In my opinion, some of the best birding in Alaska is at Anchor Point, 15 miles north of Homer, the southern tip of the Kenai Peninsula. With a snow-capped chain of volcanoes behind it, sprawling Cook Inlet runs north to south from Anchorage to Kachemak Bay. This is the halibut fishing capital of the World. Boat being launched into the Inlet with giant tractors and one very brave (or…?) kid on the back.

The biggest attraction for birders is the smorgasbord of waterfowl, loons, gulls, alcids and Lord knows what else (like shorebirds) streaming up and down the Inlet all day. Mornings are best but sunny mornings with high tides are to die for. This skein of Surf Scoters is flying with long, low line typical of scoters and eiders. The front two and back three are males and you can see the white patches on the top of the head.

This flock of Surfbirds delighted Liz and me! Sandpipers are scarce in June after they stream through in May, north to their Arctic nesting grounds. We showed up on July 1 and sure enough, there were over 100 Surfbirds and other sandpipers. These ‘pipers show the typical white wing-stripes of many of their family, a flash color that attracts predators away from their bodies and to the expendable wing feathers.

A Surfbird up close shows the short, stubby bill, not the long, thin beak of most sandpipers. They use this beak to break through the little “doors” of barnacles in order to eat the upside down shrimp-like creature that a barnacle really is. You can also see their plumage is great cryptic coloration on rocks laden with barnacles and not bad on the dark beach along the Inlet. Alaska has five shorebirds not normally seen in most of the Lower 48, real prizes for birders in July and August.

Black Turnstones are the dark, drab relative of our reddish Ruddy Turnstone, perfectly colored for the huge, volcanic boulders along the Pacific Coast. They have a similar beak as the Surfbird, due to the same reason. In biology, there is normally a close relationship between structure and function. Behind the turnstone is kelp, the keystone plant species of the sprawling kelp forests of the chilly Pacific Ocean waters. Kelp are very long Brown Algae (Phaeophyta) that attaches to the rocky ocean floor with “holdfasts,” and amazing creatures like monster sea urchins and starfish live within their blades.

No other shorebird has a white back like a do witcher and a white rump patch like a White-rumped Sandpiper. They have chunky bodies but long, pointed wings for great flight. Many of their kind winter thousands of miles down the Pacific Coast, joining birds like Franklin’s Gulls in Chile. They remind me a little of the story yesterday here in Australia where a drug runner tossed several bales of marijuana overboard to escape capture by authorities. Apparently the pot seeped into the water, drugging the feeding Black Noddies, leaving no tern un¬stoned.

Liz and I saw our first-ever Lynx toward the end of our Alaska trip. They are found in many parts of southern Alaska, especially in the taiga forest. As you can see they are quite like our Bobcat but furrier, longer-legged (to move through snow) and have huge feet (again, for snow). Their dietary staple is hares so they have a lot of it. And all the years of not seeing this species is proof-positive of the missing Lynx. Clearly, I am behind on my sleep.

As if you haven’t seen enough Bald Eagles by now <grin> this species is never more abundant than in Anchor Point. Fishermen dump halibut carcasses on the beach and literally dozens of eagles fly in to feast on the fresh remains. This bird is five years old as the last bit of dark on the tail is disappearing. They can actually become sexually mature earlier but don’t always mate and rear young.

Young Bald Eagles are quite a bit lighter underneath than in the Lower 48 but this helps separate them from the darker Golden Eagles (which would never be along the sea coast). This bird is a big female with the square bill and massive body. Sex determines size in eagles, not age. It is not uncommon to see immature females run off adult males, which probably feel a bit hen (?) pecked by the events. This bird is showing off the chain of mountains behind the Inlet, and just makes one want to sing some patriotic song. Or not.

When we stayed in Anchor Point, this Northern Hawk-Owl put on a show for us. It sailed out of the top of a spruce tree and nailed a vole creeping through the undergrowth. They really appear a bit accipiter-like in the air and are sometimes seen in broad daylight on top of trees. Of course, there aren’t enough hours of night to adequately feed themselves and young. Other species like Snowy and Short-eared are seen hunting by day, although the much-coveted Great Gray tends to be scarce by bright day.

This is the Kenai Song Sparrow, a large, dark race of our widespread Song Sparrow. It may well be elevated to the level of a species, just as the fox sparrows were. They also have a loud, jubilant song but it isn’t too much like that of our Song Sparrow. Many species of homeotherms have large, dark races living in southern Alaska, such as the Kodiak Bear, Winter Wren and a few others.

Moose are simply all over the place in southern Alaska and this one is showing what the species does when it needs to get close to the ground. Giraffe are famous for this pose. The dead trees you see are a result of the earthquake of 1964 when salt water suddenly inundated the forests and “preserved” the ensuing dead trees. Some land dropped and some was raised up but southern Alaska will never be the same.

Puffins are common in southern Alaska and belong to the family Alcidae. These Tufted Puffins are very common and occur down to northern California. Like many alcids, they “fly” underwater with their wings and their primitive nature affords them large lungs for longer time under water, so more efficient dives. The bill is ornamental (for courtship) but puffins can carry quite a few small fish in their beak at a time.

In southern Alaska the common swallow is the Tree Swallow, with its blue back and immaculate white undersides. These are cavity nesters and many people offer them bird houses, thinking they eat their mosquitoes. Those flying bloodsuckers are not big favorites of birds, but taken in huge numbers by frogs in the Lower 48. Swallows are big migrators (as is the case with most insectivores like flycatchers) and they are well-served by their long, pointed wings and forked tails. Their long flights are effortless and swift. It was nice sharing Alaska with you.