Opportunistic Survey Data of Mew Gull (Larus canus) and other detections in an Urban Environment, downtown Fairbanks, Interior Alaska in mid-June 2013

Abstract

This dataset presents a Mew Gull (Larus canus, Taxonomic Serial Number TSN 176832) survey data set for urban areas and stripmall parking lots (app. 300mx600m), super markets, fast food restaurants, gravel pits, small ponds and the riverside (Chena) in Fairbanks, interior Alaska located app. 120 miles south of the arctic circle. We did geo-referenced 80 point surveys and detections. Data were geo-referenced with a GPS in decimal degrees (latitude and longitude, geographic datum of WGS84) collected 22th of June in 2013 on a Saturday (regular shopping and business times in the U.S.) between 9.30 AM and 5 PM by driving opportunistically on public strip mall parking lots, domestic areas and other locations of relevance for gull presences and absences in the survey area (app. 200m radius). These non-intrusive citizen science car-based surveys result into a virtually unbiased data providing a representative snap shot in space and time. Stripmall parking lots near rivers represent a typical situation of where Mew Gulls are found in an urban habitat during breeding season. We reported basic gull behaviour also. Some other bird species were recorded as well, e.g. Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos 175407), Northern Raven (Corvus corax 179725), Sandhill Crane (Grus canadensis 176177), Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus 175420), Gull sp. (Larus 176803), American Robin (Turdus migratorius 179759). The gull abundance seems to be driven by food items on the parking lot, e.g. provided by an adjacent fast food restaurant and by wetland areas nearby (e.g. Chena river and gravel pits) where the gulls find good conditions for nearby nesting. This survey is unique and contributes to baseline information relevant for gulls, ravens, urban subsidized predators (e.g. eagles) in the interior of Alaska. They are a simple but powerful snapshots in time and space and when put into an overall ecological context, e.g. as done with Geographic Information System (GIS) analysis. Some photos are provided for visual information. The dataset is provided in MS Excel and less than 1MB in size.