My recent trip to the Kenai peninsula south of Anchorage, Alaska, was my fifth to that state. All trips were based on birds. I’ve birded in Anchorage, at Denali National Park, in and around Nome three times, on St. Lawrence Island three times, and once each on St. Paul island in the Pribilofs and Attu island at the end of the Aleutian chain. I had been to the Kenai once before, birding out of Seward and Homer. This time I was based in Soldotna. I like Alaska, all places and all times.This trip was different in two ways. First, I  had the advantage of cherry-picking sites along the 65-site Kenai Peninsula Wildlife Viewing Trail. It helps to have target spots that local birding enthusiasts have chosen. I think I got more birds for my buck, so to speak. The trail covers lakes, rivers, bays, inlets, shoreline, spruce forest, mixed forest, tundra — every habit type available. It was good birding.The second difference was season: this trip was in early July, fledging season. My other trips had been based either on spring or fall migration. We — an avid Kenai birder and I — saw young murres, murrelets, Mew Gulls, Herring Gulls, Bonaparte’s Gull, Glaucous-winged Gulls, Spruce Grouse, Red-breasted Mergansers, Surf Scoters, thrushes, ducks, and more.Someone once told me that you haven’t seen a bird until you’ve seen male and female of the species in breeding and non-breeding plumage, plus the chicks. We tend to lean toward the spring male plumage, the bright and colorful birds. Young birds are more subtle, like their moms, but no less beautiful. We saw eggs, too, and of course nests. All of that does complete the package.I did one other thing, too: over the years I have found that for me slow birding is better birding. The numbers might be smaller, but the experience is more intense.

This entry was posted on Monday, July 14th, 2008 at 10:27 pm and is filed under Bird migration, Bird travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.