Sea Duck presentation
Brian Uher-Koch is a wildlife biologist with the USGS Alaska Science Center in Anchorage, and his research concentrates largely on Arctic breeding waterbirds. […]
Steller’s Sea Cow
Imagine sitting high on a cliff and looking down through the clear water to watch these huge animals slowly rolling around in a kelp bed below! I [...]
new letters from the Commander Islands
New letters from the Commander Islands, Russia, arrived today and will forwarded on to the students on St. Paul Island. One of the letters included this beautiful [...]
St. Paul Island field sketches
Students attending Seabird Camp 2021 had a wonderful field trip to the seabird cliffs. After identifying different seabird species and trying to [...]
Mini Camp on the Commander Islands 2021
Creative plans for youth activities during COVID times continue on the Commander Islands. Natalia Fomina led a three day hike this summer, and [...]
2021 Seabird Camp Final Day
Seabird Camp 2021 came to a close today with a family hike along the bluff at SW. A fun afternoon was had by all who joined in. [...]
2021 Seabird Camp Day 5
Friday, July 23, 2021 Today was filled to the last moment with a variety of activities. We began the afternoon with a visit from the Unangam Tuunu [...]
Final Day of Art Camp
Art Camp wrapped up on St. George with t-shirts and a puppet show! The Campers used stencils to outline designs that were enhanced with fabric paint, and [...]
2021 St. George Art Camp Day 2
Tuesday: Make Finger puppets (color, cut-out and glue). Allow time for kids to play with new finger puppets.
2021 St. George Art Camp Day 1
Monday: At St. George Seabird Art Camp kids learned about this year’s theme: Every bird has its place. They made seabird figurines out of clay and placed [...]
2021 Seabird Camp Day 4
Thursday July 22, 2021 Today was an afternoon full of Plankton and Food Chain activities. headed to the floating dock to do our own plankton tows. Thanks [...]
2021 Seabird Camp Day 3
Wednesday, July 21, 2021 This afternoon of Seabird Camp was spent on the Ridge Wall/ Southwest Point side of the Island. We were able to meet with [...]
2021 Seabird Camp Day 2
Tuesday July 20, 2021 A 2nd successful day of Seabird Camp! Today began with an activity tye-dying face masks to wear to prevent the spread of Covid [...]
First day of Seabird Camp 2021!
What a great first day of Seabird Camp 2021! We started off with some “I spy” to help focus in on the physical characteristics that help us [...]
Bird Day
Natalia Fomina recently hosted a Bird Day at the Aleutian Museum in Nikolskoye, the Commander Islands, Russia. Thank you for sharing the description [...]
Trip to the Pribilof Islands
Natalia Fomina recently hosted an event at the Aleutian local museum in Nikolskoye on the Commander Islands. Students (age 11-15) were invited to the event, and Natalia [...]
Letters from the Commander Islands
Students on St. Paul Island have just received wonderful replies to their letters they wrote to friends on the Commander Islands. Here are a few excerpts to [...]
Pen-pal letters
Students (age 11-17yrs) from St. Paul Island have been busy writing letters to kids on the Commander Islands. We’re excited to hear back! […]
Science Spies
Trail Cameras (also known as game cameras) are small, motion-triggered, weatherproof cameras. They can detect wildlife while you’re not around! […]
Volcanoes and Seabirds
Volcanoes can be disruptive, but they can also create new nesting habitat for crevice nesting auklets, like the Least Auklet, that breed on the Aleutian Islands. Watch [...]
Flashy for the summer
Have you ever wondered why some seabird species look different in the winter? Some seabirds have bright and flashy plumage in the summer breeding season, but change [...]
What Do Seabirds Eat?
Ranger Kendra at the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge explains why biologists are interested in learning what seabirds eat in this great video. […]
How much do you know?
The Seabird Fun Game features challenges in six categories: Squawk Talk, Kittiwake Shuffles, Do you know Guano?, What Bird?, Where in the World?, and Seabird Search. [...]
Seabird Fun Game!
Introducing the Seabird Fun Game! It is a seabird game like no other. […]
Keep Our Ocean Healthy!
Ram Papish has been designing a series of laminated educational posters that will be used on both the Commander Islands (Russia) and the Pribilof Islands. Ram worked [...]
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, [...]
2020 Post Camp
Credit: St. Paul Island Productions Thank you again to everyone that made virtual seabird camp a success - Mylisa Zacharof, Tonia Kushin, Kendra Bush, [...]
2020 Seabird Camp Day 5
Our final Seabird Camp activity was making Tufted Puffin Planes! We talked about how the puffin swims easier in the water than it flies in the air. [...]
2020 Seabird Camp Day 4
Thanks to previous years’ Seabird Camps and other science-promoting programs like the Youth Conservation Corps., we have some homegrown seabird experts. The kids who come out of [...]
2020 Seabird Camp Day 3
Wednesday July 15 Today I had one student show up at 1. As I was setting up a video on the big screen, the room quietly filled [...]
2020 Seabird Camp Day 2
Tuesday July 14 Today’s activities included the Voyage of the Tiglax maze, the Ocean Habitat booklet, and seabird rock painting. Our campus room was packed. We all [...]
2020 Seabird Camp Day 1
Monday July 13 Seabird Camp 2020 kicked off today with a Town Orienteering Scavenger Hunt. Tonia and Ashley Kushin put together the activity and I set it [...]
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! […]
2019 Seabird Camp Final Day
Monday was a scramble to get everything together for the evening Seabird Camp Open House and Theater Productions. Some of the paint was still slightly wet as [...]
2019 SEABIRD CAMP CAMPING TRIP
Camping Trip The overnight camping trip was a new offering this year, aimed at the older kids who had already finished 6th grade. We had activities focused [...]
2019 SEABIRD CAMP DAY FOUR
Learning Games and Play Prep To start camp today, we all practiced our counting skills, with and without clickers, on official USFWS bird survey videos. In the [...]
2019 Seabird Camp Day Three
Unangum Tuunu learning started our day, as all of the students and teachers from that program visited out classroom. We sang several Unangan language songs and used [...]
2019 Seabird Camp Day Two
After some work on seabird identification coloring projects, it was time to learn more about seabird survival. The group flew down to the field next to the [...]
2019 Seabird Camp Day One
On our first day of the 2019 Seabird Camp we explored themes of seabird survival. Campers from last year refreshed their memories by playing seabird memory. The [...]