We silly humans think that just because we set a schedule the world will follow. Hah! You know how that studded tire deadline worked out. The snow was supposed to be gone by May 1, but that didn’t happen, so the deadline got extended to May 15.
Even though we threw a big party for the shorebirds, last Thursday when the Kachemak Bay Shorebird Festival started, only about 60 sandpipers had arrived. By Friday a few thousand more showed up.
On Monday, birders counted 10,000 sandpipers at Mud Bay and the Spit. The birds didn’t get the message that the festival was over. Tuesday night after a hard day in the word mines, the Betster caught the end of the tide to see if the peeps had stuck around. Holy migration! From Green Timbers to the Mud Bay spit, the edge of the tide looked like a big wonderful bird spill. Little western sandpipers, dunlins and dowitchers poked at the mud, chowing down for the next leg of their trip.
Every couple of minutes a flock of hundreds would leap up and flitter around, the evening light catching their white wings. Two or three flocks would swirl around and then collide. If this had happened last weekend, a hundred photographers with honking huge lenses would have been going nuts. On Tuesday night, it was just a few locals.
Well, that’s the joy of living here. We get to see things daily that others travel thousands of miles to watch — and sometimes miss. Call it a benefit of enduring long winters. There will be lots to share as the season heats up, and
lots to do, like these Best Bets:
BEST FLIPPIN’ TASSELS BET: The next two weeks it’s all graduations all the time. Check out the Calendar for the who, what, when and where and congratulate all our brave scholars.
BEST FULL PROPS BET: Meet the pilots and owners of Bald Mountain Air at the monthly Homer Chamber of Commerce & Visitor Center mixer from 5 to 7 p.m. today at Bald Mountain’s hangar at the airport. A mixer in a hangar? Way cool.
BEST CLEAN SWEEP BET: Grab your rakes and brooms for some cleanups around the area. At 10 a.m. Saturday, help spruce up the Anchor Point Cemetery so it looks nice on Memorial Day.
From 5 to 9 p.m. Sunday, give the Homer Council on the Arts a hand and sweep up its parking lot. Food, music and food are provided.
BEST WHALE OF A TALE BET: As part the Pratt Museum’s “Whales in Our Waters” exhibit, some amazing people have been speaking. This week at 5 p.m. Friday, Nancy Lord and Janet Klein present “Belugas and People: Their Cook Inlet History Together.” You can check out the exhibit anytime from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday when the museum is free for International Museum Day.
