Outreach and Education activities at the Alaska Maritime Refuge
Kendra Bush, Education Specialist at the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge, shares this report about outreach and education in this incredible Refuge: […]
Northern Fur Seals on the Commander Islands
The majority of Northern Fur Seals breed on the Pribilof Islands (Alaska, USA) and the Commander Islands in Russia. Marine biologist Olga Belonovich, PhD, shares this report [...]
Researcher spotlight: Dr. Alexis Will
Hello! My name is Alexis Will, I grew up in Sitka, Alaska and now live in Fairbanks, Alaska. I am a post-doctoral researcher at the University of [...]
Tourism on the Commander Islands in 2020
The Commander Islands Nature and Biosphere Reserve was created in 1993, and it is the second largest reserve in Russia, with a total area of over three [...]
The Commander Islands Nature and Biosphere Reserve
The Commander Islands Nature and Biosphere Reserve (CINBR) is the largest marine reserve in Russia. Many thanks to Anastasia Barsukova, Head of Development Department for CINBR for [...]
Seabird Spotlight: Least Auklet
Latin: Aethia pusilla Unangan: Chuuchkiî Russian: Конюга-крошка Least auklets are the smallest member of the Alcid family (the Auks), a family that includes the puffins, auklets, murres, [...]
Bird art from St. Paul Island
Middle and high-school students on St. Paul Island made these stunning art pieces for the annual US Fish and Wildlife migratory bird calendar. […]
New funding for Commander-Pribilof Island links
In 2015 we were funded by the National Park Service’s (NPS) Shared Beringian Heritage Program to work closely with biologists and the municipality of Nikolskoye on the [...]
Where do puffins spend their winter?
Researchers at Prince William Sound Science Center have started to look their first year of puffin tracking data. The group is interested in learning where adult Tufted [...]
St. Paul Island student sketches
During Seabird Camp 2019, St. Paul Island students worked on some sketches of their home to share with friends on the Commander Islands. […]
Seabird Report Card 2019
Background Although seabirds spend most of their life out at sea, all seabirds return to land to lay their eggs and raise their chicks. Breeding sites are [...]
Summer 2019 on St. George Island
Erin Lefkowitz was part of the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge’s field team working on St. George Island this past summer. Many thanks for sharing this report, [...]
Commander Island Summer Camp 2019
The summer ethno-ecological camp 2019 on the Commander Islands was another great success. Students explored Bering island, covering over 130km on foot! […]
St. George, thank you!
The APICDA seabird intern work is coming to an end. Thank you to the community of St. George for your warm welcome, and to all the wonderful [...]
last couple of days on St. George
Friday’s weather was foggy, windy, and wet. A good morning for pancakes and data entry at the hotel for Thomas and Ann! […]
St. George: Kittiwakes, traps, and nest-boxes
A full day. Thomas, Ann and Karin joined the Refuge team for red-legged kittiwake resighting and capture. Wind had dropped, and all the birds were settled and [...]
St. George Island: Day 6
Back to high wind, but no rain. Thomas and Karin kept charging on the rat-trap checks, and they moved some of the far-away stations to more strategic [...]
St. George: Day Five
We woke up to dry weather! St. George is a rat-free island, and we’re working hard to keep it that way. Thomas and Karin spent a chunk [...]
St. George: Day Four
We had a full day on St. George. Thomas started the day learning more about excel and entering the least auklet count data from yesterday. We plotted [...]
Least Auklet Attendance Watch
Seabird biologists use the word “attendance” to describe the amount of time birds spend at the colony. Attendance data can provide insight into how the birds are [...]
Rain, cameras, and masks
Cordell joined us over at the harbor, and we spent a couple of hours figuring out a good plot to do an all-day Least Auklet attendance count [...]
APICDA Seabird internship: Year Two
It’s the end of May, and birds are already starting to nest on St. George Island. The kittiwakes are busy collecting nesting material, stomping on their nests, [...]
Origins of Northern Fulmar bycatch
In the spring, commercial fishing boats spread out in Alaskan waters (all the way from the Gulf of Alaska to the Aleutian Islands to the Bering Sea) [...]
Where have the puffins spent their winter?
The seasons have shifted, and birds everywhere are preparing for the nesting season by migrating back to their breeding grounds. For Tufted Puffins, seabirds of the central [...]
Connecting fulmar bycatch to colonies
Each spring and fall, the North Pacific groundfish and Pacific halibut boats ramp up for their peak seasons at sea. These fisheries catch a variety of fish [...]
Summer 2018 on St. George
Sarah Guitart was part of the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge’s field team working on St. George Island this past summer. Many thanks for sharing this report, [...]
Seabird Report Card 2018
Background Although seabirds spend most of their life out at sea, all seabirds return to land to lay their eggs and raise their chicks. Breeding sites are [...]
Tufted Puffins
Tufted Puffins spend their winters far from land throughout the North Pacific, but scientists don’t know much about their life out at sea. […]
The point of a murre egg
Tim Birkhead and colleagues have spent the last 6 years examining different hypotheses (possible explanations) for why common murre (also known as the common guillemot in the [...]
Commander Island Summer Camp 2018
The summer ethno-ecological camp “Aglach 2018″ on the Commander Islands was another great success. Students explored Bering island, covering over 130km on foot! Natalia Formina, camp [...]
St. George Intern Program
Ann will be flying to St. George next week to work with three student interns. These intern positions are funded through the Aleutian Pribilof Island Community Development [...]
Tracing Northern Fulmars back to their colonies: Part 2
Graduate student Diana Baetscher (from the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC) and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)) has been hard at work this past year. [...]
Commander Islands Nature and Biosphere Reserve
Marine Biologist Dr. Olga Belonovich has been using the translated Seabird Curriculum with kids on the Commander Islands. Here’s Olga’s report: […]
Northern Fulmars
Tracing Northern Fulmars caught as fishery by catch back to their colonies. Over the next couple of years, the Seabird Youth Network will be sharing the results [...]
Shipwrecks, Seabirds, and the Risk of Rats
Rats often stow-away on boats, and are carried as unpaid passengers on shipping routes all over the world. […]
How do Seabirds respond to changes in the Bering Sea?
Scientists are working all over the world, exploring questions on every subject imaginable. A critical part of being a scientist is sharing your findings in a scientific [...]
St. George
It’s been a privilege to spend this week on St. George. […]
Day Four on St. George
We started the day making a puffin chick bread load. Waylon even found a dried cherry with a strange shape that looked like the mini horn for [...]
Day Three on St. George
It’s dark at 8am when the kids show up, and still dark at 9:30am. Everyone starts the day with warm milk to drink, and Bianca had her [...]
Day Two at St. George
We started the day making our story sticks from yesterday’s beach outing. Paint and yarn transformed […]
November on St. George
I had plans to fly to St. George Island straight after Thanksgiving, to spend a week with the kids doing some fun seabird activities. Flying this time [...]
Seabird Report Card 2017
Background Although seabirds spend most of their life out at sea, all seabirds return to land to lay their eggs and raise their chicks. Breeding sites are [...]
Fall on St. Paul Island
St. Paul Island is always spectacular, even in cruddy weather, and the week of Bering Sea Days was no exception. […]
Bering Sea Days 2017
2017 is the tenth anniversary of Bering Sea Days on St. Paul Island Bering Sea Days is a weeklong program hosted by the Ecosystem Conservation Office, Aleut [...]
The Odd Sea
A video of Seabird Camp's 2017 Theatre Production: The Odd Sea is now online. Enjoy!
Don’t Lose Count!
2017 was a Population Count Year on the Pribilof Islands. McKenna Hanson, a Refuge biotech working on St. George Island, explains what this entails: Click, click, click, [...]
Reflections, goodbyes, and thank you
After a couple of days in Anchorage, it was time for our friends from the Commander Islands to start their long journey home. Over a pizza supper [...]
Time in Anchorage
Our friends from the Commander Islands had an action-packed couple of days in Anchorage before flying back home. They visited the Anchorage Museum, experienced the American shopping [...]
Fantastic creations
Ram Papish and kids have been busy experimenting with new materials to make realistic teeth, whiskers and other details for this year's masks. We will have plenty [...]
Seabird Camp starts tomorrow!
Seabird Camp starts tomorrow.... Putting on the camp requires a huge team effort, and would not be possible without the support of our many partners (see below). [...]