SITKA, ALASKA
Susan Oehlers is the wildlife biologist for the Yakutat Ranger District of the U.S. Forest Service. About 150 people registered for the festival, which celebrates the Aleutian tern, a sea bird predominately found in coastal Alaska and eastern Russia. Oehlers says there are only about 30,000 Aleutian terns worldwide.
“People are probably more familiar with Arctic terns,” she said, “which are the aggressive birds that dive bomb you, and if you get one in your hand they’re pecking at you. Aleutians are just the exact opposite. They’re very calm and pretty relaxed when they’re caught.”
The name of the species – Aleutian tern – would suggest a different locale for the birds.
“Yakutat is really the southernmost extent of their range,” Oehlers said. “There are a few we think along the Alsack River and a little bit into Glacier Bay National Park, but this is really one of the largest breeding colonies, and so it’s getting to be the southern extent of their breeding range.”
Oehlers says this weekend’s festival is designed to promote birding in Yakutat, which she calls a “hidden gem” for wildlife viewing.
“We really wanted to increase opportunities for ecotourism here,” she said. “As this movement has built one of the things we thought about is a birding festival. The more we thought about it the more we wanted to set ourselves apart from some of the other birding festivals in the state. One of the things that makes Yakutat so special for birds is that we have Aleutian terns, so we really wanted to focus on what makes Yakutat a special place for birds.”
