The Utqiaġvik Migratory Bird Festival Returns for a Fourth Year

UTQIAĠVIK, Alaska—The fourth annual Utqiaġvik Migratory Bird Festival can be held on the Fred Ipalook Elementary Faculty and birding hotspots all through the neighborhood from June 12 to 14, 2026. The pageant, a part of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Directorate Fellows Program initiative, is a collaboration between Audubon Alaska and different organizations to convey attendees a enjoyable and academic migratory and shorebird-centered expertise. Registration is now open.

For 2026, organizers plan to convey again the trivia night time, drawing workshops, science talks, and naturally, birding excursions—amongst different actions. All occasions are free and open to the neighborhood. Nonetheless, there may be alternative to buy merchandise with the 2026 logo that includes the King Eider (Qinalik) designed by Utqiaġvik-based artist Alaina Bankston.

This 12 months’s pageant organizer, Max Nootbaar, says area people members and guests alike are inspired to attend the pageant and be taught in regards to the unimaginable array of migratory birds nesting within the North Slope of Alaska. “Our pageant primarily goals to focus on the worth of, and threats confronted by, migratory birds nesting within the excessive Arctic and have a good time Inupiat custom and connection to the pure sources of the area,” he says.

The Utqiaġvik Migratory Fowl Pageant can be the inspiration behind the Utqiaġvik Birding Trail—a collaboration between USFWS, the Alaska Division of Fish and Sport, Ilisaġvik Faculty, Iñupiat Heritage Middle, North Slope Borough Division of Wildlife Administration, UIC Science, Tuzzy Consortium Library, and Audubon Alaska. Many thanks go to enter from earlier pageant organizers Lindsay Hermanns and Aaron Yappert, in addition to Iñupiat language sources like Iñupiatun Uqaluit Taniktun Sivuniŋit, the official web site of the North Slope Borough, and Indigenous Information Liaison Robin Monġoyak.

The path particulars 10 websites all through city, together with the Stevenson Avenue Beachfront, Freshwater Lake on the finish of Imaiqsaun Street, and Nunavaaq Gravel Pit. Website descriptions include driving instructions, particular journey notes, and attainable fowl species sightings for fowl vacationers and native residents. Utqiaġvik is the financial, transportation, and administrative middle of the North Slope Borough. The Utqiaġvik Birding Path was created as a neighborhood asset to develop Alaska’s economy through bird tourism and for academic functions.

Imagery might be discovered here. Please see file names for photograph credit score.

Media contact: Lauren Cusimano, Audubon Alaska Communications Supervisor, lauren.cusimano@audubon.org, 907-433-5300

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