A Least Auklet rests on the edge of a cliff. Photo: Gary Rosenberg
As more and more North American birdwatchers have discovered, spring birdwatching in Alaska is an experience to be found nowhere else on this continent. There is first of all the excitement of seeing many species whose North American range is almost exclusively Alaskan, seeing them well and in the case of seabirds in almost overwhelming abundance. Second, there is the distinctly arctic flavor of high-latitude birdwatching at a season of very long days filled with tundra birdsong and, from mid-June on, tundra wildflowers. For the veteran birdwatcher there is island birdwatching at Gambell, where in most years an exciting variety of species from Asia occur. Finally, there is Alaska itself, huge, wild, varied but always beautiful: the icy shores of the Bering Sea and mountainous vastness of the Seward Peninsula.
Day 1: The tour begins at 5 PM. in Anchorage with a quick dinner. In some years Boreal and Northern Saw-whet Owls have nested near Anchorage and if they’re present we’ll look for them around 6 PM. Otherwise we’ll offer optional local birding near the hotel where we should see a variety of waterfowl and, in some years, White-winged Crossbills. Night in Anchorage.
Day 2: We’ll fly early this morning to Nome and after a short layover transfer to a smaller aircraft for a 50-minute flight to Gambell. Weather is always a factor in this part of the world and there is a chance that we’ll not be able to continue immediately to Gambell, where the small and poorly instrumented airstrip requires visual flying conditions. Gambell is a Yupik village of about 650 persons at the northwestern tip of St. Lawrence Island. Our quarters will be in the Sivuqaq Inn which contains 14 double rooms, six bathrooms (four with showers), a large kitchen, a commons area and a laundry with washer and dryer. Outside it is usually cold (28-40 degrees F.) and often overcast; fog, rain, snow and wind may occur in rapidly changing combinations. The terrain will make the days of walking seem long: loose, rounded beach gravel, snow and slush, puddles and hummocks, the craters and mounds of the boneyards and the steep mountainside with its tricky footing on boulders between deep drifts of snow. We will have motorized transport to reach prized birds quickly. However one should come to Gambell expecting to do a good deal of walking. Night in Gambell.
Days 3-7: Birdwatching at Gambell varies from excellent to incredible. It combines the possibility of Asiatic birds with a spectacular passage of seabirds. We’ll also hope to see at least some of the birds that breed locally in western and/or northern Alaska but nowhere else in North America, such as Red-necked Stint, Bluethroat, Red-throated Pipit and with much good luck McKay’s Bunting. Our days will be spent covering and recovering areas that can harbor strays. Wanderers from Asia often arrive with storms and we can only hope for at least a day of unstable weather. The long list of Asian species we’ve seen during the last 30 years includes the following: Bean Goose, Common Greenshank, Green and Terek Sandpipers, Great Knot, Little, Temminck’s and Long-toed Stints, Common Snipe, Oriental Pratincole, Black-tailed Gull, Common Cuckoo, Sky Lark, Dusky Warbler, Taiga Flycatcher, Siberian Rubythroat, Dusky and Eyebrowed Thrushes, Fieldfare, Stonechat, Gray and Black-backed Wagtails, Olive-backed Pipit, Brown Shrike, Rustic Bunting, Brambling, Common Rosefinch, Eurasian Bullfinch and Hawfinch. We should add that strays also come from the North America side and that list is nearly as long. When there are no exotic birds to chase, sea-watching from the point is almost always superb: Arctic and Yellow-billed Loons, Emperor Goose, Common, King, Steller’s and sometimes Spectacled Eiders, all three species of jaeger, many gulls, including Slaty-backed and rarely Ivory or Ross’s, and literally hundreds of thousands of alcids including a few local breeding Dovekies pass continuously. Nights in Gambell.
Day 8: This afternoon we’ll fly back to Nome, continuing on to Anchorage. Night in Anchorage.
Day 9: Our tour concludes this morning in Anchorage.
Nome Extension
Day 8 (June 5): Those staying for the Nome Extension will remain in Nome for a three-night stay. Night in Nome.
Days 9-10: There are several important birdwatching areas around Nome, notably Safety Lagoon and the Kougarok and Teller Roads, and these may produce Willow and Rock Ptarmigans, Pacific and American Golden-Plovers, Bar-tailed Godwit, Aleutian Tern, Northern Shrike, Northern Wheatear, Eastern Yellow Wagtail and possibly Gyrfalcon and Arctic Warbler. If it’s open, we’ll spend one day at or near the north end of the Kougarok Road looking for Bluethroat and Bristle-thighed Curlew, both of which breed here. It’s a long drive but the vast tundra and mountain scenery would make the day memorable even without the presence of two of North America’s rarest breeding birds. This area is also home to the Grizzly Bear and an introduced population of the prehistoric looking Muskox, both of which we’ll hope to see. Nights in Nome.
Day 11: In the evening we’ll fly back to Anchorage. Night in Anchorage.
Day 12: The Nome extension concludes this morning in Anchorage.
Updated: 17 July 2007
Prices
- 2008 price about $4,540
- Single Occupancy Supplement $310
- With Nome Extension about $5,980
- Single Occupancy Supplement $670
Notes
This tour is limited to 18 participants with three leaders.
Single occupancy not available at Gambell.
Those wishing to continue on to the Pribilofs immediately after the Nome extension can do so with our Alaska in June group.