a total of 77 species on the island. As of 2019 at least 116 bird species have been reported. Due to its proximity to Asia, over three-dozen species of birds have been recorded on Buldir Island which are rare in North America. Buldir played an important part in the recovery of the Aleutian subspecies of Cackling Goose, Branta hutchinsii leucopareia. This subspecies was thought to be extinct by the early part of the twentieth century. The last confirmed sighting was in 1938. The birds had suffered complete breeding failure due to predation by introduced rats and foxes which ate both eggs and goslings. In 1962, a remnant population of perhaps 300 birds was discovered on Buldir Island. These geese survived because of the lack of mammalian predators. In 1967 the bird was listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Preservation Act of 1966 and subsequently, in 1973, under the Endangered Species Act. The recovery program for the subspecies involved capturing goslings on Buldir Island for a captive breeding program. The birds produced by this program were reintroduced to Aleutian Islands which had been cleared of foxes by teams of trappers and hunters working for the National Wildlife Refuge. The recovery plan worked and the Aleutian cackling goose was removed from the list of endangered species in 2001. By 2017 there were perhaps as many as 150,000 Aleutian cackling geese, most or perhaps all of them descended from the original Buldir Island population. References Further reading Buldir Island: Block 1146, Census Tract 1, Aleutians West Census Area, Alaska United States Census Bureau Islands of the Aleutian Islands Islands of Aleutians West Census Area, Alaska Seabird colonies Islands of Alaska Islands of Unorganized Borough, Alaska Uninhabited islands of Alaska