Of course, this is still Alaska in the winter, where some habitats are buried under snow and many species are dormant, gone, or otherwise inaccessible. Thankfully, there isn't much snow and I know a few people who are willing and able to help. First of all, Brooke (above), and also Matt Goff, Kitty LaBounty, Aaron Baldwin (in Juneau), and many other people both online and in real life.
Also thankfully, things are just fine underwater:
At the very beginning of the year I was still working two jobs so I just counted a few birds at the feeders in the front yard, and at Swan Lake. Then I set up an account with a website that should help me log, identify and report the 1,000 species: http://www.inaturalist.org/
iNaturalist is a useful website because I need a place to put my observations and have others check them, and they need people to upload observations to attain critical mass. So far, they only have about a million observations, which is only a thousand people doing a project like this.
So far, over the first fifteen days I have logged 185 species. The website counts 175 or so, because of some peculiarities of the way in which they count. That's fine. The biggest suprise so far is this:
I introduce you to Chirolophis decoratus, the decorated warbonnet, an amazing fish we found snorkeling and I had never, ever seen before. Brooke actually touched it.
I predicted that I would start out with mostly birds, and so far that is mostly accurate. I found 56 birds, mostly abundant species but also a couple of rare ones, such as the American kestrel and American tree sparrow.
A surprise is that I already have seen a large number of the local echinoderms, 11 species in all, out of not very many total (echinoderms are the starfishes, sea cucumbers and sea urchins). I expect to see maybe three more sea cucumbers, one sand dollar, five more starfishes, one more brittle star, two more sea urchins, and a sea lily if I am lucky. That means I am almost halfway through that group, which is rather incredible.
I also found a couple of good nudibranch, including this stunning Tritonia festiva:
I am also almost halfway through the expected tunicates, which is less surprising since so many of them are most easily found in the harbors and the rare ones are not easily identified without DNA analysis. So far, I have observed six tunicates.
Here is my list so far, only in Latin at this time:
| Pleurophycus gardneri | Alga |
| Chondracanthus exasperatus | Alga |
| Nereocystis luetkeana | Alga |
| Macrocystis integrifolia | Alga |
| Arenaria melanocephala | Bird |
| Catharus guttatus | Bird |
| Histrionicus histrionicus | Bird |
| Fulica americana | Bird |
| Larus thayeri | Bird |
| Aythya collaris | Bird |
| Bucephala clangula | Bird |
| Spinus pinus | Bird |
| Troglodytes pacificus | Bird |
| Agelaius phoeniceus | Bird |
| Brachyramphus marmoratus | Bird |
| Calypte anna | Bird |
| Haematopus bachmani | Bird |
| Actitis macularius | Bird |
| Falco sparverius | Bird |
| Spizella arborea | Bird |
| Podiceps grisegena | Bird |
| Uria aalge | Bird |
| Gavia pacifica | Bird |
| Phalocrocorax auritus | Bird |
| Melanitta fusca | Bird |
| Melanitta perspicillata | Bird |
| Larus canus | Bird |
| Anas crecca carolinensis | Bird |
| Aix sponsa | Bird |
| Sialia currucoides | Bird |
| Aythya affinis | Bird |
| Turdus migratorius | Bird |
| Bombycilla garrulus | Bird |
| Megaceryle alcyon | Bird |
| Gavia immer | Bird |
| Bucephala islandica | Bird |
| Podiceps auritus | Bird |
| Bucephala albeola | Bird |
| Phalocrocorax pelagicus | Bird |
| Aythya marila | Bird |
| Clangula hyemalis | Bird |
| Mergus merganser | Bird |
| Ardea herodias | Bird |
| Mergus serrator | Bird |
| Haliaaetus leucocephalus | Bird |
| Loxia curvirostra | Bird |
| Poecile rufescens | Bird |
| Ixoreus naevius | Bird |
| Cinclus mexicanus | Bird |
| Regulus satrapa | Bird |
| Corvus caurinus | Bird |
| Zonotrichia leucophrys | Bird |
| Melospiza melodia | Bird |
| Anas platyrhynchos | Bird |
| Anas americana | Bird |
| Sturnus vulgaris | Bird |
| Streptopelia decaocto | Bird |
| Passerella iliaca | Bird |
| Zonotrichia atricapilla | Bird |
| Junco hyemalis oreganus | Bird |
| Anthopleura artemisia | Cnidarian |
| Metridium senile | Cnidarian |
| Gersemia rubiformis | Cnidarian |
| Metridium farcimen | Cnidarian |
| Anthopleura xanthogrammica | Cnidarian |
| Hemigrapsus nudus | Crustacean |
| Hesperibalanus hesperius | Crustacean |
| Pentidotea wosnesenskii | Crustacean |
| Oregonia gracilis | Crustacean |
| Heptacarpus brevirostris | Crustacean |
| Balanus nubilus | Crustacean |
| Pugettia gracilis | Crustacean |
| Pandalus danae | Crustacean |
| Pandalus platyceros | Crustacean |
| Semibalanus cariosus | Crustacean |
| Hemigrapsus oregonensis | Crustacean |
| Munida quadrispina | Crustacean |
| Strongylocentrus franciscanus | Echinoderm |
| Pisaster ochraceus | Echinoderm |
| Psolus chitonoides | Echinoderm |
| Ophiopholis aculeata | Echinoderm |
| Cucumaria miniata | Echinoderm |
| Dermasterias imbricata | Echinoderm |
| Pycnopodia helianthoides | Echinoderm |
| Mediaster aequalis | Echinoderm |
| Strongylocentrus droebachiensis | Echinoderm |
| Parastichopus californicus | Echinoderm |
| Evasterias troschelii | Echinoderm |
| Polystichum braunii | Fern |
| Adiantum aleuticum | Fern |
| Polystichum setigerum | Fern |
| Huperzia miyoshiana | Fern |
| Polystichum andersonii | Fern |
| Gymnocarpium disjunctum | Fern |
| Equsetum variegatum | Fern |
| Polypodium glycyrrhiza | Fern |
| Artedius fenestralis | Fish |
| Pholis laeta | Fish |
| Chirolophis decoratus | Fish |
| Sebastes caurinus | Fish |
| Sebastes entomelas | Fish |
| Xylaria hypoxylon | Fungus |
| Heterotextus alpinus | Fungus |
| Nidula candida | Fungus |
| Fomitopsis pinicola | Fungus |
| Nidula niveotomentosa | Fungus |
| Pleurotopsis longinqua | Fungus |
| Trametes versicolor | Fungus |
| Ganoderma applanatum | Fungus |
| Cladonia cornuta | Lichen |
| Cladonia maxima | Lichen |
| Pilophorus clavatus | Lichen |
| Lecanora xylophila | Lichen |
| Caloplaca verruculifera | Lichen |
| Icmadophila ericetorum | Lichen |
| Neovison vison | Mammal |
| Megaptera novaeangliae | Mammal |
| Phoca vitulina | Mammal |
| Eumetopias jubatus | Mammal |
| Enhydra lutris | Mammal |
| Tamasciurus hudsonicus | Mammal |
| Homo sapiens | Mammal |
| Lottia pelta | Mollusk |
| Macoma balthica | Mollusk |
| Protothaca staminea | Mollusk |
| Pododesmus macrochisma | Mollusk |
| Aegires albopunctatus | Mollusk |
| Hermissenda crassicornis | Mollusk |
| Doris montereyensis | Mollusk |
| Katharina tunicata | Mollusk |
| Tritonia festiva | Mollusk |
| Acanthodoris hudsoni | Mollusk |
| Ceratostoma foliatum | Mollusk |
| Lirabuccinum dirum | Mollusk |
| Cryptochiton stelleri | Mollusk |
| Tonicella lineata | Mollusk |
| Amphissa columbiana | Mollusk |
| Acmaea mitra | Mollusk |
| Mytilus trossulus | Mollusk |
| Clinocardium nuttallii | Mollusk |
| Hylocomium splendens | Moss |
| Vaccinium oxycoccos | Plant |
| Picea sitchensis | Plant |
| Alnus viridis ssp. Sinuata | Plant |
| Boschniakia rossica | Plant |
| Lysichiton americanus | Plant |
| Elliottia pyroloflorus | Plant |
| Claytonia sibirica | Plant |
| Plantago major | Plant |
| Maianthemum dilatatum | Plant |
| Phyllospadix serrulatus | Plant |
| Geum macrophyllum | Plant |
| Senecio vulgaris | Plant |
| Aruncus dioicus | Plant |
| Sambucus racemosa | Plant |
| Oplopanax horridus | Plant |
| Juniperus communis | Plant |
| Empetrum nigrum | Plant |
| Ledum groenlandicum | Plant |
| Kalmia polyfolia | Plant |
| Pinus contorta var. contorta | Plant |
| Tsuga mertensiana | Plant |
| Moneses uniflora | Plant |
| Cupressus nootkatensis | Plant |
| Tiarella trifoliata | Plant |
| Rubus pedatus | Plant |
| Cornus canadensis | Plant |
| Menziesia ferruginea | Plant |
| Coptis asplenifolia | Plant |
| Tsuga heterophylla | Plant |
| Rubus spectabilis | Plant |
| Taraxacum officinale | Plant |
| Digitalis purpurea | Plant |
| Ranunculus repens | Plant |
| Heracleum maximum | Plant |
| Alnus rubra | Plant |
| Pyura haustor | Tunicate |
| Ascidia columbiana | Tunicate |
| Halocynthia igaboja | Tunicate |
| Metandrocarpa taylori | Tunicate |
| Botryllus schlosseri | Tunicate |
| Botrylloides violaceus | Tunicate |
| Eudistylia vancouveri | Worm |
| Serpula columbiana | Worm |
| Myxicola infundibulum | Worm |
