Seriocomic Horned Puffins crowd the ledges at Saint Paul. Photo: Gavin Bieber
Alaska’s Pribilof Islands lie some 200 miles off the North American mainland in the Bering Sea. We’ve scheduled our springtime visits to the rocky island of St. Paul to maximize our chances at Asiatic vagrants. But even without the exciting strays for which these remote islands are famous, the sea cliffs will be bursting with thousands of breeding alcids and large numbers of the near-endemic Red-legged Kittiwake. The first of the Northern Fur Seals will also be staking out their shoreline territories.
This tour can be taken in conjunction with our Majesty of the North tour and with our Spring Gambell tour. Please contact the WINGS office for information about reduced prices for some tour combinations.
Day 1 (May 22, or June 9): Our Pribilofs tour begins at 6:00 pm in Anchorage. Night in Anchorage.
Days 2-5 (May 23-26), or Days 2-3 (June 10-11): We’ll depart the morning of Day 2 for our flight to the village of St. Paul in the Pribilof Islands. Here we’ll have ample time to discover the richness of a Bering Sea seabird colony. The auk family is thought to have evolved in this region, and looking at the thousands of Common and Thick-billed Murres, Horned and Tufted Puffins, and Parakeet, Crested, and Least Auklets, one has little trouble believing the theory. Add in Northern Fulmar, Red-faced Cormorant, and the near-endemic Red-legged Kittiwake, and the sum is an extraordinary display.
Although skies are often cloudy, photographic opportunities are usually excellent here.
Our visit to St. Paul will concentrate on the nesting species, but in late May we can also hope for migrating shorebirds and a rarity or two. Our previous tours to St. Paul at this season have recorded Common Pochard, Gray-tailed Tattler, Wood and Common Sandpipers, Red-necked and Temminck’s Stints, Common Snipe, Eyebrowed Thrush, Olive-backed Pipit, Siberian Rubythroat, Dusky Warbler, Gray Wagtail, Common Rosefinch, and Hawfinch. In addition to the birds, Northern Fur Seals are easily viewed from blinds. Nights in St. Paul.
Day 6 (May 27), or Day 4 (June 12): After a final morning at St. Paul, we’ll return to Anchorage in the late afternoon, where the Pribilofs tour concludes in the evening.
Prices
- May 2010 price about $2,930
- May Single Occupancy Supplement $360
- June 2010 price about $2,360
- June Single Occupancy Supplement $210
Notes
Maximum group size 7 with one leader, 14 with two leaders.