Tugidak Wildlife

Sitka Blacktail Deer

Tugidak has a lot of wildlife, and since there is no brush or trees the animals are pretty easy to spot.  As you walked along there was the almost constant cackling of the breeding willow ptarmigan defending their nests.  KickikkikrrRR and they would sit and stare you down.  

Another very common animal is the ground squirrels. They are common on Chirikof Island but you do not see them much in the rest of the Kodiak Archipelago.  I had not realized that they were on Tugidak Island.  When you got close to their burrows you'd hear a warning whistle - hence their nickname as the 'whistle pig'.  Their burrows disturb the ground and bring up dirt from deep down below and so the ground squirrels helped us find archaeological sites.  Rather than dig test pits or use a soil probe you just check the spoils of their burrows for charcoal stained soil or firecracked rock - the distinctive 'tell' of archaeological sites.

One mammal is conspicuously absent from the island - there are no foxes.  I think this may be why there are so many nesting birds.  There are no foxes to raid nests. Even the eagles down there just nest on the ground - you'd be walking along and suddenly a pair of alarmed eagles would be squawking around your head and it was time to back up and avoid the nest.  Practically every lake or pond had a pair of nesting swans on it.

Deer were everywhere.  They were like grazing cows.  When I looked into the distance across the grassy plain it looked like game animals on the plains of Africa.  Walking along you'd disturb individual groups of deer and often end up with a herd of deer trotting along in front of you.  Then they'd all bolt at once across the grassy muskeg.

Patrick

Bald Eagle

Female willow ptarmigan

Parasitic Jaeger

Willow ptarmigan

Lapland Longspur

Sandhill cranes

Tundra Swans

Male Willow Ptarmigan

Ground squirrels