Date: 8th June – 23rd June arriving back in UK on 24th June 2016 – When Glyn & Richard spoke to me about the possibilities of visiting Alaska back in October 2015, the plan soon became a reality. I must admit I never expected that I would visit, what is commonly known as, “The Land of the Midnight Sun” or “The Last Frontier”. I’m sure a visit to Alaska is on everyone’s wish list, so I count myself very fortunate, as it turn-out to be the trip of a life time.
We planned the dates around the best time for the wealth of bird life and the weather on the Tundra. During June, thousands of waders and other arctic birds arrive in Alaska for the short breeding season. With 24 hours of daylight, we were regularly birding 18 hours a day. As it happened, Alaska has had an early spring, exceptionally warm weather and an early Ice Melt, all of which had affected a premature emergence of the “Tundra Mossie’s”, usually not in abundance until July. We were blessed with exceptionally good weather throughout the trip with the temperature in Anchorage around 75- 80 fahrenheit. There was plenty of scope for photography and birds in abundance, with some of the best views of waders I’ve ever had.
We flew from Manchester to Anchorage on Iceland Airlines, via Reykjavik. This proved to be the shortest journey and the most economical in air fares. Our trip was 15 days, primarily photographing birds in Anchorage, Seward, Nome, Barrow and the Denali National Park. During our time in Alaska, we embarked on an eight hour sea trip out of Seward through the Kenai Fjords National Park to Resurrection Bay and the Northwestern Tidewater and Alpine Glaciers, taking in sea bird rookeries, Steller’s Sealion and Hump-backed Whales. We also went on an eight hour coach trip into Denali National Park, proving to be our only chance of seeing Grizzly Bear, Caribou and Dall’s Sheep. One of the mammal high-lights of the trip was watching three Polar Bears feeding on a kill out on the pack ice in Barrow. A fantastic sighting.
Richard made all the arrangements, the planning and booking of accommodation, car rental and flights and considering the places we visited and limited choices in Car Rental and accommodations in Nome & Barrow, he did a sterling job. Alaska is very popular with American Birders and there were a number of Tour Operators staying at Nome & Barrow, so it was a good move to pre-book some seven months in advance.
Our visit to Alaska was always planned to be a Photographic trip, concentrating on our target birds. I filled around 5 x 32gb Flash Cards, so took around 6,500 images. Highlights of the trip for me were – Bristle-thighed Curlew, Aleutian Tern, Spectacled Eider, Red-necked Stint, Sabine’s Gull, Tufted Puffin, Horned Puffin, Glaucous-winged Gull, Rufous Hummingbird, Varid Thrush, Polar Bear, Grizzly Bear and Hump-backed Whale. We saw 152 species of Bird and 16 Species of Mammal, numerous butterflies and dragon flies and many stunning alpine flowers. The scenery was spectacular and as we were heading back to Anchorage on our last day, Mount Denali (Mount Mckinley) gave us a tantalising view of it’s 20,000 foot twin peak, poking through the clouds with the sun shining on it. A pity we never had a cloudless view of this magnificent mountain.
Many thanks to Richard and Glyn for their company and for the many laughs we had during the trip.
As there is a lot to put together in this Blog Post, I will split into five sections. The first section will cover Anchorage, 2nd will cover Nome, 3rd will cover Barrow, 4th Seward and the 5th will cover Denali National Park area.
I hope you will enjoy the photos as much as I did taking them.
ANCHORAGE
The largest city in Alaska with a population of around 300,000. Anchorage is the gateway to the mountains of Chugach, Kenai and Talkeetna, as well as to the vast wilderness, most of which is inaccessible. During our transits and overnight stays in Anchorage, we only had short periods of time for birding. We managed to visit several prime sites including – Westchester Lagoon, Lake Hood, Spenard Lake, Potter Marsh and Hillside Park and Trail.
Westchester Lagoon – An excellent area of lagoons and coastal waters. We met Lars Johnson here, one of the most famous bird artists on the planet. It was a pleasure to meet him. A reliable place to see Hudsonian Godwit and Short-billed Dowitcher. Also Bald Eagle, Red-necked Grebe, Lesser Yellowlegs, Mew Gull, Arctic Tern and Lesser Scaup. We had a small flock of Bonaparte’s Gull fly through on our last morning and a single immature Glaucous-winged Gull on our first late afternoon.
Potter Marsh – Another excellent birding area of wetland, with 1550 feet of boardwalk winding across the reserve from the car park. We had several duck species including American Wigeon and Green-winged Teal. Also Cackling Goose, Tree Swallow, Wilson’s Warbler and Yellow Warbler, Alder Flycatcher, Dark-eyed Junco and Rusty Blackbird.
Hillside Park and Trail – A popular Ski area in the winter. This park has some 12 kilometers of tracks and trails and proved to be the best place to see Varid Thrush. We had numerous views and heard many singing individuals. A good variety of woodland birds including Red-breasted Nuthatch, Orange-crowned Warbler, Grey-cheeked Thrush, American Robin and a single Rufous Hummingbird.
Lake Hood and Lake Spenard – Two large picturesque lakes joined together, close to the Ted Stevens Airport, which we visited several times, unfortunately heavily disturbed by floatplanes. However we did see the only Common Loon of the trip, several Pacific Loon, Red-necked Grebe, Bonaparte’s Gull, Greater and Lesser Scaup, American Wigeon, Wilson’s Snipe, Savannah Sparrow, the only Brown Creeper of the trip, White-crowned Sparrow, Black-capped Chickadee, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Lincoln Sparrow, American Robin, North Western Crow, Black-billed Magpie, Raven, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Bank Swallow and Violet-green Swallow.
Waders at Westchester Lagoon, Anchorage – Hudsonian Godwit and Short-billed Dowitcher – Tony Davison© – these were always distant and difficult to photograph
Short-billed Dowitcher – Westchester Lagoon, Anchorage – Tony Davison© A good reliable place for Hudsonian Godwit and Short-billed Dowitcher.
Varid Thrush – Hillside Park & Trails, Anchorage – A stunning thrush but a bird that we struggled with to obtain good pictures. One of my target birds – Tony Davison©
Violet-green Swallow – Anchorage – Tony Davison© – We saw these attractive swallows at various locations during our trip.
Lesser Scaup – drake – Seen at several sites including Westchester Lagoon and Lake Hood, Anchorage – Tony Davison©
Greater Scaup – Lake Hood, Anchorage – A common duck throughout the trip – Tony Davison©
Red-necked Grebe – Above four images – Westchester Lagoon and Lake Hood, Anchorage – Tony Davison©
American Wigeon – Drake – Potter Marsh, Anchorage – Seen at various locations but not in any large numbers – Tony Davison©
Cackling Goose – Potter Marsh and Westchester Lagoon, Anchorage – Tony Davison©
Wilson’s Snipe – Spenard Lake, Anchorage – Tony Davison© – proved to be a difficult bird to photograph.
Savannah Sparrow – Spenard Lake, Anchorage – Tony Davison© – Fairly common, also seen at Barrow and Nome
Arctic Tern – Above two images – Westchester Lake, Anchorage – Common and seen almost everywhere – Tony Davison©
Mew Gull – Very common everywhere – Tony Davison©
A mixture of gulls here – The back one is an immature Glaucous-winged Gull, the centre foreground a Mew Gull and the left and right foreground currently looking into. At this stage I’m thinking of some sort of hybrid or simply just bleached and washed-out Mew Gull. Note leg colour and size. Mantle colour and white-winged appearance of primaries and secondaries. Westchester Lagoon, Anchorage – Tony Davison©
Lake Hood, Seaplane Station, Anchorage – The Deck Restaurant where we had our first evening meal in Alaska – June 8th 2016 – Tony Davison©
Lake Hood, Anchorage – Tony Davison©
Lake Hood, Anchorage and the Alaska Range in the background – Tony Davison©
Denali – the peak pokes through the clouds and gives us a tantalising view of it’s majesty – Tony Davison©
Denali, Black Spruce and the Alaska Range viewed from the main highway back to Anchorage from Denali National Park- our last afternoon 23rd June 2016 – Tony Davison©
