Many Birds (Week of May 3-9, 2010)

Sunrise for Sunday, May 9 in Kenai Alaska: 5:38 AM
Sunset for Sunday, May 9 in Kenai Alaska: 10:23 PM

We have been blessed with gorgeous weather throughout the week, allowing for plenty of outdoor opportunities. Spring is definitely here and summer is working its way in. We have been seeing flocks of Sandhill Cranes fly over Kenai the past couple weeks, migrating to northern Alaska.

The moose have also been very active, browsing on fresh greens and they have been lingering nearer to town. Apparently many mother moose choose to give birth to their calves in town due to the fact that they are less likely to be preyed upon by the bears. Less than 50% of moose calves make it through their first year, mostly due to bears. On Tuesday morning Jon dropped me off at school and literally pulled up to the door because a moose was nibbling at the grass up against the school. About 10 minutes after being at school, what I believe to be the same moose, came to the back of the school to continue its morning munchies of grass. It stood right in front of my window, so close that I could visibly distinguish the texture of each hair. Its hairs were nearly pressed up against the window. It was oblivious to me being there, preoccupied with the possibility of danger elsewhere. The top of its hump was up to my chest, which is probably a medium sized moose.

The fishing guide couple who we are renting from have their son up getting the place ready for guests that will be arriving in May. We officially move out next Saturday. On Friday morning he took one of the boats out to the Cook Inlet and caught halibut. We were fortunate enough to receive some from him. So on Friday for supper we were eating grilled halibut that was swimming in the ocean about 12 hours prior. Delicious! It’s amazing how much better it is fresh.

On Saturday morning we were heading down to Homer for their annual Shorebird Festival. On the way we stopped in at Deep Creek State Recreation Area. It is a stop over for migratory birds. Although we didn't see any migrants, we did see plenty of gulls, bald eagles, lesser yellow legs, northwestern crows, and one common loon. The eagles were swooping together in pairs; I’m assuming getting ready for the nesting season.

Once in Homer we headed to the Bear Creek Winery where we took in some free wine tasting and a tour of the facility. I can say that it was the best wine I’ve had. Most of their wine is made from Alaskan berries: gooseberries, blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, and more. They even had a delicious CHOCOLATE Raspberry Dessert Wine! After wine tasting, which was way too good, we went on a guided hike along the mud bay portion of the spit. The hike was more veered towards kids, so we weren’t the best students and didn’t really pay attention. But we were able to learn about one species of shorebird that was new to us, the semipalmated plover.

Our trip to Gull Island was by far the highlight of the Festival for us. A small wooden boat called the Danny J took us 3 miles off the spit to view Gull Island. Gull Island is a bird rookery filled with gulls, kittewakes, murres, and puffins. Unfortunately, we did not get to see any puffins, but the rocks were covered as the birds hugged the sides of the cliffs. At one point a group of common murres cascaded down from the top of one of the rocks towards the surface of the water.

After Gull Island, we made two stops before leaving Homer, Beluga Lake Wetlands and Beluga Slough. Here we spotted even more birds: trumpeter swans, pintails, shovelers, grebes, lesser yellow legs, Hudsonian Godwit, Bar tailed Godwit, dowitcher, and a flock of geese mainly made up of the Greater White Fronted with a few Canada Geese in the mix.

When we arrived home that evening around 8:30 the sun was still very much up. At 10 o’clock we went out for a bike ride and arrived back around 10:30 with plenty of light. The extended daylight is wonderful.

On Sunday afternoon we went for a hike out near Skilak Lake called Bear Mountain. It’s only a .8 mile hike but it has a quick elevation gain of 400 feet. The view from the top was gorgeous, a panoramic view of Skilak Lake and its surrounding mountains. And to top it all off, the sun was shining all day.