Look Closer . . . Buldir Island

Brightest gem
in chain of volcanic islands
– mecca for birdlife

Stepping Stones to Asia

The islands of the Aleutians rise several thousand feet to challenge the storms and plunge more than two miles to the ocean floor. They form a unique mountain range of subterranean volcanoes emerging like stepping stones reaching 1,100 miles from mainland Alaska toward Asia.

Turmoil Above and Below

The violence of the Aleutian weather echoes the turmoil beneath the surface. Earthquakes commonly rumble through here. The entire chain of islands rides a line of inner friction where one plate of the earth’s crust grinds slowly under another. This movement breeds quakes, tidal waves and the volcanic eruptions that formed the islands themselves.

Richest Link in the Chain

Yet in spite of forbidding weather and trembling earth, the Aleutians are paradise for millions of marine birds and mammals. There is no better example than Buldir Island, near the western end of the chain of islands. Surrounded by nutrient-rich waters resulting from the turbulent mixing of the Bering Sea and North Pacific, Buldir hosts the most diverse seabird colonies in the northern hemisphere.

Crowded Sanctuary

Nearly 3.5 million seabirds crowd onto this 3- by 5-mile island. Its harborless shores and isolation in the middle of a 120-mile stretch of open ocean protected it from the fate of many of the other Aleutian Islands: fox farming.

The difference is phenomenal. On islands where foxes were introduced, the land is quiet and birds are scarce. On Buldir, every possible niche - from beach boulders to rock cliff to grassy hillsides - holds a nesting seabird, songbird, duck or goose. The air is filled with song and chatter day and night.

Good for the Goose

A remnant flock of fewer than 600 Aleutian cackling geese (formerly the Aleutian Canada goose) survived on Buldir after they had disappeared from almost all other islands when fur farmers added foxes. On fox-free Buldir, these small marine geese nested and raised their goslings amid the island’s lush grasses, protected from the almost constant winds and hidden from marauding gulls and peregrine falcons.

These survivors became the seed for recovery of the Aleutian cackling goose population that started with their rediscovery in 1962 and continued through 2001 when they were successfully removed from the Endangered Species List. Learn more