Refuge Units

Look Closer . . . Aleutian Islands

Paradise for marine life
and wildlife watchers
who brave the storms

Aleutian Abundance

The islands and coastal waters of the Aleutians are home to marine mammals, seabirds, waterfowl, land mammals and other wildlife. Sea lions, sea otters and harbor seals inhabit the shorelines. Whales and porpoises are found in coastal waters. Introduced mammals include caribou/reindeer, rats and arctic fox.

Asia Connection

Like a bridge between continents, the Aleutians are an important resting and feeding stop for many migratory birds. More than 250 species of birds have been observed along the chain, and new species from Asia are added to the list almost annually.

Wildflowers, but no Trees

The flora is a wonderful mix of plants from both North America and Asia. Grasses, sedges, lichens, mosses, and heath plants carpet the landscape. Bountiful and colorful wildflowers include chocolate lily, monkshood, lupine, buttercup, iris, fireweed, and several species of orchid. Large beds of kelp are found along the shorelines, and wild rye grows near the beaches. The islands are treeless except for introduced spruce.

Ocean of Fish

Few oceans are as productive as those that surround Alaska’s Aleutian Islands. The cold, turbulent waters provide a fisheries resource important to foreign and domestic fleets, sport anglers, subsistence users, and wildlife. Pollack, herring, sole, cod, halibut, shellfish, and salmon are plentiful. Dolly Varden and salmon spawn in streams throughout the chain. Pink salmon are the most abundant of these but chum, coho, and sockeye salmon are also found.

Weather Forecast

Rain, fog, high winds, and frequent, often violent, cyclonic storms are typical in the Aleutians. Clear, sunny days are rare.

Some Islands Make Their Own Weather

Weather along the chain is very local. It can change dramatically over a short distance or even within a span of a few minutes at one location. Summer temperatures average only about 50°F, but winter temperatures average 30°F degrees, which is relatively mild for Alaska. Warm clothing and rain gear are needed year-round.

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Birders Paradise

Brightly colored puffins, swarming flocks of auklets, noisy murre colonies, and thousands of screaming gulls represent the vast seabird resource for which the Aleutians are known. The islands provide nesting habitat for some 10 million seabirds.

The world’s largest known colony of crested and least auklets is found on Kiska, and nearly a million northern fulmars nest on Chagulak. Tiny Kaligagan supports Alaska’s largest colony of tufted puffins, more than 100,000 birds. Seabirds spend most of their life at sea but return to the islands each spring to raise their young.

The islands offer opportunities to see birds not found elsewhere in North America. Whooper swans, tufted ducks, Siberian rubythroats, wood sandpipers, far eastern curlews, and common black-headed gulls are a few of the more regular Asiatic visitors.

Common terrestrial birds include the bald eagle, raven, rock ptarmigan, peregrine falcon, snow bunting, song sparrow, lapland longspur, winter wren, and rosy finch. All except the lapland longspur are year-round residents.

Rock sandpipers and black oystercatchers are found on the beaches and shoreline rocks. Terns, puffins, cormorants, and guillemots can often be seen on nearshore ocean waters, harbors, and bays.

Waterfowl most easily seen are the green-winged teal, mallard, greater scaup, harlequin duck, and common eider. Emperor geese, which nest on the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge, visit the Aleutians during the winter months. The refuge is also the nesting stronghold of the Aleutian cackling goose.

Learn More: Adak Bird List

Last updated:September 8, 2008