Alaska is an important area for breeding migratory birds during summer months. Numerous species migrate to Alaska each year from South America, the Pacific coast of North America, and from Eurasia. Additionally, some species overwinter along the marine coasts of Alaska and then conduct shorter migrations to coastal or interior areas of Alaska, Canada, and Russia. The Molecular Ecology Laboratory at the Alaska Biological Science Center (ABSC) has developed a series of avian microsatellite, mitochondrial and numt-specific DNA markers, as well as protocols for non-invasive sampling of wild bird populations as tools to better understand avian population subdivision, movements, species systematics, evolution and individual behavior. Studies currently underway include population analyses of ducks, geese, shorebirds, seabirds and passerines. Much of this population-level genetic information provides a useful baseline for subsequent studies that target issues of management and conservation. For example, we are currently using genetic data obtained from feathers of contemporary nesting populations of the threatened spectacled eider (Somateria fisheri) in comparison with historical genetic variability obtained from 100-year-old museum specimens of spectacled eiders. Genetic data from breeding populations of Canada geese (Branta canadensis) are currently being used to develop simulation models to characterize the composition of mixed wintering flocks of Canada geese on Oregon and Washington State. In a similar fashion, we are obtaining genetic information from breeding populations of King eiders (Somateria spectabilis), to determine the breeding origin of individual wintering King eiders heavily impacted during an oil spill in the Pribilof Islands. Finally, we are using a variety of genetic markers to identify species, sex and identity of individual birds for more detailed studies of behavior and morphology. Such data are currently used to determine the avian diets of predatory species, to identify individuals which consistently renest in the same area or nest, and to evaluate populations where birds are not banded, or where sex cannot be readily determined by plumage or other morphological characteristics.