St. George Day 2
It was a stormy Saturday on St. George Island, with the west wind gusting 40-50mph; too windy for walking and too rough to be safely on the [...]
St. George Island in February: Day 1
This morning I flew from Anchorage to Unalaska, and then switched onto a smaller plane to St. George Island. I was the only one on this second [...]
2022 Seabird Report Card
It’s Fall, and time for the Alaska Maritime Refuge’s annual Seabird Report! Here it is: the 2022 Seabird Report Card. Background Although seabirds spend most [...]
Camp Aglakh 2022
Camp Aglakh is an annual summer camp held on the Commander Islands, where students backpack across Bering Island while learning about the rich local biology and history. [...]
Introducing the Grub Hub!
Many seabirds that breed on both the Commander and Pribilof Islands lay their egg in either a crevice or burrow. These species include the puffins and auklets. [...]
Seabird Modeling and The Fun Game.
We began the final day of Art Camp making seabird models for our Seabird Colony Diorama. We placed each seabird on the cliffs in the appropriate nesting [...]
Murre Chicks Pop-ups and Kittiwake Landings
We started the day by creating pop-up cards. The outside of the cards featured blue or green murre eggs. The eggs cracked and out popped murre chicks! [...]
The Puffin Boat and The Big Float
We kicked of an eventful first day of Art and Seabird Camp by creating puffin-shaped boats. Building “The Puffin Boat” includes origami, coloring, cutting out multiple stencils [...]
The Grub Hub and The Magical Mural
We started the day by gathering flowers, dried grasses and other found objects to finish construction of our artificial seabird nesting cliff. The cliff is full of [...]
St. Paul Island
Today we had a small number of participants come check out some seaduck stomach samples. Thanks to Amos Philemonoff and Anthony Kushin for gathering and keeping these [...]
St. Paul Island
During the misty early morning, Seabird Camp Intern Ashley Kushin joined her cousin Destiny Kushin, who is working with ACSPI’s Ecosystem Conservation Department, under the Reef Cliffs [...]
Colors of the Past
The 2022 St George Art and Seabird Camp will feature several newly-invented paper crafts, a simulated sea monitoring activity and a mural themed “St. George in My [...]
Seabird Camp 2022
Due to unforeseen circumstances, Seabird Camp 2022 has been changed from the traditional all ages kid afternoon day camp followed by a weekend teen overnight camp to [...]
Letters, summer, and ice-cream!
Eighth-grade students (ages 13-14yrs) from St. Paul Island have just sent another round of pen pal letters to their friends on the Commander Islands in Russia. It [...]
2021 Seabird Report Card
It’s Fall, and time for the Alaska Maritime Refuge’s annual Seabird Report! […]
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 [...]