Lest you think brown bears are the only mammal at Katmai National Park and Preserve in Alaska, the park’s staff would like you to know there are 42 species of mammals (including the bears) living on land and in the water, as well as anywhere from 64 to over 100 species of birds either calling this park and preserve their home, or making a layover during their seasonal migrations. And of course there are fish, and not just the five species of Pacific salmon.

Mammals

Red fox, Katmai National Park and Preserve / NPS file

Sure, everybody is intent upon watching those big brown bears fishing for salmon at Brooks Falls, but on occasion, you might spy moose, caribou, red fox, wolf, lynx, wolverine, river otter, mink, marten, weasel, porcupine, snowshoe hare, red squirrel, or beaver.

Count yourself fortunate if you see a wolf.

Gray wolf, Katmai National Park and Preserve / NPS - D. Kopshever

According to park staff:

Little is known about Katmai’s wolf population. Wolves have been seen throughout the park; along the coast hunting sea otter and harbors seals, and in Brooks Camp fishing alongside bears.

• Wolves on average can live up to 12 years old in the wild.
• They can be 2.5 feet (.8 m) tall at the shoulders.
• The average male weighs 105 pounds (48 kg) and the average female weighs 88 pounds (40 kg).
• Wolf packs usually include dominant male and female breeding pairs, their offspring, and other non-breeding adults.
• Wolf packs usually live within a specific territory and may travel within that territory as far as 30 miles (48 km).

In addition to land mammals, remember to look toward the open water of Katmai’s coast. Humpback whales can be seen in the Shelikof Strait, and sea otters – a keystone species (organisms that help hold the ecosystem together) for Katmai’s coastal environments – might pop their heads up to check out you and the action landward.

Birds

As for birds, you’ll see them both in Katmai’s interior as well as along the coast.

A bald eagle fishing the Brooks River, Katmai National Park and Preserve / Rebecca Latson

Take your eye away from the bears at Brooks Falls to look around the rest of the area. You might spot an eagle on a snag at Brooks River, fishing for a tasty salmon meal.

Katmai is dotted with lakes, ponds, and wetlands. All these wet areas provide nesting sites and food for shorebirds like greater yellowlegs, Hudsonian godwits, tundra swans and many species of ducks.

The park and preserve’s interior forests are havens for thrushes, warblers, sparrows, ptarmigan, gray jays, and ravens, to name just a few of the birds you might spot around you.

Horned puffins nesting along the coast, Katmai National Park and Preserve / USFWS file

You will also see abundant bird species along Katmai’s coastline, although the species composition changes depending upon the time of year. During the summer, there are black oystercatchers, horned and tufted puffins, black-legged kittiwakes, other gulls, and common murres breeding colonies on rocky headlands and offshore islands. In the winter, common goldeneye and harlequin ducks become abundant.

Fish

Human anglers and bears appreciate the abundance and variety of fish within the rivers and lakes of Katmai National Park and Preserve, including all five species of Pacific salmon (pink, chum, coho, sockeye, and chinook) in addition to rainbow trout, arctic char, dolly varden, arctic grayling, lake trout, pike, herring, flounder, and whitefish, to name just a few of Katmai’s underwater wildlife denizens.

A school of bright red sockeye salmon, Katmai National Park and Preserve / NPS - R. Wood