Alaska Bird and Wildlife Watching Trip Report : June 10th - 26th 2000 Autumn 2000

By Ken Harrison

Our birdwatching trip to Alaska in June 2000 was organised by Wildwings and in the party of ten (plus leader), seven were members of LDBWS. The leader from Wildwings was wader expert David Rosair.

We flew from Manchester to Anchorage (via Amsterdam and Minneapolis). The following day we drove down to Seward for a two night stay, which included a pelagic trip in the Resurrection Bay area, with brilliant close views of Sea Otters just outside the harbour. We also had fantastic views during the trip of Steller Sea Lion and Harbor Seal, plus distant views of Orca and Mountain Goat. Birds included Horned Puffin, Tufted Puffin, Marbled Murrelet, Double crested Cormorant, Pelagic Cormorant, Red faced Cormorant, Black Oystercatcher, Greater Scaup, plus thousands of Black legged Kittiwake on their nesting cliffs. (Un)fortunately the sea was too rough outside the fjord for us to complete the trip to the Chiswell Islands, but it give us more time to explore the inlets and get close to the Steller Sea Lions and Kittiwake colony.

We next visited Homer, where the famed Homer Spit, with its May wader passage, proved to be devoid of waders in mid-June! We had distant views of thousands of Kittiwakes and Common Murres, plus an odd Tufted Puffin, plus Common Loon near the Harbour and Bald Eagles and Cliff Swallows flying low overhead. Mud Bay and the town end of the Spit was more productive, with Semipalmated Plover, Semipalmated Sandpiper, Eider, Greater Yellowlegs, Black Brant, Shoveler, American Wigeon, Pintail, Green winged Teal, Mallard and Bonaparte's Gull. We then found 8 Sandhill Cranes near the airport, along with another Greater Yellowlegs, plus a Moose with young.

We then returned to Anchorage before flying to Nome via Kotzebue. On arrival in the old gold mining city of Nome, we dumped our bags at the Nugget Inn before heading off to Safety Lagoon. About a mile out of Nome we were surprised to find two Brown Bears close to the road. Short eared Owl hunted along the roadside and Arctic Ground Squirrel scampered around. Safety Lagoon produced small numbers of birds, including Dunlin, Semipalmated Plover, Semipalmated Sandpiper, Western Sandpiper, Glaucous Gull, Eider, Lesser and Greater Scaup, Oldsquaw, American Wigeon, Pintail, Bufflehead, Redhead, Black Brant, Lapland Bunting, Common, Pacific and Arctic Loons, a colony of Aleutian Terns, plus the wonderful sight of 13 Sandhill Cranes displaying. During drives along the Kougarok Road we saw Willow Ptarmigan, Mew Gull, Glaucous Gull, Redpoll, Arctic Redpoll, Canada Goose, Yellow Warbler, White crowned, Golden crowned and Savannah Sparrows, Gray cheeked Thrush, Snipe, Ruddy Turnstone, Spotted Sandpiper, Whimbrel and Long tailed Skua. Ducks included Pintail, Red breasted Merganser, Harlequin and Goosander. Raptors seen were Northern Harrier, Golden Eagle, Rough legged Buzzard and good views of a Gyrfalcon which had been perched on a rock and then flew off over the valley. While observing the Gyrfalcon, we also saw a couple of Horned Lark and Wheatear. Mammal highlights included a Red Fox bounding away through the vegetation, c.150 Caribou, although many were farmed animals, Arctic Ground Squirrel, Hoary Marmot, plus 11 Musk Ox on a nearby hilltop. A stop at the Nome River produced a Northern Shrike, plus Semipalmated Plover, Western Sandpiper, Snipe, Pacific and Red throated Loons, Green winged Teal, Red breasted Merganser, Harlequin, Mew Gull, Arctic Tern, Bank Swallow, plus 20 Caribou. Some of the party came back to the Nome River after our evening meal and managed to have brief views of an elusive Wandering Tattler.

The Teller Road in Nome produced similar birds to the Kougarok Road; but we also saw Short eared Owl, another couple of Northern Harriers, Yellow Warbler, Tree Sparrow, another Northern Shrike, Yellow Wagtail, American Golden Plover, Cliff Swallow and we also added Arctic Warbler and Pacific Golden Plover to our list. We stopped along the Wooly Lagoon Road for lunch, where Long tailed Skuas displayed nearby and a herd of 32 Musk Ox wandered down a nearby hillside. Our final morning in Nome saw us visit Safety Lagoon again. New birds included Slaty backed Gull, Eurasian Wigeon, distant views of a Snowy Owl in flight, plus a male King Eider on the sea. We then had to fly back down to Anchorage and take the flight to Barrow via Fairbanks, arriving in Barrow early evening.

Pools near the start of the Gas Well Road in Barrow produced close views of Red Phalarope and Red necked Phalarope, plus Semipalmated Plover and Semipalmated Sandpiper. Pintail were abundant, with Lapland and Snow Buntings at the side of the road and flying nearby. Long billed Dowitchers also provided close views, but one of the highlights of the day were the sight and sound of Pectoral Sandpipers flying and displaying over the tundra. Pomerine Skuas were flying nearby and we also found 2 Snowy Owls, one on a telegraph pole, and another on a nest in the distance. Other birds seen included Dunlin, Goldeneye, Whimbrel, Canada Goose, Oldsquaw, Snipe, Shoveler, Arctic Redpoll, Savannah Sparrow, American Golden Plover, Short eared Owl, White fronted Goose, Tundra Swan, Arctic Tern and Pacific Loon. We also had distant views of an Arctic Fox as it tried to avoid being dive-bombed by a skua! A stop for lunch at Ilisagvik College produced a couple of Baird's Sandpiper on the college pools. An afternoon trek across the tundra in the arctic heat (must have been 70s F at least!) saw us more in need of sun block than fleeces and thermals. The trek was worthwhile, with good views of a pair of Steller's Eider, plus the ubiquitous displaying Pectoral Sandpipers, more Long billed Dowitchers, Arctic and Pomerine Skuas, Oldsquaw, Pintail, Red and Red necked Phalarope, plus a Red throated Diver. We also had to beware of Lemmings which were scurrying about in their tundra tunnels, in particular one which attacked David's tripod! Several members of the group also trekked to a distant pool and found Spectacled Eider.

The next morning saw us heading off in misty conditions to Point Barrow in the hope of seeing Polar Bear, but unfortunately we didn't see any, although they had been seen in the area the previous Saturday. Vehicles are not allowed to visit Point Barrow, so we travelled in a caterpillar tracked minibus with a permit to visit Point Barrow, with the driver being required to carry a rifle. We did manage to see a few birds, including 5 Sabine's Gulls, which were a new species for the trip. We also had 3 male and 3 female King Eider, c.18 Eider, Oldsquaw, Pintail, Glaucous Gull, Arctic Tern, Semipalmated Plover, Snow Bunting, Guillemot and a couple of Phalaropes. A stop at Ilisagvik College Pools again produced Baird's Sandpiper. The afternoon was spent on Gas Well Road, where we had a few more Baird's Sandpipers, plus a similar list to our previous visit to this area, with the addition of Brant Goose and Ruddy Turnstone.

As the previous day had been foggy, we took the earlier morning flight to Anchorage than we had originally planned. A pre-flight walk to have a last look over the pack ice produced 9 Seals on the ice, plus Pomerine, Long tailed and Arctic Skuas. After checking in at the hotel we were off to the Anchorage Botanic Gardens looking for woodpeckers. We found several nest holes and saw brief views of woodpeckers flying, without any definite identifications. We also found a new bird in Townsend's Warbler. After our evening meal it was off down to Westchester Lagoon where 15 Hudsonian Godwits and 5 Short billed Dowitchers, both new birds for the trip, were on one of the islands. On the lagoon were Canada Goose, Mew Gull, Red necked Grebe, Mallard, Pochard, Bonaparte's Gull and Greater Scaup. We then continued to Ship Creek Point to see Arctic Tern, Mew Gull, Glaucous winged Gull and Semipalmated Sandpiper.

The next morning we headed for Denali, skipping breakfast for an early start, with the promise of a mid morning brunch on the road, which turned out to be a very late breakfast/slightly early lunch, as David kept on driving! On the drive and in the Denali area we saw Hawk Owl, Mew Gull, Willow Ptarmigan, Raven, Bald Eagle, Arctic Tern, White crowned Sparrow, Northern Harrier, Bohemian Waxwing and Yellow rumped Warbler. Mammals included Hoary Marmot, a Moose with 2 young, Red Fox, Caribou, Dall's Sheep, Snowshoe Hare, Red Squirrel, Arctic Ground Squirrel, plus 2 Beavers on a lake visible from the road. We booked tickets at the National Park Centre for the 10.00am bus for the following day. Eight of the group took the 8 hour return bus trip from the National Park Centre to the Eielson Centre and back, while three others took to one of the mountainous trails around the Park Centre. The bus trip was fantastic, with 2 different Brown Bears with 2 cubs each, wandering along through the vegetation at the side of the road. We were also extremely fortunate so see a Gray Wolf, which was spotted eyeing up a Caribou in the valley below. Then the wolf came up the side of the valley and walked right along the side of the bus! We saw a total of 5 Brown bears plus 4 cubs, plus Caribou, Dall's Sheep, Arctic Ground Squirrel, Red Squirrel, Hoary Marmot and Snowshoe Hare. We did not see a great number of birds as we were on the bus for most of the day, but we did see a new species at the Eielson Centre where we saw Say's Phoebe. Other birds included Willow Ptarmigan, Northern Harrier, Long tailed Skua, American Kestrel, Cliff Swallow, Magpie, Gray Jay, Rock Ptarmigan and Mew Gull.

Before returning to Anchorage we birded the Denali Highway to mile 30, with several stops at various lakes etc. Birds seen included Trumpeter Swan, Greater Yellowlegs, Lesser Yellowlegs, Magpie, White crowned Sparrow, Black capped Chickadee, Green winged Teal, Blackpoll Warbler, Cliff Swallow, American Wigeon, Bufflehead, Gray Jay, Common Loon, Lesser Scaup, Barrow's Goldeneye, Hawk Owl, Bohemian Waxwing, Yellow rumped Warbler, Ruby crowned Kinglet, Green winged Teal, Mallard, Mew Gull, Redpoll, Arctic Warbler and Gray cheeked Thrush. We then drove back to Anchorage to get a meal and a few hours sleep before our early morning flight back to Manchester.

In total we saw just over 140 bird species, plus 20 mammal species. The weather was excellent with no rain worth mentioning apart from a thunderstorm at 11.30pm in Barrow on June 20th. Temperatures were generally in the 60s and 70s, with possibly low 80s in Denali.

A longer version of this report, complete with photographs, is available on the internet at:-

http://libweb.lancs.ac.uk/kh/alaskatrip.htm