Alaska: Nome & Denali
25 Jun–5 Jul 2022
Guided by George Armistead
Famous as a gold rush town and as the finish line for the Iditarod, Nome is best known among birders for its many great birds, several of which are hardly seen elsewhere in North America. And few places can compare in terms of the scenery too. Our first night there we saw several Pacific Golden-Plovers, as Red-necked Phalaropes spun away on the various roadside ponds, Parasitic and Long-tailed Jaegers glided by and we even scored a gorgeous male Spectacled Eider! An auspicious start, if a rather late night on our first day in Nome. The next day was perhaps the best of the whole trip, as we headed way out the magnificent Kougarok Road. Our big target was the near threatened (IUCN) Bristle-thighed Curlew, which after a moderately challenging hike we did indeed see and hear well, but the day was also punctuated by a Gyrfalcon feeding young, nesting Rough-legged Hawks, Northern Wheatears, a family of Willow Ptarmigan, many Golden-crowned Sparrows, and a fleeting Bluethroat for a couple of us. Our last full day in Nome we drove out the uber-scenic Teller Road, and resolved to make it all the way to the town of Teller itself. Other highlights included White Wagtail, Slaty-backed Gull, a stunning Yellow-billed Loon, Eastern Yellow Wagtail, Rock Ptarmigan, and fuzzy chicks of Red-necked Phalarope and Whimbrel (both impossibly adorable with an extremely high cuteness factor). A stop to change a flat tire even provided a group of >28 Long-tailed Jaegers circling overhead. After a final blitz out the Council Road our final morning in Nome, we scored a flyby Aleutian Tern, a Red-necked Stint, and a nice Bar-tailed Godwit it was time for us to fly back to Anchorage and head for Denali. There we enjoyed excellent views of the magnificent mountain pretty much every day we wanted to. The day we headed to the park we stopped for a bit of birding in route scoring nice Sandhill Cranes, breeding Red-necked Grebes, a couple Hudsonian Godwits in beautiful breeding plumage, a Beluga swimming up Cook Inlet, and then later nice views of Boreal Chickadees and more. Our full day at Denali we took a shuttle as far in as we could and then hiked around the Polychome and the East Fork of the Toklat River where Golden Eagles of several age classes put on a show, and we saw several Moose, and had a close encounter with a Caribou. We enjoyed a couple of really nice meals in the Denali area, before heading on across the Denali Highway all the way out to Alpine Creek Lodge. A remote outpost, run by a fascinating and hospitable bunch, we really felt out in the wilderness here, and the scenery was as magnificent as could be. We saw 3 Porcupine, and also saw Moose with a calf, plenty of Arctic Ground Squirrels, found a Dipper nest, and had dozens of Gray-cheeked Thrushes, Common Redpolls, Wilson's Warblers, Arctic Warblers, Blackpoll Warblers, and a Solitary Sandpiper with a couple chicks too.
Join us next year!
