2024 Kachemak Bay Shorebird Festival: May 8-12
Species Tally
PRELIMINARY REPORT (May 6-7th)
Homer is working hard to give us some warm spring weather for the Shorebird Festival. Most important though, the birds are cooperating: arriving on schedule and in some very good numbers. A great beginning for our wonderful Festival this year. A smattering of birds below to get us started and we’re starting off with a RED KNOT!
Mud Bay/Mariner Park
A RED KNOT was seen on the 6th and 7th in Mud Bay! Also on that tide was a flock of ~2500-3000 WESTERN SANDPIPERS and ~700 DUNLIN. Other species: SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPER, LEAST SANDPIPER, SEMIPALMATED PLOVER, BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER, SHORT-BILLED DOWITCHER, AMERICAN PIPIT, SAVANNAH SPARROW.
Green Timbers/Louie’s Lagoon/Lower end of the Spit
PECTORAL SANDPIPER, SEMIPALMATED PLOVER, LEAST SANDPIPER
Beluga Slough/Dam
BLUE-WINGED TEAL seen on the 7th. Other species: GADWALL; EURASIAN WIGEON; BONAPART’S GULL; LAPLAND LONGSPUR (20); AMERICAN PIPIT; HERMIT THRUSH; WHIMBREL; LEAST SANDPIPER; GREATER YELLOWLEGS; and CANADA, CACKLING, GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GEESE; BARROW’S GOLDENEYE.
Beluga Lake/Upper Lake (Platform Area)
CANVASBACK (3); TREE, VIOLET-GREEN, and CLIFF SWALLOWS; TRUMPETER SWAN; YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER; PECTORAL SANDPIPER; (platform area) RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET, LINCOLN’S SPARROW, WILSON’S SNIPE, LONG-BILLED DOWITCHER.
Anchor River/Anchor Point
WHIMBREL, HUDSONIAN GODWIT, BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER, DUNLIN, GREATER YELLOWLEGS, SPRUCE GROUSE, RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRD, SAVANNAH SPARROW, CHESTNUT-BACKED CHICKADEE, RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRD, BELTED KINGFISHER
Out on the Bay/Seldovia
RED-NECKED PHALAROPE (20) off the end of the Spit. Gull Island: TUFTED PUFFIN (7). BLACK OYSTERCATCHERS: 2 pair Yukon Is, 1 pair Hesketh Is. (Seldovia: CHESTNUT-BACKED CHICKADEE, RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRD.
*UPCOMING TRIPS/Events
Link to previous Presentation
December 4th Presentation by Aaron Lang: “Birding in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge” was recorded and the link is on the Friends of the Alaska National Wildlife Refuges website:
https://alaskarefugefriends.org/category/events/special-events/