this study reinforces these 

findings. 

Roseneau et al. (1981) report that they found 35 

golden eagle nests along the proposed 

Northwest Alaska Gas Pipeline Right of Way 

between the Yukon River and the crest of the 

Brooks Range. Included were 10 occupied 

golden eagle nests found in the area in 1979 

(Roseneau and Bente 1979). This study occured 

during the last snowshoe hare population peak 

(Jack Reakoff, pers. comm.). Although this 

survey occurred over a much larger area than 

our study, the authors reported that most of the 

golden eagle nests they found were also located 

in the mountains of the southern Brooks Range. 

9 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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