Kachemak Bay Shorebird Festival

Kachemak Bay Shorebird Festival

Festival History

It all started... In 1993 a group of Homer residents representing environmental, economic and cultural interests, got together to dream up an event. They envisioned a festival that would educate the public about shorebirds and wetlands. The Kachemak Bay Shorebird Festival was born.

 

Kachemak Bay Shorebird Festival Keynote Speakers
 

1993 Poppy Benson - USFWS, "Relating Motherhood with Bird Migration"
1994 Julie Sibbing - Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network, "International Wetland Preservation and Shorebird Migration"
1995 Pete Dunne - Cape May Bird Observatory, "Early days of Ornithology, Audubon and Wilson"
1996 Dr. Dennis Paulson - author of Shorebirds of the Pacific Northwest, "Birding Basics, Behavior and Biology"
1997 Kenn Kaufman - "Great Travelers: Birds and Humans"
1998 Peter Harrison - "Seven Years and Seven Continents"
1999 Don and Lillian Stokes - "The Fabulous World of Birds"
2000 Jack Jeffrey - USFWS Hawaii, "Jewels of the Forest"
2001 Peter Stangle - National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, "The Future of Birds"
2002 Frank Todd - "Waterfowl of North America"
2003 Charles Glatzer - "Bird & Nature Photography"
2004 Peter Dunne - "On Golden Wings"
2005 Scott Weidensaul - "Return to Wild America: Searching for a Continent's Natural Soul"
2006 Bernd Heinrich - "Ravens, the Wolf Birds"
2007 John Acorn - "The Family that Birds Together"
2008 Richard Crossley - "Birding: Past, Present & Future"
2009 Jack Dalton and Paul Baicich - "Birds in Culture - Our Brothers & Sisters Return"

 

Sponsors

Homer Chamber of Commerce, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

Festival Contact

Christina Whiting, Festival Coordinator shorebirdster@gmail.com
Kachemak Bay Shorebird Festival
201 Sterling Highway
Homer, Alaska 99603
Phone- (907) 235-7740 Fax: (907) 235-8766
BIRD HOTLINE (907) 235-PEEP
New Birding Website at: http://birdinghomeralaska.org

Education paid off!

Festival enthusiasm has led to protection of critical shorebird habitat. Kachemak Bay has been included in the Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network. Habitat has been acquired and city land permanently protected on the Spit, in Beluga Slough, and Overlook Park. These lands are being preserved for the future and the Kachemak Bay Shorebird Festival played an important part in the process.