Homer Alaska - News -

With all the activities, visitors to the shorebird festival sometimes forget the reason for the season. This weekend, it's all about the birds.

The theme for 2008 is "Shorebirds: Our International Ambassadors," honoring the links between nations shorebirds forge. Many shorebirds have flown thousands of miles across empty oceans from far-off lands. Whether sandpipers, plovers or oystercatchers, shorebirds are the big stars of the weekend but not the only stars.

Birds will be on the mind of birders in the first Kachemak Bay Big Day Birding Challenge. Teams of two to four birders can register and compete in a challenge to identify as many different species as possible in one day. Registration is $15 and supports the Shorebird Education and Conservation Fund and Anchorage Audubon Society.

"You're going to be out there birding anyway," said festival coordinator Christina Whiting. "Be entered, take the list along, check off the birds."

What kind of birds might teams see on the Big Day Birding Challenge? What excites local birders aren't just shorebirds, but ducks, geese, cranes, seabirds and songbirds. In no particular order, here are the birds experienced birders look forward to every spring.

* Sandhill cranes: Those big, gangly long-legged cranes swoop around town in returning flocks. Out on the north end of Beluga Lake, they dance and tussle. For many birders, the trumpeting call of the crane is the announcement of spring.

"The cranes just do something to your soul the first time they show up," said Betty Siegel, a serious birder who lost track of her life list when it hit 700 species.

* Common snipe: For other birders, the call of the common snipe evokes spring. Snipe soar and then dive, the wind rustling their wing feathers and causing a haunting whirring sound.

Carmen Field, a biologist and educator with Kachemak Bay Research Reserve, said she's been surprising snipes a lot this week while walking Fritz Creek Valley Road with her daughter, Eryn, picking up trash or looking for dragonfly larvae.

"When I hear the winnowing sound (of the snipe) when I'm skiing, it just makes me think of spring," Field said.

* Yellow-billed loon: Water taxi operator and birder Karl Stoltzfus of Bay Excursions said one bird he always looks forward to this time of the year is the yellow-billed loon.

"They're not many of them left, and this is one of the places you can see them in the world," he said.

* Red-winged blackbird: While red-winged blackbirds are common in many other parts of America, in Homer they're rare.

"I'm always looking for a red-winged blackbird," said Dale Chorman, who has been birding as long as he can remember.

* Greater white-fronted geese: These big geese with, well, white fronts, and huge orange feet cluster in flocks of 50 to more than 500 in Beluga Slough, at the head of Beluga Lake and at the Anchor River.

"They're big, they're identifiable and they're so beautiful in their breeding regalia," said Elizabeth Wasserman, an education specialist with the Lake Clark National Park and Preserve. "I'll never forget one morning during shorebird festival. They were out in the slough at dawn and they were stunning."

This week, a flock of greater white-fronted geese have been seen on Beluga Slough with cackling Canada geese, emperor geese and one lone snow goose.

* Semipalmated plovers: While many shorebirds swing through this month and head elsewhere to breed, the semipalmated plover sets up house for the summer.

"They come in this next week. Some of them stay here and nest along the Spit," Field said. "I get to hear them all summer when I'm running on the Spit."

* Ducks: On Beluga Lake or near to shore, migrating ducks catch some birders' eyes.

"They're brilliant and have some intricate courtships," Chorman said. "I just like watching all of them, like the golden eye. The mergansers are one of the overlooked birds. If you see a dark merganser, they're like punk rockers."

"All the beautiful ducks," Wasserman added. "The pintails, the shovelers, the green-winged teals."

* Eiders: On a high tide and in calm weather, eider ducks can be seen off the Homer Spit on the Kachemak Bay side.

"I just really like the common eiders," Field said. "Just the thought there might be a king eider out there, a breeding male. They're such a beautiful duck."

* Pacific golden plover: Mixed in with the black-and-white black-bellied plovers, the golden plovers can sometimes be seen. Siegel called the plovers "the coolest shorebirds," especially the Pacific golden plover.

"That's the one I think has the coolest colors," she said.

* Sea birds: Out on the bay and at Gull Island, Stoltzfus likes looking for sea or pelagic birds like the surfbird, murrelets, kittiwakes or murres.

"The murrelets are all coming back," he said. "Unfortunately, the Kittlitz's murrelet seems to be fewer and fewer. It used to be during shorebird I'd see them every trip."

Stoltzfus, who grew up in Homer, said he didn't come to appreciate birding and shorebirds until after he graduated from Homer High School and worked with an Alaska Department of Fish and Game biologist, Henry Yuen, who had a real passion for birding.

"I remember seeing thousands of shorebirds when I was growing up and not knowing much about that," he said. "It's nice to have that knowledge now what they're doing here."

For a complete schedule of shorebird events, pick up the festival guide at Alaska Islands and Ocean Visitor Center or the Homer Chamber of Commerce, or visit www.homeralaska.org. The birding hotline is updated daily at 235-PEEP (235-7337).

Michael Armstrong can be reached at michael.armstrong@homernews.com.