October 4-8, 2024 with Cory Gregory
The far north, high arctic, whatever you want to call it, we lived it! This short trip ventured to the northern tip of the United States with one main goal in mind, to witness the incredible migration of the poorly-understood Ross's Gull. But before we made it to Barrow, we had some time around Anchorage to go birding and that's where our triplist really began. Looking at Westchester Lagoon and surrounding areas, we added all the normal staples present that time of year: Common Goldeneye, Barrow's Goldeneye, Short-billed Gull, Bald Eagle, Black-billed Magpie, and others.
Our flight up to Barrow was uneventful and we got underway immediately after getting bundled up. Scoping offshore, we saw distant Ross's Gulls (30-40!), migrating Long-tailed Ducks and Common Eiders, and nearly 1000 Glaucous Gulls lining the ground where the whaling was taking place. It was really quite interested to see so many Short-tailed Shearwaters as well, we ended up seeing hundreds!
We spent the following day scoping offshore and driving a few of the roads we could manage (but the roads were very icy!). We continued to see Ross's Gulls, migrating to the northeast distantly offshore. More flocks of migrating ducks were seen including hundreds of Long-tailed Ducks and more Common Eiders. Nearby in the short willowy habitat, we found a flock of Willow Ptarmigan. Offshore, we saw Yellow-billed and Pacific loons migrating south and getting to see some swimming Yellow-billeds was a real highlight.
Were there other birds around Barrow? Sure, though not many after the north had been gripped by the cold. We encountered a few Common Redpolls at some feeders, the usual couple Common Ravens, Snow Bunting, and we even found a Snowy Owl as we sat at our dinner table!
But before long, it was time to head back to Anchorage. Still, that morning we looked offshore and once the wind had started to pick up, we started seeing flock after flock of Ross's Gull heading north! It was our best birding of the trip and it so happened it was on the last afternoon. The cherry on top though was when a drop-dead gorgeous adult Ivory Gull flew by!
Lastly, here is the mammal list from our trip:
We made it back to Anchorage and parted ways. It was such a short trip but was still a real treat getting to explore such a remote corner of the globe with you all and I hope you made lasting memories of the fun birding in the Far North. Until our tracks meet again, be well and good birding!
You can see my complete trip report on eBird at this link: https://ebird.org/tripreport/284916
You can download a combined PDF of this page and the eBird report at this link: https://fieldguides.com/triplists/ag224TRIPLIST.pdf
-- Cory Gregory (Curlew)