THIS is Why I Was There

Reposted from my May 2024 newsletter, edited for this platform.

Imagine standing at the edge of an expansive mudflat; ten's of thousands of shorebirds in tight clusters or scattered in small groups; flitting about, chattering, feeding, resting. Imagine watching in silence as thousands of those tiny bodies instantly lift to the air, whoosh by as a flitting shadow, low to the ground, eye level, in perfect sync.

Imagine this against the backdrop of Orca Inlet in the Gulf of Alaska, the waters a cold gray, reflecting clouds or dappling sun, and snow covered mountain peaks framing the horizon. Mist and rain fill the air. Golden sun occasionally warming your body.

Above top left: shorebirds in flight; top right: thousands of shorebirds taking flight; bottom right: a sketch showing the portion considered "delta"; bottom left: ground level within the delta.
Click here to see a detailed map from the state of Alaska.

This was my weekend in Cordova, a remote community historically known for copper ore and salmon fishing. Cordova is one of many small communities that dot the 6,640 miles of Alaska's coastline with a boom and bust history.

It is also home to the Copper River Delta Shorebird Festival!

As the largest contiguous wetland on the Pacific coast of North America, the Copper River Delta is a massive ecological complex of mud, muskeg, marshy wetlands, and silty glacial water. This habitat supports 12-16 million migratory shorebirds annually with a rich supply of molluscs, marine worms, small crustaceans, and insects - food vital to regaining energy for the last leg of their spring migration path.

THIS is why I was there; to witness firsthand a few hundred thousand migrating birds dropping onto this delta; to experience a flood of shorebirds on their final stopover site as they make their way to the Arctic Tundra breeding grounds. For many other types of birds, the Copper River Delta IS their breeding ground.

Shorebirds are a group that have seen steep declines in populations, as much as 50%, in the past40 years. In 1990, the Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network (WHSRN) designated the Copper River Delta a place with significant ecological importance in the preservation of shorebirds and the habitats they rely on for survival.

Tap here for an excellent description of the delta's habitat and its connection to shorebirds. It is worth a quick read to better understand the importance of this place.

Being there, standing directly under the Pacific Flyway, an ancient path taken by billions of birds over eons, not imagining but actually being present; silently catching my breath in awe. Intoxicating!

Reluctantly shaking off the spell, I managed to get down to the work of sketching the birds with a focused mindset.

Wind, rain, cold, and marginally effective rain gear all imposed limits on how long I could stay in one place to sketch. Plus, I decided a long time ago that when I can engage with birds, I need to choose if I will spend that time observing & field sketching or just observing.

Habitat sketches at Hartney Bay, Cordova.

They both offer practice with field ID skills. The additional act of sketching takes up more time. So, I consciously chose one at a time during this trip. The sketchbook is put away when I want to focus on observation only.

As an artist, the magnificence of seeing so many birds in one place fed my curiosity and wonder about bird forms, shapes, colors, patterns, even sounds. That they fly great distances and face significant challenges to be there – some making unfathomable journeys – is the beating heart of my fascination with them.

For example, a super-athlete among migrating birds staging on this particular delta is the Bar-tailed Godwit. It holds the record for non-stop flight over water. In the fall, it flies 7,000 miles between breeding in Alaska to wintering in New Zealand and eastern Australia. Non-stop!

This species is not a swimmer and does not feed or rest for the eight days it takes to power its way across 7,000 miles of open ocean.

Did I just hear you ask what? How? Why? I understand the reaction, but that discussion will remain material for a newsletter sometime in the future. For now, this NYT article is an exceptional and insightful piece on the topic.

The specific Bar-tailed Godwit that I spotted could very well have just completed its cross-Pacific flight from the Yellow Sea in China, a northbound stopover spot for this bird. I got to welcome it back.

We humans impose enormous challenges on the lives of the millions of birds navigating anywhere around the entire globe at any one time. They live a migratory life for a reason, with each species having a migration schedule and path timed precisely with the availability of their food sources.

What we do across continents and hemispheres impacts their lives. While they can thrive without us – they are completely unaware of the concerns of humans, after all – we are influenced by them. We can reciprocate and be caretakers of their existence.

Get to know the birds that share their habitat with you. Observation leads to knowing, knowing leads to caring, caring leads to stewardship, stewardship leads to conservation. Not everyone will go down this entire path, but the first two are small steps with HUGE implications.

Shout out to my husband, who eagerly came along for the experience. A darn good birder in his own right, he kept me going, kept me looking around every corner, revisiting the same spots repeatedly, quickly spotting birds I couldn't find, engaging in nerdy discussions about songs and calls and shapes and patterns, spying me in sketching mode. What a gift he is.

Together we drove every road to its end multiple times, in search of as many bird species as we could possibly find. Shorebirds, ducks, waders, geese, raptors, falcons, gulls, and songbirds. 47 species in all, 7 of which were lifers. Yep, moose and mosquitos were also present.

I'm counting my blessings, day after day, adventure after adventure. :)

From left to right: all the little dots in the first two images above are my interpretation of thousands of shorebirds roosting on the mudflats; the third image is a detail of the shorebird reflections on water.