| New England Seabirds | Wandering Birder | Wandering North America | Alaska | 4/4 |
| Kenii Fjords National
Park Seward and Homer Alaska |
 Birders want to spend their time in the park at Chiswell Islands. |
Glaciers and wildlife are the targets of several cruises out of Seward to Kenii Fjords National Park. I elected to go on the Mariah Tours which offers all day cruises on small boats. It was not cheap $160 per person. The tour was listed as the "Captain's Choice" and Captain Mark turned out to be a good birder and really produced a good day. He did the Chiswell Islands first in the morning when the sea was quite calm saving the glaciers for afternoon. On the way back we understood the wisdom of this choice as the sea got quite rough.
| Tufted and Horned Puffins were seen on this
trip and some were very close to the boat. We also saw Kittlitze's Murrelet, Ancient Murrelet, Parakeet Auklet, Rhinoceros Auklet, Red-faced Cormorant, Pelagic Cormorant |
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Common and Thick-billed Murres nest on ledges of the Chiswell Islands. Also Black-legged Kittiwakes. |
| King Eider photographed at the Sea Life Center in Seward.
They also had groups of Stellar's, Spectacled, and Common Eider which they kept
in research cages. These cages could be seen from the main building with
binoculars. Unfortunately they did not make a good photograph. I really enjoyed watching the Murres and Puffins swimming in the underwater window to the seabird exhibit. |
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Red-footed Kittiwake photographed at the Sea Life Center in Seward. I did not see this bird on this trip. The only place I know to see the bird is in the Pribiloffs. You will need some pretty expensive equipment to get this kind of photograp in the wild. |
| Homer |  Aleutian Tern on nest at Homer, AK |
I took a boat trip out of Homer to visit an island and on the way we had a pod of Orcas. This was most unusual as Orcas have not been seen in the area for some time. We also did a pass by the Bird Islands where there are many Black-footed Kittiwakes, and a few Tufted Puffins.
Like Seward, Exxon built a sea life center at Homer as part of the oil spill recovery program. It is not as good as the one at Seward with their bird life exhibit. Behind the center is a large wetland area where you can walk and see sparrows and Sandhill Cranes. The woman who runs the gift shop told me where to find the Aleutian Tern colony. Take the road to the Homer Spit and just before going over the causeway turn left. This road goes along behind the airport. After a few industrial buildings there is a yellow building that sits back from the road. Just past this building is a small road that dead ends at the airport. Drive back to the stop sign and beyond is the tern colony. If you drive past the stop sign turning around will be hard but not impossible. There were about 20 nesting terns in the area.