Coastal Birds

Yellow-billed loon

USFWS/Ted Swen

No visit to the shore would be complete without gulls squawking overhead or shorebirds playing tag with the oncoming tide. The coast of Sitka National Historical Park is no exception. Its position along several migratory flyways and proximity to alpine, rainforest and coastal habitats makes it a prime resting place for nearly 200 bird species, 35 of which are coastal. Near the ocean, sandpipers, black-bellied plovers and greater yellowlegs can be spotted pecking through rich intertidal muck, while marbled godwits, green-winged teals and northern pintails paddle among the wetlands. Seabirds, such as common murres, scoters, and harlequin ducks linger just off the coast.

Each year a network of volunteers, visitors and staff help monitor this diverse avian community. The Audubon Society’s Christmas Bird Count has provided data on wintering bird species in the park annually since 1974. The Sitka portion of the North American Breeding Bird Survey also crosses into the park, providing spring bird data. These details are rounded out from a database of wildlife observations made by both park visitors and staff.

One water bird of particular interest is the yellow-billed loon. Alaska is home to nearly one quarter of the global populations of the largest of all the loons. And, as is happening wherever they occur throughout the world, state populations are in decline. The Sitka Christmas Bird Count provides management important details about local populations and annual changes in their status.

As very visible elements of the park landscape, coastal birds serve an important function in the ecosystem. They reveal what may be occurring in less obvious aspects of the marine environment, and signal when it may be in trouble. By collecting data on their populations we learn about more than the health of our coastal companions, we gain insight into the bigger ecological picture.