Alaska Fish & Wildlife News
March 2025

Stalking Shorebirds on Alaska’s Remote Outer Coast
Researching Elusive Red Knots Part 3

The pilot season was featured in January and the first season in February

Jenell Larsen Tempel picks up the story as the project progresses

We saw dribs and drabs of one to five Red Knots during most of our surveys in our assigned polygons (study areas) during the 2022 pilot season, but the real numbers tended to show up at low tide far out from camp. It seemed like the mud in that area contained a good deal of Limecola balthica, a small clam that is a favorite ...   Stalking Shorebirds Article Continued

Ask a Wildlife Biologist: Why do moose lick cars?

An 8th grader at Birchtree Charter School in Palmer asked, “Why do moose lick cars?”

Do moose lick cars? Yes, it’s real. Moose really do lick cars. So do caribou. It even made the New York Times. In 2020, the New York Times reported, “Signs were put up by officials of Jasper National Park, in the western province of Alberta, to try to stop moose from licking road salt off idling cars — a serious problem that can present dangers to the vehicles, the drivers ...   Do moose lick cars? Article Continued

Young Moose in Northwest Alaska
Sara Henslee's Moose Research

Near Nome, Alaska, in the vast arctic landscape of Game Management Unit 22, a Super Cub airplane traces the sky. In one of the two seats is Sara Henslee, a state wildlife biologist in Northwest Alaska and a UAF Masters student in Wildlife Biology & Conservation. Below her, she sees caribou, ambling bears and of course, her research subject—the wild moose living in the Northwestern part of our state.

More specifically, Henslee’s research takes a look at moose that are 10 ...   Moose Research Article Continued