Kenai Fjords National Park participates in a citizen-science based project called COSST that monitors parts of the west coast from the Aleutians down into Mexico, keeping a record of dead birds located during beachwalks. (I’m not certain about that name. There is supposed to be a Web site, but I’ve not found it.)

Kenai Fjords Glacier Lodge will have a natural history focus, with plenty of beachwalking during the summer, so the Lodge will contribute its findings to the COSST project. Weekly walks are all that is required, so Mike and I are starting the lodge record now; the park superintendent says they’d welcome winter data.

The first official walk was Saturday, January 31. We walked from the “center” of the beach to the west and around the Pedersen Lagoon.

Dead birds: none
Live birds: oodles (bald eagle: 1)
Sea otters: maybe ten or so
Harbor seals: dozens
Coyotes: two