Kachemak Bay Bird Festival - 200!
- P. Leonard
- May 17, 2018
- 3 min read
Fueled by coffee 'drink' from the hotel vending machine, we were up and out the door at 5:30 AM on our first full day at the bird festival. We were hoping to see seaducks in calm seas before the fishing traffic pushed them farther out in the bay. We missed on both. First, the fishermen were already out and about (of course) and second, the sea was angry that day. Hovering somewhere around 40 degrees with winds gusting and a slight mist slapping our faces we headed away from the Homer spit and over to Bishop's beach. It was here where we picked up our second jaeger of the trip! We were lucky enough to get a Pomarine within 30 minutes of arriving the night before and this morning a Parasitic passed only 20 feet over our heads (photos will be posted in the gallery). Both species were lifers for us.
By most accounts it was a relatively slow day for shorebirds. Yet, we were determined to prove that to ourselves!!!! Approaching our 16th hour of birding we finally decided that our next stop would be our last. It is often the case when watching birds that something magical happens when you’re tired and just ready to call it a day. In a grassy island about 100 feet away we spotted a small group of Pacific Golden Plovers. In breeding plumage these birds were a sight for sore eyes! The contrast was stunning. We watched for a short time and headed back to the hotel. After tallying our list for the day we realized this sighting was our 200th unique species of 2018. Fitting.
On Sunday the weather improved and so did our spirits. Many other birders were reporting surfbirds, and this was Claire’s big target for the day. After a relatively slow morning filled with hundreds of western sandpipers, short-billed dowitchers, and black-legged kittiwakes, we decided to take a little break on some rip rap and scan the calming waters for seaducks. Within 5 minutes a group of about 30 surfbirds landed 10 feet in front of us as if we’d willed it to happen. They were also in full breeding plumage and strikingly beautiful. These birds were our highlight of Sunday along with other lifers (e.g., Eurasian wigeon, Black Scoters). All-in-all it was a great trip despite the low numbers of shorebirds and iffy weather. We met many friendly locals and reunited with other friends from around Alaska that were there to share in the great phenological litmus test. We tallied 74 unique birds (list below) and were happy to get the Scoter trifecta along with 7 total life birds.
American Pipit
American Robin
American Wigeon
Arctic Tern
Bald Eagle
Belted Kingfisher
Black-bellied Plover
Black-billed Magpie
Black-legged Kittiwake
Bonaparte's Gull
Boreal Chickadee
Cackling Goose
Canada Goose
Common Loon
Common Merganser
Common Raven
Common Redpoll
Dark-eyed Junco
Dunlin
Eurasian Wigeon
Fox Sparrow
Glaucous-winged Gull
Gray Jay
Greater Scaup
Greater White-fronted Goose
Greater Yellowlegs
Green-winged Teal
Hairy Woodpecker
Harlequin Duck
Hermit Thrush
Herring Gull
Horned Grebe
Least Sandpiper
Lesser Scaup
Long-tailed Duck
Mallard
Northern Harrier
Northern Pintail
Northern Shoveler
Northwestern Crow
Orange-crowned Warbler
Pacific Golden-Plover
Pacific Wren
Parasitic Jaeger
Pelagic Cormorant
Peregrine Falcon
Pigeon Guillemot
Pomarine Jaeger
Red-breasted Merganser
Red-necked Grebe
Red-necked Phalarope
Rock Pigeon
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Rusty Blackbird
Sandhill Crane
Savannah Sparrow
Semipalmated Plover
Semipalmated Sandpiper
Short-billed Dowitcher
Surf Scoter
Surfbird
Tree Swallow
Trumpeter Swan
Varied Thrush
Violet-green Swallow
Western Sandpiper
Western Wood-Pewee
Whimbrel
White-winged Scoter
Wilson's Snipe
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Black Scoter
Lapland Longspur
Song Sparrow
And an update on the 2018 master list (208).
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