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Birding season is upon us! Each spring in Nome, tourists visit for a short season in hopes of viewing a number of different migratory bird species passing through western Alaska. Usually packed in white 18-passenger vans with a guide, birders travel Nome’s extensive road system with their eyes to the skies.
Carol Gales is the first to admit she is not a bird expert. But she does have many years of experience driving Nome’s roads and identifying bird species. She has even turned her birding interest into a small business - offering excursions on Nome’s road system to visiting birders and other outdoor enthusiasts. A longtime Nome resident, Gales recalled a time when she, too, wondered what the fuss was all about.
“When I drove the roads, I was looking for a moose, a bear, you know, a musk ox, any kind of like mammal,” Gales said. “And then I'd see these vans of people on the side of the road with all their khaki clothes and optics and stuff, and I'd wonder, ‘What the heck are you looking at?’”
But Gales’s birding interest was sparked by a workshop through the University of Alaska Fairbanks’s Northwest Campus in Nome. She remembered the instructor bringing students to an open area behind a local neighborhood.
Gales said the students heard different birds singing in the thicket, “...and, then he was just telling what they were by the song that they sang. I had never before really realized that all fox sparrows would have basically the same song!”
After this experience, Gales started venturing into the countryside with her eyes and ears focused on birds. Nome’s roads offer a unique opportunity for birders to spot a great variety of species over very different environments, from mountains and beaches to lagoons and rivers.
There are so many different bird species that pass through the region during this season. It can sometimes be difficult to know for sure what you observed. For understanding the birds, Gales recommended asking a series of questions to isolate specific characteristics and behavior. “What kind of bill does it have?” Gales asked, “Is it stout? Is it narrow? Is it long? Is it short? And maybe color: what color are the feet, are there any markings on the side, the wings?” She encouraged making a note of birds’ behavior as well. Gales recommended asking, “What's it doing? Is it walking on the ground? Is it flying around in the air?”
Gales said as she learns more about birds, she also gains more of an awareness and appreciation for them. “Birding is really interesting,” Gales said, “and it's just a good way to engage in the landscape that we live in.”
Gales urged a little understanding for the visitors driving Nome’s roads during this birding season. She pointed out that the season is relatively short, just spanning a few weeks. You may run across a van on the side of the road. You might have to slow down and drive around it. But she pointed out that these visitors invest in the community. They occupy lodging and fill seats at restaurants, and they’re not actually taking anything.
“They're not taking any of our resources,” Gales said. “They're not digging up the ground. They're not dropping litter. All they're taking is pictures, and they're looking at and appreciating some of the things that we are blessed with in our region.”
