Buldir Island
Buldir Island | ||
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Aerial view of Buldir Island | ||
Waters | Pacific Ocean | |
Archipelago | Aleutian Islands | |
Geographical location | 52 ° 21 ′ 0 ″ N , 175 ° 56 ′ 0 ″ E | |
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length | 7 km | |
width | 4 km | |
surface | 19.291 km² | |
Highest elevation | Buldir volcano 656 m |
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Residents | uninhabited | |
Map of the West Aleutian Islands / 6 - Buldir Island |
Buldir Island (also Buldyr Island ) is a small island in the western Aleutian Islands in the US state of Alaska . It lies in the middle between the Near Islands in the west and the Rat Islands in the east.
geography
The now uninhabited island (as of 2000) has an area of 19.291 km² with a maximum length of 7 km and a maximum width of 4 km. The two volcanoes on the island are the 656 m high Buldir volcano , which occupies most of the island, and the East Cape volcano in the northeast of the island. The coastline often consists of steep cliffs.
history
Excavations show that the island was inhabited several times in earlier times, interrupted by longer uninhabited periods. Well-preserved bones have been found from Steller's manatee , which became extinct in 1768 . Prior to this discovery, there have been no archaeological finds of this manatee outside of the Commander Islands. In addition, a unique house construction made of whale bones was found, one of the few Unangan houses that have been excavated .
Bird colony
The island is home to 21 species of breeding seabirds, making it the most diverse seabird colony in the northern hemisphere , each made up of crested lalk , pygmy lalk , bearded lark , puffin , petrel and other species. The formerly endangered Aleutian pygmy Canada goose (Branta hutchinsii leucopareia) only breeds on the fox-free Buldir and on Chagulak Island . In 1962 there were still 56 animals on Buldir. In 2001 the population recovered to 37,000 animals.
Web links
- Buldir at the Alaska Volcano Observatory (English)
- GVP to Buldir (English)
- Satellite image ( memento from December 23, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
- Buldir Iceland: Block 1146, Census Tract 1, Aleutians West Census Area, Alaska United States Census Bureau (English)
- Photos of the island
- Excavations (English)
- Excavations (FWS )
- Saving the Aleutian cackling goose (English)