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 [...]
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. […]
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, [...]
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, [...]
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, [...]
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 [...]
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. […]
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 [...]
Measuring light to track seabirds
When we track birds (measure their movements) over long periods of time, it is important to use small data loggers so that individuals don’t have to carry [...]
Bering Sea Days 2016
Another week of Bering Sea Days is over! Many thanks to all the hard work of folks at the Ecosystem Conservation Office, Aleut Community of St. Paul [...]
Bird art from Colorado
Students (ages 10-12) from Roxborough Primary and Intermediate School in Colorado have sent us these beautiful pieces of bird art to share with students on the Pribilof Islands. [...]
First Red-legged Kittiwake egg!
Update from Rachael and Abram on St. George Island We saw our first red-legged kittiwake egg today! Abram spotted the egg as we watched a bird we [...]
What did the GPS loggers tell us?
Last summer, Rachael Orben and Abram Fleishman attached GPS loggers to red-legged kittiwakes on St. George Island to find out where they were finding food during both the [...]
Least Auklet video!
The second in our series of Seabird documentaries made during Seabird Camp 2015 The smallest seabird species that breeds on the Pribilof Islands- the Least Auklet (Aethia [...]
The Night Shift
While the seabird and marine mammal observers sleep at night, other scientists are afoot. At every sample station (red dots on the map), they are on deck [...]
Commander Island wildlife
The kids attending the Commander Island summer camp have just sent some wildlife portraits they've been working on. Horned puffins, fur seals, and a raven. Thank you, [...]
Field season is coming!
I had a great time talking with you all via Skype in April. Thanks for all your awesome questions, and to Ms. Kushin and Mr. Fay for [...]
Red-legged Kittiwake Ecology
Red-legged kittiwake photo (above) by Caitlin Kroeger There are two species of kittiwake, the black-legged kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla) and the red-legged kittiwake (Rissa brevirostris). The red-legged kittiwake is [...]
Bering Sea Days 2014
Veronica Padula (University of Alaska, Anchorage) recently traveled to St. Paul to teach students about seabirds and marine pollution during Bering Sea Days (above photo shows students learning [...]
Plastic Pellet Experiment
Students attending Seabird Camp set-up a plastic pellet experiment. Trevor Haynes explains more… University of Alaska Scientist Veronica Padula had a challenge for the seabird camp students [...]
No Seabird Camp on St. George This Year
No Seabird Camp on St. George this year, but the kids have still been busy. The least auklet nest boxes that were made and installed during camp [...]
After Seabird Camp
Work on St. Paul continued for a few days after Seabird Camp. Our intern, Diamond, joined USFWS crew to capture Least Auklets and collect the food they [...]
A big day on St. Paul Island.
Garbie was safely installed in her new home in the lobby of the Tribal Office. Here she is getting her photo taken with Paul and Dallas from [...]
Meet Garbie!
Garbie the trash bird was completed today and is looking for a (large) burrow to call home. She already has many friends! Here she is posing with [...]
Seabird Camp Day 5
The final official day of Seabird Camp 2014. We started the day with a conference call with Sean Russell of the “Stow-It-Don’t –Throw-It” project. It was good [...]
Seabird Camp Day 4
Another busy day at Seabird Camp! The campers finished painting their bright blue or green murre eggs to start camp today. We will use them for games [...]
Day 3 of Seabird Camp
Here is a blog entry written by our student intern, Diamond, about her trip to the cliffs with Refuge biologists and the third day of Seabird Camp. [...]
Day 2 of Seabird Camp
After doing some research, Campers were surprised to find out how long waste items take to biodegrade. We took in the “Stow-It-Don’t-Throw-It” program’s presentation on marine debris, [...]
First day of Seabird Camp
We had a very busy, active and messy first day in Seabird Camp! During “Bird Beak Buffet” students learned which “beaks” work best for which food items. [...]
St. Paul Island 4th July Movie
Trevor Haynes put together this fun movie about the 4th July celebrations, with some great footage of the Seabird Float in action!
Champion Puffin!
The St. Paul Mini-Marathon is an annual event put on by the City of St. Paul as part of the 4th of July celebration. It starts at [...]
4th July on St. Paul!
Wow, what a 4th of July! (Or June-July as they say here.) We started with a (rather wet) parade, and continued with games on the ball-field. Both [...]
PARTY PREPARATIONS
The Camp Team has been busy making super cool seabird masks for the 4th July parade! I wouldn't want to mess with these puffins!
KIDS DON’T FLOAT
Ram and Trevor have made safely to St. Paul, and everyone is busy preparing for Seabird Camp. On their first day, they attended a "Kids Don't Float" [...]
Marine Debris
“Ophelia” octopus created out of marine debris by Kodiak High School students. One of the main focuses for the 2014 summer Seabird Camp on St. Paul Island is [...]
Don’t Throw it!
“Stow it-don’t throw it” is a youth debris and ocean conservation program dedicated to protect marine environments. As part of this cool project, youth make recycling bins [...]