National Wildlife Federation www.nwf.org Longnose Sucker • Brown Bear • Moose • Barren Ground Caribou • Musk-ox • Polar Bear • Wolf • Arctic Fox • Wolverine • Land Otter • Arctic Ground Squirrel • Collared Lemming • Brown Lemming • Tundra Vole • Red-throated Loon • Tundra Swan • Black Brant • Canada Goose • Mallard • American Pintail • Green-winged Teal • American Wigeon • Greater Scaup • Oldsquaw • Common Eider • King Eider • Surf Scoter • Rough-legged Hawk • Golden Eagle • Gyrfalcon • Peregrine Falcon • Merlin • Willow Ptarmigan • Rock Ptarmigan • Semipalmated Plover • Lesser Golden Plover • Black-bellied Plover • Ruddy Turnstone • Snipe • Whimbrel • Pectoral Sandpiper • Least Sandpiper Life on the Arctic Refuge’s Coastal Plain hose in favor of opening the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling often call the region “barren,” and it can Peregrine falcon Arctic ground squirrel Long-tailed jaeger appear that way at first glance. But look again. The plain boasts the Nests on cliffs and Arctic fox Builds dens on low hills, T Feeds on eggs and river bluffs greatest wildlife diversity on Alaska’s northern coast, with denning polar Dens in coastal ridges and pingos where small birds bears, a year-round population of musk-oxen and many dozens of bird Lake trout hills, stream soils are well drained species—including vast numbers of migratory waterfowl. The refuge’s best Lives in larger lakes, banks and pingos known symbol is the 150,000-strong Porcupine caribou herd (named for a in foothills, that do not (mounds created freeze to the bottom by pressure under river), which migrates to the coastal plain every summer to feed, calve and permafrost) seek ocean breezes for relief from mosquitoes. In a spring and summer explosion of life, more than 100 animal species (many of which are named in the border of this illustration) make Gyrfalcon use of this vast and untouched wetland, Feeds mostly on birds, Rock ptarmigan especially ptarmigan which is framed by the Beaufort Sea on Nests on drier one side and the Brooks Range only 20 vegetation Red-throated loon to 40 miles inland on the other. Collared lemming Nests along ponds and feeds This illustration includes a sampling of Burrows in on fishes in coastal waters tussock tundra that wildlife and indicates some of the Tundra Vole ways the animals use their ecosystem, Arctic grayling Feeds on and inhabits which is made up of mini habitats Snow bunting Spawns in tributary Nests in rock cavities rich tundra meadows ranging from barrier islands, to sedge streams and coastal drift Short-eared owl meadows, to tussock tundra. material White-fronted goose Nests on coastal tundra in Tundra swan Feeds on marsh years of rodent abundance Builds nests in open grasses, sedges, tundra ponds insects and berries Caribou Red phalarope Feeds on flowering Nests on wet Golden eagle sedge tundra plants and sedges Yellow wagtail Feeds in coastal such as cottongrass Golden plover tundra on rodents Nests in streamside willows Nests on and caribou calves dwarf heath Ruddy turnstone Lapland longspur Nests on open tundra Common nester, often in drier tussock tundra and along rivers Canada goose Nests on wetland Brown bear islands Feeds on vegetation and mammals such as ground squirrels Snow goose Musk-ox Gathers on tussock Savannah sparrow Feeds on tundra in great numbers Nests on sedge meadow riverside to fatten on cottongrass and tussock tundra vegetation Greater scaup Feeds in coastal lagoons on insects, mollusks and crustaceans Surf scoter Feeds on mollusks and crustaceans in coastal lagoons Oldsquaw Black guillemot Arctic char After nesting on tundra, Nests on coastal Spawns in coastal King eider gathers in great numbers beaches and rivers and springs After nesting, gathers on coastal on coastal lagoons to barrier islands lagoons to molt and feed molt and feed Arctic cisco Migrates through coastal lagoons Northern Shrike • Wilson’s Warbler • Hoary Redpoll • Savannah Sparrow • American Tree Sparrow • Lapland Longspur • Smith’s Longspur • White-crowned Sparrow • Snow Bunting • Arctic Char • Lake Trout • Arctic Grayling • Arctic Cisco • Round Whitefish • Slimy Sculpin • • Long-billed Dowitcher • Semipalmated Sandpiper • Baird's Sandpiper • Stilt Sandpiper • Buff-breasted Sandpiper • Dunlin • Wandering Tattler • Red Phalarope • Red-necked Phalarope • Pomarine Jaeger • Parasitic Jaeger • Long-tailed Jaeger • Glaucous Gull • Sabine’s Gull • Ivory Gull • Ross’s Gull • Arctic Tern • Black Guillemot • Snowy Owl • Short-eared Owl • Raven • American Dipper • Yellow Wagtail • American Pipit • ILLUSTRATION BY DICK GAGE C o p y r i g h t © National Wildlife Magazine, Vol. 34 No. 3.