September 30th—Meeting and Presentation by Todd Eskelin: “Anna’s Hummingbirds: Where are they coming from and where are they going?”
October 28th—Meeting and Presentation by Jason Sodergren: Owls
November 25th—Meeting and Presentation by Brian Daniel: Emperor Geese
***TRIPS/Events
October 11th Owling Leader: Gary Lyon. More details soon.
November 15th Trip to Beluga Lake or Spit. Meet at 10:00 am. Leader: Dave Erikson.
All Kachemak Bay Birding trips are cosponsored by the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge. All trips are free and everyone is welcome to attend.
***TRIP REPORTS
Seaside Farm Trip Report: 9-20-25
Bird Walk Results–from Dave Erikson
Last Saturday morning, September 20th , the Kachemak Bay Birders sponsored its
monthly bird walk at Mossy Kilcher’s Seaside Farm, located approximately Mile 5 East
End Road in Homer. Seaside Farm is one of the unique birding hotspots in the Homer
area. Open fields and extensive landscaping create a great place to find passerines and
other land birds. Access to the tidal flats of Kachemak Bay also makes it a great place
to look for marine-oriented birds.
Birders met at 8:00 AM, just after sunrise. Fog, light rain and low light levels made for
poor visibility around the farm, but a few birds were located in the trees and shrubs after
it got a little lighter. However, most bird activity was found near some of the many bird
feeders on the farm.
A trip down to the shoreline of Kachemak Bay yielded a few additional species. The tide
was low, so extensive mudflats were exposed in front of the bluff. Mallards were
observed feeding at the water’s edge and flying low over the flats. Bald eagles were
seen perching on boulders along the outer limits of the flats. Song sparrows were found
in the beach grass at the edge of bluff. Fox sparrows were seen and head in the mixed
forest and shrub habitats on the path down to the beach.
Last Saturday morning, September 20th , the Kachemak Bay Birders sponsored its
monthly bird walk at Mossy Kilcher’s Seaside Farm, located approximately Mile 5 East
End Road in Homer. Seaside Farm is one of the unique birding hotspots in the Homer
area. Open fields and extensive landscaping create a great place to find passerines and
other land birds. Access to the tidal flats of Kachemak Bay also makes it a great place
to look for marine-oriented birds.
Birders met at 8:00 AM, just after sunrise. Fog, light rain and low light levels made for
poor visibility around the farm, but a few birds were located in the trees and shrubs after
it got a little lighter. However, most bird activity was found near some of the many bird
feeders on the farm.
A trip down to the shoreline of Kachemak Bay yielded a few additional species. The tide
was low, so extensive mudflats were exposed in front of the bluff. Mallards were
observed feeding at the water’s edge and flying low over the flats. Bald eagles were
seen perching on boulders along the outer limits of the flats. Song sparrows were found
in the beach grass at the edge of bluff. Fox sparrows were seen and head in the mixed
forest and shrub habitats on the path down to the beach.
A total of ten species were documented during the two-hour walk:
Mallard – 200+
Bald eagle – 4
Black-capped chickadee – 3
Ruby-crowned kinglet – 3
Fox sparrow – 2
Dark- eyed junco – 1
Golden-crowned sparrow – 2
Song sparrow – 3
Orange-crowned warbler – 1
Yellow warbler – 1
A big thanks to Mossy Kilcher for leading the trip! It Was A Great Day To Bird!!
Fish Line Cleanup Report: 9-6-25
The fish line cleanup crew on Saturday numbered about a dozen folks–some birders and some other folks who had heard about it and wanted to help. For the first time in the eight years we’ve been doing this it was fairly warm, even only minimal breeze and no rain. It was A Great Day to Pick Up Fish Line!!
A big thanks to Michelle Michaud who led this year, noting that she began these cleanups eight years ago after seeing how much fish line accumulates each summer. Note: we are working with CACS and hope to put up educational signage near the existing receptacle (looks like a white periscope) and to replace the one between Land’s End and the Ferry Dock which disappeared a couple years ago (with signage there also).
Good all this still isn’t still out there with the birds!
Anchor River: 8-17-25
It was another beautiful day “to bird” at Anchor Point/Anchor River. Fourteen people joined Jim Herbert and myself (Michelle Michaud) in our search for birds at one of my favorite birding spots. Our tally for the day was 30 species. New to our trips here was a couple from Soldotna, and an enthusiastic youngster from Halibut Cove. An Anchorage birder, unaware of our field trip, joined us about midway down the river towards the mouth.
We walked to the mouth of the river and back – over 3.0 miles (the mouth is moving further north each year) – first along the river, then back along the beach. It was sunny, with a light wind. Sadly, we did not see a lot of birds on the waters of Cook Inlet.
Species Observed:
- Harlequin Ducks (10)
- Red-necked Grebe (1)
- Rock Pigeons (Feral) (2) – yes they have finally made it to the Anchor River, unfortunately
- Pacific Golden Plover (2) – at the mouth of the river
- American Golden Plover (1) at the mouth of the river
- Semi-palmated Plover (8)
- Short-billed Dowitcher (2)
- Whimbrel (5)
- Spotted Sandpiper (6) – they like the river
- Wandering Tattler (1) – along the river, and one of my favorite shorebirds
- Lesser Yellowlegs (1) – along the river
- Greater Yellowlegs (22) – at least this many and great to see as we didn’t see many during monitoring
- Black Turnstone (3) – along the river – numbers are much higher in July
- Ruddy Turnstone (1) – still in full breeding plumage and beautiful
- Least Sandpiper (1)
- Western Sandpiper (8)
- Horned Puffin (1)
- Ancient Murrelet (1)
- Black-legged Kittiwake (1) – we didn’t spend a lot of time counting gulls
- Bonaparte’s Gull (1) – hatch year bird
- Gull sp (250)
- Pigeon Guillemot (1)
- Common Loon (2)
- Northern Harrier (1)
- Bald Eagle (4) – two on a roof top with one looking ill, but they were both gone on our return trip to the parking lot
- Belted Kingfisher (2)
- Merlin (1)
- Black-billed Magpie (5)
- American Crow (75) – seen often together in a large flock in the sky
- Savannah Sparrow (1)
Surprisingly there wasn’t a lot of exposed rock along the beach, which is where the shorebirds like to feed. But then again, every day is different there.
Thanks to all who attended,
IT WAS A GREAT DAY TO BIRD
September 24th Presentation by Bruce Lyon: Gray-crowned Rosy Finch Study on the Pribilofs.