A group of birdwatchers looks for seabirds from Sandy Beach during the Yakutat Tern Festival. Click for a slideshow of festival images. Photo by Ed Schoenfeld, CoastAlaska News.

Birders, biologists, carvers and kids gathered in Yakutat May 30th to June 2nd for the northern Southeast community’s annual tern festival.

The event included lectures, field trips, art classes for kids, a live raptor show, fund-raising meals, Tlingit oratory and a performance from the Mount Saint Elias Dancers.

Here’s an audio post card of the event, which celebrates the return of one variety, the Aleutian tern.

Five Aleutian terns sit on a protected beach on Yakutat’s Black Sand Spit, a nesting area. Photo by Ed Schoenfeld, CoastAlaska News.