Games, birding tours and science talks entertain Utqiaġvik during Shorebird festival

Educational games, science presentations, birding tours and sketching were a part of the Utqiaġvik Shorebird Festival last week.

The free two-day event celebrated shorebirds – such as the American golden plover, Semipalmated sandpiper, Pectoral sandpiper, Red phalarope and dunlin – that each year migrate to their breeding grounds in the Arctic. About 70 people, both local and visiting, registered for the festival at Barrow High School on June 29 and 30, said organizer Lindsay Hermanns.

“Everybody seemed so thrilled!” said Hermanns, who is a shorebird researcher with Fish and Wildlife Conservation and a graduate student and researcher at Virginia Tech. “Everyone was glowing, the energy was so positive.”

The event was a part of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service’s Directorate Fellows Program initiative but was brought to life in collaboration with Audubon Alaska, Ukpeagvik Inupiat Corporation, North Slope Borough Department of Wildlife Management and professional nature guides from Adventure Borealis who offered four birding tours.

The first day started with coffee, after which participants could learn how do to basic bird identification based on the bird’s size and plumage, or the size and shape of feather coverage.

Aaron Yappert, a graduate student from Iowa State, led the Bird ID workshop with Ryan Marsh with Adventure Borealis.

A local Utqiaġvik birder Robin Mongoyak provided the historical and cultural context of shorebirds, bird identification skills and the Iñupiaq names for the birds.

“His energy is so positive and warm and he knows so much about the area up here,” Hermanns said. “He was pretty much a celebrity.”

Mongoyak said he shared his knowledge of Iñupiaq names for birds, as well as why they received those names.

“Red Phalaropes are known as Auksruaq because of the color of their plumage. It’s red. Our Iñupiaq word for blood is Auk,” Mongoyak said. “The Pectoral sandpiper is known for its mating ritual because the male pectorals have this balloon-like breast that puffs up and they make a sound that is like no other sound in the world. ‘Wu wu wu wu…' It is known as a puviuqtuuq. One that puffs up.”

Many Iñupiaq names for shorebirds are related to the sounds they make, he said. For example, the white-fronted geese are known as Niġliq because that’s how their call sounds and the semipalmated sandpiper known are called Livalivaq because that’s how they sound, he said.

Several wildlife researchers talked about their research and learnings during the speaker session. Some talks focused on marine mammals, some on under-sea-ice sampling but the majority were about shorebirds. One of the presenters spoke about avian influenza and how hunters can identify abnormal behavior in birds.

On both days of the festival, about 30 children enjoyed workshops and games led by Lauren Puleo, Hermanns said. First, the children learned about why shorebirds are important to Utqiaġvik. Then they painted shorebirds, played games and used their binoculars to practice recognizing birds – first, in pictures and then in real life outside.

During their venturing outside, one of the groups of children spotted baby chicks, which prompted conversations about why shorebirds come to Utqiaġvik – to nest.

UIC hosted a cultural tour across town, while artists Emily Martel-Brosseau and Georgia McKinzie led the nature journaling artist workshop offering some tips and techniques for sketching shorebirds.

While birdwatching seems to be growing in Utqiaġvik , Hermanns said, for unknown reasons, the population of shorebirds is declining at a fast pace – 40 percent over the last 50 years.

The decline was what in part inspired Hermanns to host the festival.

But the main reason was her inspiration by how the shorebirds that frequent the area connect remote Utqiaġvik to a multitude of places around the world. For example, Dunlins fly 3,000 miles every year to come to Utqiaġvik to nest, before getting their wintering grounds in China and Russia, Hermanns said.

“Utqiagvik, and Arctic slope in general, is an amazing hotspot for shorebirds,” she said. “I just think they are such amazing creatures and they connect us geographically.”