Alaska: The Great Land

Your first glimmer of the immensity of Alaska comes as the airplane drops in for a landing at Anchorage. There are towering, snow-capped peaks and icy waters practically beside the runway. And the northern sky is indescribably wide and high, the air crisp and pure. Heading for the hotel, you get the distinct urge to jump out and start birding immediately as gulls course over ponds dotted with phalaropes and waterfowl. Red-necked Grebes? Barrow’s Goldeneyes? And those scaup were probably a mix of Lessers and Greaters. A tight flock of crossbill-like birds whizzes over and plummets into the spruces — probably your lifer White-wingeds. Calming yourself, you realize this is just the beginning of one of the greatest of birding trips, in one of the wildest, most beautiful places on Earth.

Our first destination on this grand birding tour is the Pribilofs, where thousands of breeding seabirds pack the cliffs and migrants from Asia dart across the landscape. After a day in Anchorage searching for Spruce Grouse and Hudsonian Godwits, we’ll drive south to Seward for a boat trip into Kenai Fjords NP with its Black Oystercatchers, Kittlitz’s and Ancient murrelets, and Humpback Whales. Then it’s off to Nome, where we’ll witness the merging of two major avifaunas (American and Eurasian) with Bluethroats, Arctic Warblers, and Bristle-thighed Curlews. And finally, we’ll head to the far north at Utqiagvik (formerly Barrow), where we’ll find four species of eider and Snowy Owls alongside hundreds of displaying shorebirds. June is the time to be in Alaska, when the birds are in courtship and full breeding regalia. Head north with us!