2025-2026 Wildlife Wednesdays Wrapped
Chelsey Cook, Communications Director
April marked our last Wildlife Wednesday of the 2025-2026 season! Every winter, we host online presentations with experts in Alaskan wildlife on the third Wednesday of each month. Throughout this season’s Wildlife Wednesday series, our presenters helped transport us to different corners of Alaska, from the peatlands of the Kenai to the walrus haulouts of Bristol Bay and everything in between. Each presentation offered insight into the incredible diversity of Alaska and the ecosystem dynamics at work across the state, as we dove into topics such as food webs in Cook Inlet, the role of beavers in climate mitigation, how birds adapt to the extreme environments of Alaska, and what we can do to help the bats that call this state home.
Wildlife Wednesday By the Numbers
Six presentations hosted from October 2025 to November 2026, thanks to the generous sponsorship of Natural Habitat Adventures.
Four Alaskan species explored in depth, as well as overviews of wildlife and birds in Southeast and Southcentral Alaska.
Over 175 people joined us on Zoom for our live presentations on Wednesday nights.
Another 450 people have watched the recordings on YouTube.
Five incredible birds hammed it up on screen, thanks to Bird TLC!
Our 2025-2025 Wildlife Wednesday presentations:
Kenai Beavers, with Spencer Johnson from KBNERR and Nicole Schmitt.
What Do Cook Inlet Belugas Eat?, with fisheries biologist William Bechtol.
2026 Board of Game Proposals to Watch, with AWA Executive Director Nicole Schmitt.
Pacific Walrus Management, with Devin Johnson from UsFWS.
Nocturnal in the North - Alaska’s Bats, with Arin Underwood from ADFG.
Avian Adaptations and Ambassador Birds, with Bird TLC.
Some of my favorite moments from the season were:
Hearing Arin Underwood explain what to do if you find a bat in trouble in your backyard, and how she once helped rehydrate a bat with mealworm juice.
Learning about how satellite imagery can help estimate how many walruses are at haulouts, and how genetic mark recapture work is being used for more precise abundance estimates.
Watching Shavila, the charismatic magpie at Bird TLC, show off for us by hopping from Mary Mercier’s arm to the table and back again, and seeing the incredible Easter basket-themed enrichment table he had to play with.
Seeing the direct impacts beaver dams can have on ground water, vegetation, and fish habitat, and learning how they can help resist climate change with their wetland engineering.
Learning about how entwined the health of Cook Inlet belugas and the health of our fisheries is.
Keear, Shavila, and Ghost - a few of the incredible Ambassador Birds we met from Bird TLC.
Wrapping Up and Looking Ahead To Next Year
These presentation series wouldn’t be possible without the support of our members or the presenters who generously donate their time and expertise. A huge thank you also goes out to Natural Habitat Adventures, who sponsored our Wildlife Wednesdays this season. Since 1985, they’ve been delivering incredible nature and wildlife experiences around the world, including bear viewing trips in Kodiak, Katmai, and Lake Clark.
We'll be back again in October for our monthly presentations. In the meantime, you can find all of our past Wildlife Wednesday recordings (over 30!) on YouTube.
Got an idea for a future presentation topic? Email me at chelsey@akwildlife.org!
