Staff Report

With the return of the shorebirds comes the return of hundreds of bird watchers to experience the annual migration of more than 100,000 shorebirds of 25 — or more — different species through Kachemak Bay.  


Organizers anticipate approximately 800 birders and wannabes flocking through the lower Kenai Peninsula, mostly from Alaska, but also France, Spain, South Africa and Benin, over the five-day event, May 6 to 10. The festival headquarters for registration and many activities is the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge (AMNWR) Visitor Center, 95 Sterling Highway, Homer.


As for the shorebirds, the Kachemak Bay Shorebird Monitoring Project, in its 18th consecutive year of monitoring, completed its fourth of nine scheduled shorebird monitoring sessions on April 26. The group monitors every five days, with the next session on Friday, May 1.


Thirty-nine birders reported 12 species of shorebirds from across the bay to the Kasilof River – black oystercatcher, black-bellied plover, Pacific golden plover, marbled godwit, Hudsonian whimbrel, greater yellowlegs, lesser yellowlegs, short-billed dowitcher, dunlin, western sandpiper, rock sandpiper and Wilson’s snipe — with more to come. Complete 2026 Shorebird Monitoring Results will be published by Kachemak Bay Birders as citizen science.

The shorebird festival program and merchandise features this year’s signature bird, the American golden plover, and the artwork of Yumi Kawaguchi, the featured artist. (Digital scan)


This year, the festival program includes an expanded program of 205 events – 63 included in registration – on land and sea, for learning, arts and entertainment. Guided bird watching to Kachemak Bay and Anchor Point hot spots, visits to organic farms, kayaking, tours to Gull Island and Seldovia, beginning birder labs for adults, how to make a bird house a bird home, and much more explore the many facets of birding.


Program tracks for Junior (ages 5 to 15) and Teen Birders (ages 12 to 18) include 28 events.


Alvaro Jaramillo, a biologist, researcher, conservationist and longtime guide, is this year’s keynote speaker. He speaks at 9 to 10 a.m., Friday, May 8, AMNWR, on how birds move across long distances and what drives their migratory journeys. His keynote, “Birding Fast and Slow,” is 7:15 p.m. (doors open at 6:15 p.m.), Saturday, May 9, at the Mariner Theater, on birding as both reflexive and deeply thoughtful, shaped by different modes of brain function.

Keynote speaker Alvaro Jaramillo. (Photo provided by Kachemak Bay Shorebird Festival)



Like the shorebirds, perennial festival favorites are back:

• 6×6 Paint and Sip –  5 to 7 p.m., Wednesday, May 6, Land’s End Resort
• Bird Brains Trivia Night –  7 to 9 p.m., Friday, May 8, Alice’s Champagne Palace
• Annual Bird Calling Contest – 3:30 to 5 p.m., Saturday, May 9, Homer Brewing Company
• 6th Annual Motherbird Fair – throughout the day, Saturday and Sunday, May 9 and 10, Land’s End
• Birder’s Coffee – 9 to 10:15 a.m., Sunday, May 10, AMNWR
  
  
  

Yumi Kawaguchi, from Fairbanks, is this year’s Featured Artist. Her art for the program cover and merchandise features the 2026 signature bird, the American golden plover. Kawaguchi hand presses hand-carved woodblocks onto Japanese paper in a traditional printmaking process, making each print an original. She will hold a “Small Relief Printmaking Workshop,” 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., Friday, May 8, AMNWR, and have a table at the Motherbird Fair.

Featured artist Yumi Kawaguchi. (Photo provided by Kachemak Bay Shorebird Festival)


In a mini festival, two films will be screened:

• Hallmark channel favorite “Adventures in Love & Birding” in which Celeste teams up with John for a bird-watching contest leading to unexpected romance. – 7 to 8:30, Thursday, May 7, Porcupine Theater

• “Listers: A Glimpse into Extreme Birdwatching” documentary, the story of two brothers who have no idea how to identify birds but dive into competitive birdwatching anyway, traveling across the country to participate in a Big Year contest. (The festival program notes that the film contains mature language and reference to drugs. “Some rate it leaning to Rated-R.”) – 4:15 to 6:30 p.m., Friday, May 8 and 19 and 10:15 to 12:15 a.m., Sunday, May 10, AMNWR Visitor Center

Pratt Museum is hosting festival goers 4 to 6 p.m., Friday, May 9, for a tour, including the newly updated seabird exhibit and a 5 p.m. short comedic act by “Sweater” of Bird Babylonia Films.

Registration information and the complete 2026 Festival Program is available here.