BIRD WATCHING

 Excursions

The Kachemak Bay Shorebird Festival

Each year Alaskans and visitors alike experience a special celebration welcoming spring when the Kachemak Bay Shorebird Festival, the state's largest wildlife festival, kicks off in early May. Festival participants can choose between over 50 different events, from advanced ornithology workshops, beginning backyard birding presentations, and field trips.

Located on the beautiful shores of Kachemak Bay, the Homer Spit is one of the most accessible places for shorebird viewing in Alaska. Access available via a scenic 2 hour drive south of Alaska Legends.

Hundreds of thousands of shorebirds, representing over 25 species from as far as Asia, Hawaii and South America use sites around Kachemak Bay as feeding grounds during their spring migration. Shorebirds commonly seen during the festival include Western and Least Sandpipers, Dunlins, Short-billed Dowitchers, Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs, Common Snipe, and Black-bellied and Semipalmated Plovers. Over 100 species of pelagic, coastal and woodland birds have been seen in one day during the Kachemak Bay Shorebird Festival, including Aleutian Tern, Red-faced Cormorant, Kittlitz's Murrelet and Eurasian Wigeon.

Over 100,000 shorebirds migrate through Kachemak Bay. Many travel thousands of miles resting and feeding at a very few specific critical stop-over points such as the base of the Homer Spit on their journey to the breeding grounds in the Alaska tundra.

Roadside viewing of over 25 species and flocks numbering several thousand birds is possible. Shorebirds to look for during the festival include: Black-Bellied, American Golden, Pacific Golden and Semipalmated Plover; Hudsonian, Marbled and Bar-tailed Godwits; Red Knots; Surfbirds; Western, Least, Pectoral, Spotted and Semipalmated Sandpipers; Red-necked Phalaropes; Ruddy and Black Turnstones; Lesser and Greater Yellowlegs; Common Snipe; Dunlins; Short-billed and Long-billed DowitchersWhimbrels; and Wandering Tattlers.

Besides the "Guests of Honor", the shorebirds, many of the 236 species of birds recorded for Homer can also be seen in early May, including Arctic and Aleutian Terns, Fork-tailed Storm-Petrels and Tufted and Horned Puffins. Red-faced Cormorants and thousands of Common Murres and Black-legged Kittiwakes are assembling near their nesting sites on Gull Island. Common Eiders, Pigeon Guillemots, Marbled and perhaps Kittlitz’s Murrelets should be on the Bay. Look for Eurasian Wigeons in Mud Bay or Beluga Lake. Three-toed and Black-backed Woodpeckers are resident in spruce woods around Homer, along with Warblers and Swallows and of course there are always Bald Eagles, lots of them.

It all started when...In 1993 a group of Homer residents representing environmental, economic and cultural interests, got together to dream up an event. They envisioned a festival that would educate the public about shorebirds and wetlands. The Kachemak Bay Shorebird Festival was born.

This is truly an event for any birdwatcher so please join us for the Kachemak Bay Shorebird Festival. We at Legends can assist you in making any arrangements for participation in any of the Festival's events, over 50 events including: Shorebird Viewing Stations, Guided Bird Walks, Educational Workshops,, Boat Wildlife Tours, Kids Activities, Arts and Crafts, Fair Gallery Migration, Kid's Concert, Wooden Boat Festival, and Much More!; and hundreds of visitors, early arrangements insure the best possible participation in activities requiring advanced booking. Please let Alaska Legends make you spring birding and Kachemak Bay Shorebird Festival an unforgettable experience. Alaska is home to a huge variety of birds – 471 species have been positively identified to date and an additional 35 unsubstantiated species – and makes the 49th state a paradise for birders and a destination for many who hope to see rarities like the blue-throat, Whiskered Auklet, and Bristle-Thighed Curlew.

The enjoyment of birding in Alaska is enhanced by learning where and when to find the birds one is searching for. Alaska's range of natural habitats - arctic, tundra, boreal forests, rainforest, and seacoasts - reflects a wide diversity of ecosystems and therefore, bird species. The diversity of habitats and the migration patterns to Alaskan breeding grounds offer a magnificent display and an amazing opportunity to see birds in their breeding plumage that many birders rarely get to observe.

Alaska attracts birds from many areas of the world, including South America, Asia, Africa, and Antarctica. Migration allows birds to capitalize on abundant food sources available during the brief summer season. With over 130 million acres of federally protected lands, these protected habitats represent an important component of preserving many bird populations.

Although the breeding season in Alaska  is very brief. Birding in Alaska is often best during peaks of migration, the breeding season, and/or when high concentrations of food attract birds (such as salmon runs).