A Big Bear with a Big Success Story
 While many large animals in North America find their way to the endangered species list, the Kodiak brown bear is a success story in the management of wildlife. The Kodiak bear is healthy and productive throughout the archipelago and its population is actually increasing. In fact, the Kodiak bear population is at an historic high. According to Alaska Department of Fish & Game estimates, there are 3,500 bears on the Kodiak Archipelago. The vast majority of these bears live in the protected lands of the Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge, which comprises two-thirds of the island.
The Kodiak bear is a subspecies of the brown or grizzly bear. Brown bears migrated to the Kodiak Archipelago from mainland Alaska about 12,000 years ago. As the climate warmed at the end of the last ice age, the sea level rose and the bears became an isolated population. They live exclusively on the islands of theKodiak Archipelago.
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Read more: The Kodiak Bear
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Puffin on the shore. Dake Schmidt photo
Kodiak is a birder's paradise. Thanks to a mild climate and plentiful food supply, bird watching opportunities are excellent year-round. More than 240 species of birds have been identified in the Kodiak Island Archipelago. Kodiak generally enjoys the highest winter bird count in Alaska with some 80 species identified last year.
Summer brings nesting birds from land and sea. Bank swallows arrive from South America and puffins fly in from deep North Pacific waters. While Kodiak is not a major migratory bird path, some migrants can be seen in small numbers.
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Read more: Birds
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 Steller sea lions are year-round residents in the archipelago, often seen in boat harbors and haul-out areas. Sea otters, once hunted to near extinction, can be seen in sheltered waters near kelp beds. Harbor seals are found in protected inner bays and lagoons. The largest marine mammals found in Kodiak waters are fin, minke, humpback, killer and gray whales. Spring and fall are the best times for observing migrating gray whales. Killer whales are common in the spring and summer. Dall and white-sided porpoise are often seen riding a boat's waves, unlike the shy harbor porpoise.
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Read more: Marine Mammals
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Deer in summer. Dake Schmidt photo.
The land mammals native to the Kodiak Archipelago are the Kodiak brown bear, red fox, short-tailed weasel, little brown bat, tundra vole and river otter.
Introduced species include the snowshoe hare, mountain goat, Sitka black-tailed deer, arctic ground squirrel, Roosevelt elk, muskrat, red squirrel, snowshoe hare and beaver.
Introduced species that have not survived include moose, dall sheep, martin, mink and raccoon.
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Read more: Land Mammals
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 From mountain top to shoreline, the islands of the archipelago are carpeted in lush vegetation. Depending on the season, an ever-changing kaleidoscope of foliage can be found in the area's six distinct habitat types.
The northeastern part of the archipelago is covered with thick Sitka spruce forests and represents the only unmixed stand in the world. Heavily laden with moss, these massive trees shelter a variety of shade tolerant plants, including several varieties of orchids. Salmonberries grow here and produce a tasty red berry in mid-to-late summer; these berries are not only picked for jams, jellies and wines, but provide a good part of the brown bear diet. Blueberries are also favored by bears and humans on Kodiak Island.
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Read more: Flora
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A tiny sea star. Ginger Duncan photo
Tidal variation in the archipelago is about 12 feet. Minus tides reveal the unique creatures that inhabit the intertidal zone. Anemone, sea stars, chitons and limpets may be observed. Tide pool walks are conducted throughout the summer at Fort Abercrombie, but many beaches in the archipelago are worth investigating. Blue mussels and a variety of clams are also found in the intertidal zone. However, never harvest shellfish without checking for the possibility of paralytic shellfish poisoning.
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Read more: Intertidal
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Explore Kodiak 
