A Red-necked Stint peers through dry grasses at Nome. Photo: Gary Rosenberg
Alaska is a spectacular state with stunning snow-covered peaks rising out of flower-laden tundra and vast glaciers flowing into forest-lined fjords. For the birdwatcher Alaska is equally spectacular and June is a wonderful month to search for the state’s special breeding birds. We’ll begin in Nome where rolling tundra rich in ptarmigans, jaegers and shorebirds merges with rugged mountains and rushing streams, home to singing Bluethroats and nesting Gyrfalcons. There will be different tundra in Denali National Park, and the breathtaking immensity of Mount McKinley and the Alaska Range will provide an even more spectacular backdrop as we watch for Grizzly Bears and Smith’s Longspurs. We’ll conclude on the Kenai Peninsula and Resurrection Bay with yet more magnificent scenery and impressive displays of marine birds and mammals.
The extensions to the Pribilofs and Barrow extend the reach of our tour to a great alcid-rich seabird colony in the Bering Sea (with the chance of Asian vagrants) and the high latitude tundra, breeding home of several Arctic specialties including Yellow-billed Loon, both Spectacled and Steller’s Eiders, Snowy Owl, Red Phalarope, and Pomarine Jaeger.
Pre-Tour Pribilofs
Day 1 (June 8): The Pre-Tour Pribilofs begins at 6 p.m. evening in Anchorage. Night in Anchorage.
Days 2-3: We’ll depart the morning of Day 2 for our flight to the village of St. Paul in the Pribilof Islands. Here we will have ample time to discover the full 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, Parakeet, Crested and Least Auklets and Horned and Tufted Puffins, one has little trouble believing the theory. Add to these Northern Fulmar, Red-faced Cormorant and Red-legged Kittiwake and the sum is an extraordinary display of birds. Although skies are often cloudy, photographic opportunities are usually excellent. Our visit to St. Paul will concentrate on the nesting species but in early June we hope for the possibility of migrating shorebirds and a rarity or two. In the past, tours to St. Paul at this season have recorded Common Pochard, Wood and Common Sandpipers, Cuculus cuckoos, Grey-streaked Flycatcher, Olive-backed Pipit, Siberian Rubythroat, Eye-browed Thrush and Gray Wagtail, Gray-tailed Tattler and Common Ringed Plover. In addition to the birds there are the Northern Fur Seals that are easily viewed from blinds. Nights in St. Paul.
Day 4: After a final morning at St. Paul, we’ll return to Anchorage.
Day 5: We’ll bird the Anchorage region today, looking for many south-central mainland Alaska species. We’ll visit Cook Inlet, Potter’s Marsh and the Portage area in search of Red-necked Grebe, Trumpeter Swan, Barrow’s Goldeneye, Red-tailed “Harlan’s” Hawk, Spruce Grouse, Hudsonian Godwit, Three-toed Woodpecker, Gray Jay, Boreal Chickadee, Townsend’s Warbler, White-winged Crossbill and other species. This day also serves as a hedge against a potential weather delay in our return from St. Paul. The pre-tour extension concludes in Anchorage in the late afternoon.
Main Tour
Day 5 (June 12): The tour begins at 6 p.m. in Anchorage. Night in Anchorage.
Days 6-8: On the morning of day 6 we’ll fly to Bering Sea town of Nome where we’ll have four full days to explore the many exciting birding areas around town and elsewhere on the Seward Peninsula. At Safety Lagoon, where Red-throated and Pacific Loons breed and Parasitic Jaegers harass nesting Aleutian Terns, migration will still be in progress. We’ll hope to see a number of waterbirds, possibly including Emperor Goose or a rarity such as Red-necked Stint. Both the main roads out of Nome, to Teller and Taylor respectively, pass through tundra rich in breeding shorebirds, including American and Pacific Golden-Plovers and Bar-tailed Godwit, and in the surrounding hills and along willow-lined rivers we may find Gyrfalcon, Willow and Rock Ptarmigans, Bluethroat, Northern Wheatear, Arctic Warbler and Yellow Wagtail. We’ll search especially for Bristle-thighed Curlew, a few pair of which nest accessibly in the wild mountainous landscapes north of Nome. Nights in Nome.
“Just a note to say how much I enjoyed the Alaska in June trip with Gary Rosenberg. The itinerary was superb, the company most congenial, and Gary’s thoughtfulness and expertise made this adventure one of days packed with rare bird sightings and unexpected opportunties (for example, an ad hoc sled dog kennel visit) and memories for a lifetime.”
Julie O’Neil, MA
Day 9: After a final day in the Nome area we’ll take an early evening flight back to Anchorage. Night in Anchorage.
Day 10: We’ll begin this morning with a visit to Westchester Lagoon right in Anchorage where we’ll see nesting Red-necked Grebes and with luck a variety of migrating shorebirds including Hudsonian Godwit and Short-billed Dowitcher. Later we’ll begin our 250-mile drive north to Denali National Park, a spectacular trip that often offers some of our best views of Mount McKinley. Once north of Talkeetna we’ll enter vast areas of black spruce and willow, and we’ll keep a keen eye out for Spruce Grouse along the road and Bohemian Waxwings perched atop the trees. We’ll arrive at Denali Park around dinnertime. Night near Denali National Park.
Days 11-12: Denali National Park is closed to most automobile traffic. A series of shuttle buses run about every 30 minutes to points within the park, a complete round trip taking about eight hours. We’ll use these buses to visit areas that interest us. Our main objectives here are scenery and large mammals such as Grizzly Bear, Dall Sheep and Moose. Many of the birds will be familiar from Nome but we’ll watch for both Willow and Rock Ptarmigans, Gyrfalcon and Golden Eagle. It should be said that we probably won’t see the mountain from the park. Mount McKinley is so colossal that it creates its own weather, usually bad, and clouds typically obscure all but the lowest slopes. Our best views may come as we drive up from Anchorage or, strangely enough, on our flights to and from Nome.
On one day we’ll leave Denali early and bird the splendid Denali Highway, a well-graded dirt road that runs east for 130 miles through near wilderness. Here we’ll look for birds such as Trumpeter Swan, Upland Sandpiper, Northern Hawk Owl, Arctic Warbler and Smith’s Longspur. The scenery along this highway is magnificent as the road passes from boreal forest to tundra against the backdrop of the Alaska Range. Nights near Denali National Park.
Day 13: After a final morning in the Denali area, we’ll drive back to Anchorage . If we haven’t already seen Northern Hawk Owl this will be our chance. We’ll arrive in Anchorage in time for dinner. Night in Anchorage.
Day 14: After a morning at leisure or, for those who wish, birdwatching around Anchorage, where we should see Boreal Chickadee, White-winged Crossbill and possibly Three-toed and Black-backed Woodpeckers, we’ll drive to Seward through the superb mountain scenery of the Kenai Peninsula. We’ll spend the late afternoon around Seward, whose forest of huge Sitka spruce holds many species that just reach southwestern Alaska from the Pacific Northwest. Some of the specialties we’ll search for are Rufous Hummingbird, Chestnut-backed Chickadee, Varied Thrush, Townsend’s Warbler and Pine Grosbeak. The Fox Sparrow we’ll see here along the coast is likely a different species, the “Sooty” Fox Sparrow. One of the highlights of the trip will be a dinner of fresh seafood at a restaurant right on the wharf at Seward. Night in Seward.
Day 15: We’ll spend the day on Resurrection Bay and Blying Sound south of Seward. If the weather is clear the scenery is awesome and we’ll see at least one spectacular glacier. We’ll visit several large seabird colonies where we should find both Tufted and Horned Puffins, Thick-billed and Common Murres and thousands of Black-legged Kittiwakes. Rhinoceros Auklet and Ancient Murrelet are both possible and near one of the glaciers we’ll search through hundreds of Marbled Murrelets for the occasional Kittlitz’s. At the farthest extent of our boat trip we’re in deep water where we could see Short-tailed Shearwater. Marine mammals are also numerous and we can expect Steller’s Sea Lion, Sea Otter, Humpbacked Whale and possibly the magnificent Orca. Night in Seward.
Day 16: After a final morning in Seward, where we’ll drive along the edge of Resurrection Bay to look for Harlequin Duck and Wandering Tattler, we’ll return to Anchorage. We’ll make a quick stop at Potter’s Marsh to check for any interesting waterfowl such as breeding Canvasback and we’ll revisit Westchester Lagoon in search of migrating shorebirds. Night in Anchorage.
Day 17 (June 24): The tour concludes this morning in Anchorage.
Post-Tour Barrow
Days 17-18: Those continuing on with the Barrow extension will fly the morning of day 17 to Barrow, the northernmost community in Alaska. Barrow is a mixed community with a large native population, an excellent hotel and restaurant, and best of all, access to wonderful high latitude tundra rich in breeding birds. We’ll have the better part of two and a half days to explore this unique environment and search for several specialty birds that Barrow has become famous for. In a normal year, Snowy Owls are an obvious part of the local bird community, and it is not unusual to see 20-30 in a single day! Lakes and ponds are common along the road system, and this is where we’ll search for Steller’s and Spectacled Eiders, . Barrow is one of the only accessible breeding areas in North America for both and there are usually a few King Eiders around as well. Yellow-billed Loon is also typically around in small numbers.
The tundra here is quite different from other tundra, say at Nome, in that the predominate breeding shorebirds are Pectoral Sandpipers and Red Phalaropes. Baird’s Sandpiper also breeds locally, and there are sometimes rarer species around, such as Ruff, White-rumped, or Stilt Sandpiper, and sometimes a vagrant such as Red-necked Stint. The common jaeger here is Pomarine Jaeger, which like the Snowy Owl is dependent on the lemming and vole populations, but they are typically present in moderate numbers. The town of Barrow sometimes acts as a migrant trap, and we’ll spend at least some time searching for vagrant landbirds, which have shown up historically from both the North American and Siberian sides. There is even an outside chance at spotting a Polar Bear. Nights at Barrow.
Day 19:: After another full day of birding at Barrow, we’ll catch a late afternoon or early evening flight back to Anchorage. Night in Anchorage.
Day 20: The post-tour extension concludes this morning in Anchorage.
Updated: 31 July 2007
Prices
- 2008 price about $5,640
- - Single Occupancy Supplement $1,190
- With pre-tour Pribilofs extension about $8,630
- - Single Occupancy Supplement about $1,490
- With post-tour Barrow extension about $7,570
- - Single Occupancy Supplement $1,430
- With both Pre- and Post- tour extensions about $10,560
- - Single Occupancy Supplement $1,820
Notes
This tour is limited to seven participants with one leader; 14 with two leaders.