Frank Keim

by Frank Keim original artwork by Frank Keim This dainty sparrow is a skulker, so it is often hard to see as it sneaks along on the ground among willow and alder thickets in wet […]

by Frank Keim You can’t miss this sparrow. With a brown-streaked chest, often with a dark brown spot in the middle, the male sings with a rapid insect-like buzz in open tundra or sedge and […]

by Frank Keim original artwork by Frank Keim Every year some friends and I hike to the top of a mountain near Fairbanks named Wickersham Dome in search of migrating Northern wheatears, small thrush-like birds […]

by Frank Keim Aqezaqezaqezaqezqzqzqzqzqz… Ever heard that sound? Sure you have. Just walk out in the tundra in spring, and I guarantee, if you listen hard enough, you’ll hear it. Enter, two aspiring bird watchers. […]

by Frank Keim If you’ve ever lived or travelled on a river almost anywhere in Alaska, you’ve seen or heard the Belted kingfisher. They’re fast, though, so to get a good look at them you’ve […]

by Frank Keim Similar to its cousin the Parakeet auklet, the Crested auklet is a small chunky sea bird with an ornamental tuft of black feathers hanging down from its forehead, and is seen only […]

by Frank Keim Have you ever wondered about the word “sandpiper?” I did, and when I finally looked it up, I found one of the meanings of the word “pipe” is to chirp, peep or […]

by Frank Keim What a bird this one is! With its long, down-curved bill and bluish stilt-like legs, it almost looks extraterrestrial. But I assure you, it is an earthling, and an Alaskan through and […]

by Frank Keim Every time I see these hawkish birds, I remember the first ones I ever saw just outside of Hooper Bay in the spring of 1980. They were performing their aerial mating dance, […]

by Frank Keim Along with its relative, the Pectoral sandpiper, the Baird’s has long, tapering wings, which adapt it well for its very long annual migrations back and forth from southern South America to the […]

by Frank Keim original artwork by Frank Keim Like their lookalike first cousins, the tuxedo-clad Common murres, Thick-billed murres are among the deepest divers of all birds, sometimes foraging for their food as deep as […]

by Frank Keim On Saturdays and Sundays I used to walk or ski a little farther than usual on the many trails around the village of Marshall, where I taught for 10 years. One day […]

by Frank Keim Have you ever wanted to be a bird? Or after you die, come back as one? I have, and my choice is the Gyrfalcon. I used to watch these raptors a lot […]

by Frank Keim Have you ever come across a little pink bird singing in chirpy twitters on the top of a spruce tree in winter? Or even better, singing almost continuously in the same sweet […]

by Frank Keim Once back in the mid-1990’s I was picking blueberries above Marshall and a large sickle-billed bird flew over. It was making a bee-line south, probably in migration mode, and on a whim […]

by Frank Keim The Rock sandpiper is a tough shorebird. Not only does it nest in the Arctic on Alaska’s Bering Sea coasts and islands as far north as the Seward Peninsula, but it also […]

by Frank Keim The Say’s phoebe is one of the friendliest birds I’ve ever met, especially when mosquitoes are buzzing around your face. With their gentle facial expression, they show no fear as they hover […]

by Frank Keim There is no mistaking Pectoral sandpipers, especially when you hear them courting on their nesting ground in spring. The males are equipped with an inflatable throat sac that allows them to produce […]

by Frank Keim With its drab olive-green color and white wing bars, the Alder flycatcher seems like an unremarkable bird. It sits almost all day long on high perches in open wet thickets of alder […]

by Frank Keim With a sandpiper called Surfbird, you’re probably wondering why the name, especially since it only nests in mountain habitats. This is because during the non-nesting season, almost nine months a year, it […]

by Frank Keim When you see this large sandpiper up close, you’ve got to marvel at nature’s creative ingenuity. With their slender stilt-like legs and long slightly upturned bills, they are truly graceful shorebirds. Their […]

by Frank Keim If you’re out hunting or walking on the tundra, you may see large flocks of Snow buntings drifting like giant snowflakes over open country. If you’re lucky and you stay completely still, […]

by Frank Keim This is a lookalike bird if I ever saw one. Which might explain why the bird’s Yup’ik names are the same as those used for the Western and Least sandpipers: Iisuraar(aq) and […]

by Frank Keim The Boreal owl is just about the tamest large bird in Alaska. Many years ago near Scammon Bay I skied so close to one I could probably have put my hands around […]

by Frank Keim Although I’ve never seen an Olive-sided flycatcher in the YK Delta, I have been assured they nest there – probably more in the semi-open boreal coniferous forests with bogs and muskeg in […]

by Frank Keim When I first began teaching in Hooper Bay in 1979, my winters were made more enjoyable by cross-country skiing daily out to the edge of the Bering Sea coast, which was only […]

by Frank Keim Although I’ve never seen White-tailed ptarmigan in the YK Delta, I’ve observed them many times in the Alaska Range. In winter, these perfectly white birds are hard to distinguish from Willow ptarmigan, […]

by Frank Keim This bird should have been a parrot. Its beak size alone makes it look like one, as do its shape, size and color, and maybe even its sweet song. But it most […]

by Frank Keim The Yup’ik name (Culuksuksaar(aq)) for this handsome parrot-beaked seabird that I was given in Hooper Bay and Scammon Bay is one of the most descriptive that I’ve run across yet. It loosely […]

by Frank Keim As its English name “parakeet” suggests, this auklet looks a little like a small parrot. But don’t be fooled, it is far from a parrot. Watch the way it stands, walks, flies, […]

by Frank Keim I remember when I first saw this bird in Hooper Bay in April, 1980. I couldn’t help but comment to my girlfriend (soon to be my wife) that it was one of […]

by Frank Keim While teaching in Hooper Bay in the early 1980’s, I would often ski out to the edge of the pack ice during late winter and early spring to photograph seal hunters in […]

by Frank Keim I don’t remember ever seeing Common murres while living and teaching in the YK Delta, but I did see plenty of them in both Togiak Bay and Nushagak Bay while helping two […]

by Frank Keim The Kittiwake is a dainty gull whose name, like that of the Mew gull, is imitative of its call. Wherever you find steep rocky sea cliffs on the coast of southwest Alaska, […]

by Frank Keim Don’t be fooled by the English name for this shorebird, because it certainly does not have a short bill. Like its first cousin, the Long-billed dowitcher, especially the female has one of […]

by Frank Keim Of all the gray-and-white, pink-legged “seagulls” found in the YK Delta, the Herring gull is the huskiest in size and shape. Although they aren’t as numerous on the Delta as their cousin, […]

by Frank Keim Many years ago while a friend and I were watching Bank swallows fly in and out of their cavities near a Yukon River village, he told me to watch as he tried […]

by Frank Keim What a coincidence. Just moments before starting to write this article, a small troupe of Rusty blackbirds flew over my house, headed south for the winter. I used the word “troupe” because […]

by Frank Keim I first saw these small terns while helping some friends fish for salmon in the Bristol Bay area near the small village of Clark’s Point. The colony there was quite large at […]

by Frank Keim If you see one of these squat cinnamon-bellied sandpipers, you’re bound to say, “What the…!” This is because they look like anything but the dainty, frail looking sandpipers you usually see in […]

by Frank Keim I call these nimble swallows “mud daubers” because they build their nests of mud. Watch them as they do this in early spring and you’ll see them fly down to a mud […]

by Frank Keim Take a close look at this swallow. Notice its long wings and white “saddle bags,” and the glossy quality of its plumage, sparkling with iridescent emerald green and metallic purple in the […]

by Frank Keim As its name indicates, the Solitary sandpiper likes its solitude. It is a loner from spring to spring and from Alaska and Northern Canada where it nests all the way down to […]

by Frank Keim Although the Horned lark nests in the Lower Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, it is only seen by those who actively seek it out. This is because it nests primarily in alpine mountainous regions, such […]

by Frank Keim While living in Hooper Bay in the early 1980’s, I saw this big black seawater bird over by Cape Romanzof in the Askinuk Mountains. I say “big” because it is bigger than […]

by Frank Keim The Greater yellowlegs, like its smaller first cousin the Lesser yellowlegs, is a shorebird that’s hard to miss. Its slender, long, bright-yellow legs and loud alarm calls, combined with its deliberate high-stepping […]

by Frank Keim If you happen to be in the Andreafsky Mountains or any other mountains in northern Alaska during the summer months you might be lucky enough to see this rare sandpiper. Or, you […]

by Frank Keim Our planet Earth has been having a hard time of it lately. But reflecting over the past 50 years since a small group of us put together the first organizational committee to […]

by Frank Keim If you happen to see a large black and white bird on the ground with long tail feathers and a walk that looks like a swagger and a strut, it’s a Black-billed […]

by Frank Keim In the spring this diving duck looks a little like its cousin, the Surf scoter. One of its Yup’ik names Akacakayak, is even the same. As with its cousin, it too looks […]

by Frank Keim One of the Yup’ik names, Akacakayak, for this crazy looking duck describes its odd appearance perfectly. The male’s nose in spring does indeed look like a bird who has “overturned accidentally,” and […]

by Frank Keim For gleaming colors, the male of this species is unremarkable, but for the visual texture of his plumage, there is no other duck that is comparable. The combination of the black and […]

by Frank Keim Athough the Bonaparte’s gull is Alaska’s smallest gull, I’ve never seen a feistier one, and I suggest not picking a fight with it.* This means, if you approach their nest or their […]

by Frank Keim Every fall while teaching in Scammon Bay in the 1980’s I used to hear Snow geese “barking” high in the sky as they wended their way east then south during migration. This […]

by Frank Keim Ever wondered why the Raven is called Tulukaruq in Yup’ik? Well, all it takes is a little imagination and a little twisting and turning of your tongue, mouth and vocal cords, and […]

by Frank Keim Listen carefully high above you in spring (and sometimes even in fall) and you may be lucky enough to hear the Wilson’s snipe’s haunting winnowing call, woo-woo-woo-woo. You won’t mistake this sound […]

by Frank Keim A long time ago two giant thunderbirds used to have their nest in the mountains above Ohagmiut. They were always very hungry, and people were warned not to wear their parkas with the […]

by Frank Keim The Gray-cheeked thrush is probably the shyest of all the brown-backed thrushes. You won’t see them very often during their migration, because they do so at night, although since the boreal north […]

by Frank Keim If you’ve watched Trumpeter swans, there are two things you notice right from the get-go: their enormous size and their loud resonant call, which reminds me of, well, a trumpet. Trumpeters are […]