Do you know what to do if you find an injured bird?
The answer to that question and a range of others will be answered at the 16th annual Alaska Bald Eagle Festival, starting 7:30 a.m. Wednesday at the American Bald Eagle Foundation.
The five days of activities will include workshops by festival photographer Weldon Lee and presentations on species including eagles, Chilkoot brown bears, Lynn Canal mountain goats, Yukon swans and sea ducks. Festival dinners, workshops and presentations will be held at the foundation.
(See schedule printed at the bottom of this page for dates, times and complete listings.)
“We’ve got a little bit of everything going,” said Cheryl McRoberts, festival organizer and foundation operations manager.
The foundation has rescued 15 birds around Haines this year, including two eagles that may be released during the festival’s eagle release Saturday in Klukwan.
“We appreciate it when people call and say there’s a raven with a broken wing on Lutak Road. If they can stay with the bird, that helps us. Sometimes it takes us a half a day to find a (reported bird),” McRoberts said. The class on handling wild birds is 9 a.m. Sunday.
“Baby,” a juvenile eagle that fell from a nest in Juneau, will hold top billing at the live eagle release 1:30 p.m. Saturday at the Klukwan culture camp longhouse. “It was ready to be released but there was more food up here (in Haines), so they decided to bring him up,” McRoberts said.
Two other candidates for the release are eagles that were injured on Mud Bay and Lutak roads, respectively, McRoberts said. The release will include a cultural presentation by Klukwan villagers.
How eagles and other wild birds are cared for will be discussed by Dr. Jamie Bellah of Auburn University during a presentation 3 p.m. Thursday. Bellah is bringing two birds for the foundation – a screech owl and a red-tailed hawk.
Festival photographer Weldon Lee of Colorado is a regular in Haines during the annual eagle migration. His work has appeared on all major TV networks and in numerous magazines and books. Two of his acclaimed books are “Watchable Birds of the Rocky Mountains” and “A Guide to Photographing Rocky Mountain Wildlife.”
“He’s a fantastic photographer. We met him out on the river,” McRoberts said. Lee’s workshops start 7:30 a.m. Wednesday and Friday at the foundation and will include a field session departing for the Alaska Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve. Lee also will offer a “photography concert” at 7 p.m. Thursday featuring his images of wildlife from around the world.
Other presentations include ones on Chilkat Valley geology and ecology by Pam Randles and Anne Puffer of Haines; Lynn Canal mountain goat research with Alaska Fish and Game biologist Kevin White; Yukon wildlife and the Whitehorse swan festival with Carrie McClelland; ornithology with Al Batt; and sea duck research and bald eagle physiology with Dr. Scott Ford. Bill McRoberts is the festival artist. His “Eagle Territory,” a digital montage of five eagles in the preserve is the festival’s art print. McRoberts has been a wildlife photographer more than a decade and his work is on display at the Haines bank.
As of press time Wednesday, Cheryl McRoberts said nearly 200 people had registered for the festival, including 87 college students from Juneau. International festival visitors this year include a group from Japan, she said.
The festival’s evening offerings include a “Chocolate Extravaganza Buffet” 7 p.m. Thursday featuring chocolate by-the-piece, a concert 6 p.m. Friday by the Juneau-based “Alaska String Band,” and the “Flight for Freedom” dinner and benefit auction 6 p.m. Saturday.
The chocolate buffet was a favorite at last year’s festival, where chef Rusty Goodin produced a menagerie of animal-shaped confections. Goodin will repeat in that role this year.
Proceeds from Saturday’s dinner will be split between Haines community groups and food expenses for the eagle foundation’s resident birds.
A count of eagles this week was hampered by low clouds and fog. Biologist Ray Staska, who’s helping with the count, said eagles were concentrated in the eagle “council grounds” near 19 Mile.
Eagles were waiting for carcasses of spawned-out salmon but high water from recent rains worked against them. A below-average return of chum salmon to the Klehini River this year also has the potential to limit the size of the eagle congregation, which previously has approached 4,000 birds.