Birding Alaska

Bar-tailed Godwit Limosa lapponica baueri, near Green Timbers, Homer Spit, Homer 24 October 2009.  In addition to the barred tail, note the grayish plumage, checkered back pattern, distinct supercillium, shorter neck and legs, more compact shape and smaller size than the Marbled Godwit also present in Homer.

One species of godwit in October is good–two is crazy!  At best a casual fall migrant through the region, this juvenile Bar-tailed Godwit was found in Homer yesterday by visiting birders, Brian and Julie.  There are a handful of August and September records for Homer, but none of the previous fall records have been later than 20 September.  This bird was feeding at the mouth of the small creek between Louie’s Lagoon and Green Timbers on the Homer Spit.  It will need to fatten up for the non-stop 6,000 mile overwater flight to its wintering grounds in Australia or New Zealand.

A bit further down the beach the Marbled Godwit, present since the 18th, was in Mud Bay with a nice flock of shorebirds that included 29 Long-billed Dowitchers, 7 Dunlin, 6 Rock Sandpipers and a Sanderling.  Pretty nice shorebirding for late October.

The diversity and numbers of shorebirds moving through Homer were impressive this weekend for the 17th Annual Kachemak Bay Shorebird Festival, May 7-10.  Here are a few shots from the weekend.

Black-bellied Plover Pluvialis squatarola, Short-billed Dowitcher Limnodromus griseus, Dunlin Calidris alpina and Bar-tailed Godwit Limosa lapponica, Green Timbers, Homer, 10 May 2009.

This photo captures one of the most incredible mixed flocks of shorebirds I’ve ever seen. In the flock but not photographed here were Red Knots, Western and Least Sandpipers, a Marbled Godwit and a Pacific Golden-Plover.  Black Turnstones were on the same beach just a bit further down.

Red Knot Calidris canutus, Green Timbers, Homer, 10 May 2009.

Red Knots are uncommon to rare migrants through Homer.  A single bird was reported on Saturday and at least 13 were on the Homer Spit today, 10 May.

Bar-tailed Godwit with Black-bellied Plover and Short-billed Dowitcher at Green Timbers, Homer, 10 May 2009.

This Bar-tailed Godwit was first found on the Homer Spit on Thursday and seen daily through the weekend.  Marbled and Hudsonian Godwits were also seen during the festival.

A lone Sanderling Calidris alba, Western Sandpiper Calidris mauri and Dunlin, Mud Bay, Homer, 8 May 2009.

This Sanderling (the larger pale bird in the center), still in winter plumage, was the only one reported for the weekend.

Black-bellied Plovers, Green Timbers, Homer, 10 May 2009.

There was no shortage of Black-bellied Plovers along the Homer Spit this weekend.

Marbled Godwit Limosa fedoa, Black-bellied Plover, Dunlin, and Western Sandpipers at Green Timbers, Homer, 10 May 2009.

This Marbled Godwit is seperated from other godwits by it’s uniform cinamon brown coloration.  Here it dwarfs the much smaller Westerns and Dunlins but it’s also larger than both Hudsonian and Bar-tailed Godwit.

Bar-tailed Godwit Limosa lapponica with Black-bellied Plover Pluvialis squatarola at Mud Bay, Homer, 7 May 2009.

This male Bar-tailed Godwit made an appearance at the Homer Shorebird Festival yesterday and today.  Bar-tailed Godwits are trans-Beringian migrants that breed in Western Alaska, but it’s a very good bird for the Kenai Peninsula.