PEEP Bird Hotline

Birding & Wildlife Watching on Kachemak Bay

The most recent PEEP Bird hotline entry is below. Help plan your wildlife watching trips in the Homer area by visiting the Birder's Guide to Kachemak Bay website email PEEP(at)islandsandocean.org, or call 235-7337 (PEEP) to report or get updates on bird sightings. Check out the the guide to Responsible Marine Wildlife Viewing in Alaska. You may also purchase a Birding Hotspots Map and Guide at the Alaska Islands & Ocean Visitor Center.

Want to learn the etiquette and ethics of birding? Check out the ABA Birding Ethics.

The 17th Annual Kachemak Bay Shorebird Festival is May 7-10, 2009 and the theme is Birds in Culture: Our Brothers and Sisters Return.

KACHEMAK BAY BIRD ALERT INFORMATION LINE

June 22, 2008

Not many reports this time of year. Most observations are of the many parent birds that are busy feeding chicks and fending off predators.

In MUD BAY many Aleutian Terns were reported recently and a juvenile YELLOW-BILLED LOON was seen there. (The previously-reported pair has not been seen for quite a while.)

Large numbers of Marbled Murrelets are being seen in the BAY. Also had a report of Forked-tailed Storm Petrels a few miles northeast of the Spit.

Near GLACIER SPIT Kittlitz’s and Marbled Murrelets, COMMON EIDERS, a group of 40 BRANT, Harlequin Ducks, Common Loons, Red-breasted Mergansers, and 3 sp. of scoters are being seen.

On COHEN ISLAND the nesting Black Oystercatchers are persevering despite large numbers of eagles nearby.

In BELUGA SLOUGH large groups (15+) of Sandhill Cranes have been seen fairly regularly.

Semi-palmated Plovers were reported on the east side of the SPIT in back of the Hockey Rink.

Near MILLER’S LANDING groups of Common Redpolls arrived right on schedule as the fields of dandelions went to seed! (A good use for all those seeds?) Arctic Terns were observed on the beach; it is unusual to see them on the ground in this area.

If you see cranes, and especially banded cranes, please call 235-6262 or email to reports@cranewatch.org .

Visit the Refuge Website for information on getting to Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge or call 907-235-6546.