“It’s hard to say why birds capture the imagination, but they do,” says Erin Cooper, Biologist and Program Manager for the Forest Service in Cordova, Alaska. “Maybe it’s just because they’re a sign of the wildness of an area.”

Each spring, millions of small migratory birds coming from as far south as Chile and Argentina stop to rest and refuel on the Copper River Delta, an expansive wetland ecosystem on the coast of Southcentral Alaska.

Coastal ecosystems are all interconnected, from the macro- to megafauna within a biome to the migratory birds that connect mangroves and Arctic tundra thousands of miles apart. I was asked by Pacific Birds Joint Venture to highlight the importance of these ecosystems, so I pitched and produced a three-part short film series about the ecological, cultural and economic importance of three wetlands in Alaska. (Watch the films nested in Pacific Birds Habitat Joint Venture’s website here.)

Filming in Alaska presents unique logistical challenges, from remote locations to unpredictable weather. I first flew to Wrangell and Cordova in May for a week to film the annual spring migration and then to Yakutat and back to Cordova in June to film terns and dusky Canada geese nesting. Filming happened in sideways rain thanks to Xtratuf boots, Grunden coats, and lots of desiccants and rain covers for film equipment which also survived airboat rides, muskeg mud, and freezing temperatures.

To show the films to local audiences, I presented an hour-long Tuesday Night Talk held in Cordova, Alaska, by the Prince William Sound Science Center on November 28, 2023 about the production of the series and importance of film as a tool for science communication. In February 2024, I also gave a keynote 10-minute talk about the project at the Unversity of Oregon’s Center for Science Communication Research’s annual forum for an audience of science communicators, researchers, and graduate and undergraduate students.

These films were made possible due to funding and support from Pacific Birds Habitat Joint Venture, Ducks Unlimited, the U.S. Forest Service Chugach National Forest, and the University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communication.