Observations by Kristine Sowl:
It’s that time of year when the birders around Homer conduct the Kachemak Bay shorebird surveys. Surveys are conducted about once a week during the spring migration period. I went out yesterday afternoon to help survey the section of the Spit called Louie Lagoon. When I arrived at the parking lot, there were a huge number of peeps in sight, over 3000. Almost 80% were western sandpipers, 17% dunlin, and 5% least sandpipers. There was also a flock of geese which was comprised of about 80 white-fronted geese, 20 cackling geese, and 5 snow geese.
I ended up staying near the parking lot to keep an eye on the inland birds while Gary, Carol, and Louie surveyed the rest of the area. What a beautiful day to bird! Scroll down for the full list of what we saw.
Check out the Festival’s virtual field trip of Louie’s Lagoon
Bird List:
- Snow Geese
- Greater White-fronted Geese
- Cackling Geese
- American Wigeon
- Northern Pintail
- Rock Pigeon
- Black-bellied Plover
- Semipalmated Plover
- Dunlin
- Least Sandpiper
- Western Sandpiper
- Dowitchers
- Yellowlegs
- Glaucous-winged Gull
- Bald Eagle
- Common Raven
- American Pipit
- Savannah Sparrow
- Song Sparrow
Kristine Sowl is a wildlife biologist; she studies breeding and migration ecology of Beringian shorebirds. Kristine participates in the Kachemak Bay Shorebird Monitoring project and has been birding in Homer even before she lived here. You may have met Kristine volunteering at a Viewing Station during a past Festival.