June 8, 2024 to June 24, 2024
Guided by Micah Riegner & Sam Wilson
This tour combines the best of Alaska springtime birding: the majestic Kenai Fjords, the spruce and poplar forests of Anchorage, the wild rolling hills of Nome, the frozen seas of Utqiagvik and alcid cliffs of Saint Paul Island. Sam and I had a darn good run of this tour up until the very end when we encountered some logistical challenges when it came to leaving Saint Paul Island. Our departing flight continued to cancel and, after an additional four days of being stranded, we were finally able to get everyone off the island, on their way home.
Now to the birding highlights, of which there were many! Around Anchorage we saw the very close Spruce Grouse that came out to peck around our feet at Kinkaid Park, several White-winged Crossbills at Hillside Park, and both Surfbird and Hudsonian Godwit at Westchester Lagoon. We had rough seas for our Seward boat day and couldn’t get out of Resurrection Bay, but we managed to see Horned and Tufted Puffins, several Marbled Murrelets, Black Oystercatchers, Orcas, Humpback Whales, Sea Otters and several Mountain Goats with kids clinging to the steep cliffs. Birding the roads around Seward we saw Pacific Wren, Varied Thrush, Chestnut-backed Chickadee, Sooty Fox Sparrow, Red Crossbills and Pine Grosbeak. We picked up American Dipper at the Willowah Salmon Platform on our way back to Anchorage and a Great Blue Heron at Potter Marsh. We saw a surprising number of Three-toed Woodpeckers throughout the days around Anchorage and a young Black-backed Woodpecker at the Sockeye Burn near Willow.
We cleaned up on the usual Nome targets, finding a number of Bluethroats, Arctic Warblers, Bar-tailed Godwits, Aleutian Terns, no fewer than 6 Bristle-thighed Curlews over at “Curlew Hill,” Gyrfalcon, both Rock and Willow Ptarmigans, White and Eastern Yellow Wagtails, Northern Wheatear, Northern Shrike, fly-by Yellow-billed and Arctic Loons, some very distant Emperor Geese and, my personal favorite, Red Knots on their breeding grounds high on the barren tundra. We also saw Moose, Muskox, Harbor Porpoises, and an up-close Short-tailed Weasel scuttling over a rocky outcropping. In Utqiagvik, the eiders put on a good show, especially Steller’s, and there was a steady stream of Asian vagrants to keep us busy. For instance, on our first day we saw a breeding plumage Curlew Sandpiper, Common Ringed Plover, several Red-necked Stints, and a Temminck’s Stint in full flight display. Seeing Polar Bears from the Nunavak Road and out at Point Barrow was a particular high point for me, given that I went three years in a row without seeing any!
On Saint Paul Island we saw the usual nesting alcids, those being Crested, Parakeet and Least Auklets, Horned and Tufted Puffins, Thick-billed and Common Murres, in addition to close Ancient Murrelets, Rhinoceros Auklet, Black-legged and Red-legged Kittiwakes, a Wood Sandpiper, Common Pochard, Tufted Duck and, last but certainly not least, Far Eastern Curlew, one of the few records for the island and for North America for that matter! We came across it at Marunich where it was foraging for arthropods in the rocks. It gave us a close fly-by, and we could see its brown rump, distinguishing it from Eurasian Curlew. What a bird!
There are many people who took part in the success of this tour. Sam and I would like to thank Tanya, our boat captain in Seward, Karen in our office for her masterful flight rearranging, and Sulli, Mariah, Luis and Dave for taking great care of us on Saint Paul. We’d like to thank you all for joining us—we can’t wait to go birding with you again!
Mammals List
Alaskan Hare (Lepus othus) We saw these at various spots along the Kougarok Road outside of Nome.
Collared Pika (Ochotona collaris) We walked up Hatcher Pass and saw one off in the distance on a pile of rocks.
Arctic Ground Squirrel (Spermophilus parryii) Seen around Nome.
Red Squirrel (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus) The common squirrel around Anchorage and Seward.
Beaver (Castor canadensis) We saw one right along the Kougarok Road out of Nome.
Hoary Marmot (Marmota caligata) Seen at Hatcher Pass.
Nearctic Brown Lemming (Lemmus trimucronatus)
North American Porcupine (Erethizon dorsatum) Sam picked one out with his thermal scope near Seward.
Orca (Orcinus orca) We saw a pod near the mouth of Resurrection Bay during our boat trip out of Seward. There was one male with several females.
Harbor Porpoise (Phocoena phocoena) Regular around Point Nome.
Humpback Whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) We watched one lunge feeding not far from Seward during our boat trip.
Gray Whale (Eschrichtius robustus) These were the whales we saw from Saint Paul on multiple occasions.
Arctic Fox (Vulpes lagopus) Abundant on Saint Paul. Also seen from the Nunavak Road outside of Utqiagvik.
Polar Bear (Ursus maritimus) After four years of visiting Utqiagvik, I finally saw my first Polar Bears! We saw one from the Nunavak Road, then several more at Point Barrow.
Short-tailed Weasel (Mustela nivalis) This was a real treat! We watched one poke around a rocky outcropping along the Teller Road outside of Nome.
Sea Otter (Enhydra lutris) Seen around Resurrection Bay.
Steller’s Sea Lion (Eupetopias jubatus) We saw several on our Seward boat trip and on the rocks around Saint Paul.
Harbor Seal (Phoca vitulina) We saw mothers with pups hauled out on the shoreline around Resurrection Bay.
Northern Fur Seal (Callorhinus ursinus) June marks the beginning of the breeding season for the fur seals on Saint Paul Island. We saw several hundred hauled out along the coast.
Moose (Alces alces) Seen around Anchorage and Nome.
Reindeer (Rangifer tarandus sibiricus) Several times we saw the herd on Saint Paul Island. They were brought in by the Russians decades ago.
Mountain Goat (Oreamnos americanus) We saw mothers with kids clinging to the steep cliffs around Resurrection Bay.
Muskox (Ovibos americanus) We saw a large herd of these iconic beasts of the tundra along the Kougarok Road, Nome.
Butterfly List
Eversmann’s Parnassian (Parnassius eversmanni) This gorgeous arctic butterfly was seen outside of Nome.
Arctic White (Pieris angelika)
Old World Swallowtail (Papilio machaon)
Mourning Cloak (Nymphalis antiopa)
Nudibranch List
Neat Aeolid (Cuthonella concinna) Thanks to David we saw these beautiful nudibranchs in the tide pools on Saint Paul Island.
You can see my complete trip report on eBird at this link: https://ebird.org/tripreport/265919
You can download a combined PDF of this page and the eBird report at this link: https://fieldguides.com/triplists/aka24bTRIPLIST.pdf
--Micah Riegner