Homer Shorebird Festival (05-06-2023)

 

We are at the AMNWR Visitor Center for the 10:00am program Seldovia: Beyond the End of the Road.  (Seldovia is 16 miles from Homer on Seldovia Bay.  The only access is by boat or plane).  BB and I want to visit Seldovia; however, couldn't fit it in this trip.  We are interested to hear what Cindy Mom of Seldovia Nature Tours can tell us about traveling there as well as things to do in Seldovia.  We take in what she says and file it all away for future reference.

We have several hours until our next Festival activity.  Chocolate bread made a big impression.  We are back at Two Sisters Bakery for chocolate bread and coffee.

Homer has a winery, so when finished with pastry and coffee at Two Sisters we head for Bear Creek Winery.   We pass The Art Shop Gallery on the way.  We stop so BB can take another look at a Sandhill Crane pin she saw there the other day.  Sandhill Cranes and Homer will always be linked together in our memories, making the pin a great memento.

Bear Creek Winery specializes in blending grape and fruit wines.  The wine tasting allows us to sample 8 of them, including Trinity Berry Blend, Black Raspberry and Pomegranate.  We leave with two bottles, Alaskan Chardonay, blended with rhubarb, and Blue Zin, blended with blueberry.  Our server hears us talking about what to do before our next Festival activity and mentions the Motherbird Fair at the Homer Middle School.  Off we go!

The Motherbird Fair benefits SPARC, the South Peninsula Athletic and Recreation Center.  We check out all the vendors.  It is a nice variety of crafts and foods.  We do our bit to support the cause by purchasing a jar of Fireweed Jelly.

I'm especially excited for our next Festival activity, Canine Officers of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.  Dogs at a bird festival....who'd a thought it?!  Officer Rob Barto and K9 Officer Eider tell us about the work they do for U.S. Fish and Game.  Their work covers a wide range, from finding lost individuals to locating evidence of poaching.  They give a demonstration and it is amazing to watch the human and canine partners work together.  Check out this article to learn more about what they do.

K9 Eider has his own business card.

I knew not to pet him.  But it was hard not to!

At the demo

When Eider alerts he puts the evidence between his front paws.

It is hard to leave Eider but the next activity, the Annual Bird Calling Contest, should be a fun one.  It turns out to be a real crowd pleaser.  The contest has 3 categories: youth, adult and not serious.  The not serious category is whatever the contestant wants it to be, from the call of a pterodactyl to a cawing rendition of Happy Birthday.  The MC is amusing and particularly good with the young kids.  Kids as young as 4 years old do quite realistic bird calls.  The adults do a good job too; however, it is the adults that seem to enjoy performing the not serious calls.

The contest is at the Homer Brewing Company

The MC with a young contestant.

This contestant dressed for the part.

I always find the dogs!

We leave before the results of the judging to get to the keynote speaker presentations at the Homer High School.

The High School is a nice looking building.

This quote is in the main hall of the High School 

Featured Author Julia Zarankin, a writer, lecturer and birder from Toronto, speaks on An Ode to Common Birds:  On Cherishing What We've Got.  She speaks on the roundabout way she became a birder and how appreciating and taking care of the common birds helps all birds.

Key Note Speaker Diego Calderon-Franco is a biologist and birder from Colombia.  He speaks on his adventures researching birds and being kidnapped by FARC. (Spanish: Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia - A Marxist guerrilla organization in Colombia).  It has a happy ending.  He works with former FARC guerrillas on current research projects in Colombia.

The end of another great day.

Sal