Alaska Fish & Wildlife News
June 2025
Kachemak Bay Shorebird Festival
Highlights from a first-time festival goer
I was born and raised in Alaska, graduated from UAA, and have worked with birds since my first volunteer stint at the Bird Treatment and Learning Center when I was 17. So how on Earth had I never been to any of the Alaska bird festivals? 2025 was the year I was going to make it! I cajoled my archaeologist friends Kaitlyn and Justin to join me on my adventure, and we put registration opening day on our calendars.
Registration
Friday in March found me sitting at a communal computer in the hostel over Pike Place Market, scrolling through pages of tours that needed to be synced with three people, and realizing that I should have reviewed the festival program before registration opened. We needed to pick and choose what we were going to do and balance our driving time with what was possible. By the time we sorted through what we were interested in, several of the tours had sold out. The three of us ended up getting slots for several cool bird tours though, an art class, the glacier tour, and the archaeology tour. There was so much going on at the shorebird festival that sounded amazing, but I had to let go of the idea that we would have time for everything. We just needed to pick out several things that we definitely didn’t want to miss and see what else worked out once we got there. I also set eBird quizzes to the Homer area in early May so I could brush up on what species we may see there.
Kachemak Bay or Bust
It’s almost a four-hour drive from Anchorage to Homer. I had a scope in the back of our car, along with my Xtra-tufs, two pairs of binoculars, my nature journaling supplies, and ample snacks. Kaitlyn, Justin, and I left Anchorage late Thursday afternoon and headed down the Seward Highway onto the Kenai Peninsula. Having seen the recent West High Hadestown performance four times, we blasted the cast album most of the way down the road and saw nearly 20 moose alongside the highway.
Day one
The next morning, we made our first stop at the Kachemak Bay Shorebird Festival - the headquarters of the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center (AMNWR). We picked up our keychains which got us into all events that were free with registration, we checked out the festival merchandise and an extensive exhibit on the wildlife refuge. I had printed the festival program into a binder prior to our trip, but they had paper printouts available at the visitor center as well - those can be helpful to get a bird’s eye view on all the events and highlight those that you don’t want to miss. The program includes all the schedules, a map, and descriptions of each event. You can also get Kachemak Bay birding checklists at the center, and I pocketed a few.
I had signed up for the workshop Bringing Birds to Life with the featured festival artist Danielle Larsen. The workshop was in the visitor center so after I donned my new festival shirt with Danielle’s beautiful Surfbird on the back, I went to her class with my bag full of art supplies. The class was a fun experience for crafty people. A lot of people had brought some of their own supplies, though the class provides you with them as well. We watched Danielle sketch out a Surfbird and then we all did our best from the same picture of the little round shorebird. The small class was a great opportunity to befriend other people with similar interests and soon we were all coloring in the bird’s speckled plumage and discussing the birds everyone had seen so far.
The festival kickoff was that evening at the Pratt Museum. This was a fun chance to see the exhibits, meet the other festival-goers, trade sightings, and learn more about the history of the area. We ended the day at the bird trivia event, which I would recommend going to early. We arrived 25 minutes beforehand and every single table was already taken, this was a very popular event. After finding some seats at the bar we entered our team name, the Red-necked Dweebs (not a bad idea to brainstorm bird team names beforehand), and smashed through the bird-themed questions. We won a shorebird mug and ended up with 8th place, it was enormously fun and a great test of bird identification knowledge and ecology along with bird-themed pop culture and music.
Day Two
Kaitlyn, Justin, and I had signed up for the beginner bird walk at the Calvin and Coyle Trail at 7:30 Saturday morning. For these events it’s important to watch your email as we were all sent instructions the previous day detailing directions and parking instructions. We arrived a bit early to get one of the limited parking spaces and had our scope and binoculars in hand. A scope isn’t necessary, but it proved useful as we followed our guides down the trail and were able to confirm woodpecker and sparrow species from a distance. The woods were a cathedral of mossy branches that enclosed a full choir of birdsong with the early morning sun coming through the canopy. We paused in the clearings to follow the trills of Ruby-crowned Kinglets, Robins, warblers, and sparrows. Our guides were extraordinarily experienced and identified birds from faint calls and distant flocks in the grass. Our final count from the tour was 26 species including a Three-toed Woodpecker!
After the tour, we took a breakfast break, then headed to the Homer Spit for our afternoon tour Kayaking into the Ancient Past. I’d recommend rain gear for the boat ride out as we got a little wet, but it was a beautiful blue-sky day. We kayaked around Yukon Island to Elephant Rock, seeing Black Oystercatchers and Wandering Tattlers on the beach and rocks. The tide was high enough that we could safely kayak through the eye of the elephant as well, then spotted a Cormorant and a little flock of Harlequin Ducks flying across the water.
Day Three
On our last morning in Homer, we picked up bagels and lavender mochas to have on the beach by the spit where we could look for birds. Large flocks of Cackling Geese and Greater White-fronted Geese patrolled the beaches while we watched the sky for plovers. Our last tour of the trip was Gull Island with a hike to Grewingk Glacier Lake.
I’d never been to Gull Island before, but it was a wonderful rocky colony of Black-legged Kittiwakes with Glaucous Gulls patrolling the rocks, Oystercatchers perching on the bow, and rafts of Common Murres in the surrounding waters. On the beach across the bay, we found Pine Grosbeaks, Robins, a Surf Scoter, and a rare sighting of an Aleutian Tern! The hike was relatively flat with the forest full of Varied Thrush and kinglets. Grewingk Glacier Lake was beautiful and worth the long hike. The glacier was blue and white in the distance, huge ice bergs floating in the water under the blue sky. It was a perfect day and a well-earned apple and cup of tea. I also had my travel watercolor kit with me and had time to make a quick painting of the glacier. The trip back to town had otters in the water, pink salmonberry flowers, and more kinglets.
Home again and tips for next time
Right before we left for Anchorage we stopped at Mud Bay at the base of the Homer Spit. This was the perfect end to the trip as the area was filled with thousands of Dunlins and Sandpipers. Huge flocks of the little birds held murmurations over the water, mesmerizing to watch over the silver and blue water of the evening.
The birding list for Kachemak Bay has 276 birds on it, though only 106 are common sightings in spring. We saw some 50 different bird species over our three-day trip, including Sandhill Cranes calling every night, a Merlin screeching at our rental, and a rare tern and woodpecker. Not bad for our first festival visit!
The next time I go to the festival I’ll be sure to bring my scope and binoculars again (viewing spots sometime share group scopes though), pick out our tours and events before registration opens so we’re able to get spots (you can ask about waiting lists though), show up to every event early, see about participating in the 6x6” art contest, and sign up for rare bird alerts on eBird. Even if you’re not registered, there is plenty to do! There are free birding stations set up, local hotspots on eBird to visit, campgrounds, and open events like bird trivia. If you see people and cars stopped on the road, especially on the spit, there are likely interesting birds being spotted! Be sure to bring all your bird-themed shirts and earrings as no crowd will be more appreciative than the festival goers. Check the weather to pack accordingly, and leave room in your backpack for all the wonderful art, books, and pottery Homer has to offer!
More on 2025 Alaska bird and wildlife festivals
Arin Underwood is a wildlife biologist with the Threatened, Endangered and Diversity Program at ADF&G, studying birds and small mammals.
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