Various species of birds rarely seen in Kodiak were observed during the 2025 Christmas bird count on Dec. 14. According to Bill Pyle, the coordinator for the local Audubon Society count, those species included snow goose and trumpeter swans which have only been seen during fewer than ten of the previous 51 annual bird counts.
Pyle told KMXT via email that roughly 75 people participated in last month’s event on Dec. 14, counting roughly 10,500 birds consisting of 76 different species. That’s about 15% less than the average number of birds counted in Kodiak over the last 30 years.
Due to high winds and cold weather conditions on the day of the count, Pyle said survey boats were not out on the water and field teams did not go into some of the mountains to count ptarmigan like they usually would. This likely decreased the number of birds counted and the variety of species.
Some notable finds included the highest recorded counts in Kodiak of Northern Shovelers, Green-winged Teals, and American Robins.
Emperor Goose numbers were significantly above the average count, while Steller's Eiders were significantly below average. Pyle said that is in line with an apparent decreasing of Steller's Eider abundance that has been happening in Kodiak since 2005.
The Kodiak Audubon Society also observed a Great Egret in recent weeks, which was spotted on Kodiak Island extremely far north and outside of its normal range.
The full results of the 2025 Kodiak Christmas Bird Count will be posted on Facebook in the "Kodiak Birding" group, and they are expected to be posted on the National Audubon’s Christmas Bird Count website in November.
There will be another bird count on Kodiak Island Saturday, Jan. 3 for the 45th Narrow Cape-Kalsin Bay count. For more information about that event, contact Robin Corcoran via email: Robin_Corcoran@yahoo.com.
