Photos: The call of seabirds on St. Matthew Island

When scientists want to go to Alaska’s most remote islands, they usually get a ride on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s R/V Tiglax.

By Nathaniel Wilder
Updated: July 22, 2024 Published: July 21, 2024

A northern fulmar flies by cliffs with nesting seabirds on Hall Island. Hall sits just over 3 miles across Sarichef Strait from St. Matthew Island and contains most of the same breeding bird species as St. Matthew. (Photo by Nathaniel Wilder)

Uninhabited St. Matthew Island, part of a small group of Alaska islands in the central Bering Sea, is considered one of the most remote places in the United States. Given that the island is more than 200 miles from the nearest community, it’s no wonder biologists only make it out to the island an average of every four to five years.

When scientific visits do occur, they most often involve the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s R/V Tiglax. The research vessel motors around the state throughout the summer, stopping at remote research outposts of the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge to drop off scientists and gear or conduct research.

Parts of the maritime refuge are scattered across the breadth of the state. This includes thousands of islands and seabird cliffs from the Chukchi Sea down to the end of the Aleutian chain and over to the farthest extent of the southeast corner of the state.

Deckhand Patrick Farnell operates a skiff near the columnar basalt formations on St. Matthew Island to give scientists a closer look at the birds nesting there. (Photo by Nathaniel Wilder)

Least Auklets gather along the beach on St. George Island during breeding season. (Photo by Nathaniel Wilder)

An old reindeer skull sits at the ruins of a Loran Station that was built in 1943 on St. Matthew Island. The reindeer were introduced by the Coast Guard in the 1940's as an emergency food source but were completely gone by the 1980's. (Photo by Nathaniel Wilder)

Scientists load skiffs after a day on the island walking transects. The skiffs were loaded back onto the Tiglax at the end of each day so the ship could motor to another part of the island where transects would begin again the next morning. (Photo by Nathaniel Wilder)

Ruins of the Loran station sit above the St. Matthew beach in the tundra along the southern end of the island. The station operated in the 1940's and represents one of the only times there was year-round human habitation on the island. (Photo by Nathaniel Wilder)

A Pribilof Rock Sandpiper flashes a wing wave to attract a mate or ward off visitors. The bird is a subspecies of the Rock Sandpiper that has only been known to breed on St. Matthew Island and the Pribilof Islands. (Photo by Nathaniel Wilder)

A deckhand for the Tiglax runs scientists to the St. Matthew beach for an initial shakedown and bird survey. Drop-offs on beaches in rough conditions require safety protocols and protective gear to avoid incidents. (Photo by Nathaniel Wilder)

A biologist walks back to the beach after completing a transect survey to count birds on St. Matthew Island in early June 2024. (Photo by Nathaniel Wilder)

Cormorants fly along the beach of St. Matthew Island near nesting sites. A variety of seabirds nesting on the island helped give it protection as part of the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge. (Photo by Nathaniel Wilder)

Biologists board the R/V Tiglax during a stop on St. George Island in early June 2024. Great care is taken to ensure that rats aren't introduced to the remote refuge islands visited by the ship. (Photo by Nathaniel Wilder)

A biologist washes gear after returning to the ship from a transect. Cleaning gear after every visit on island ensures that nothing from one island inadvertently gets transferred to another island in the refuge system. (Photo by Nathaniel Wilder)

Seabirds nest among columnar basalt formations on St. Matthew Island. In recent years, red-legged kittiwakes were discovered to be nesting at these cliffs, something visiting refuge biologists only discovered during a 2019 visit. (Photo by Nathaniel Wilder)

Nathaniel Wilder is an Anchorage-based photographer.

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