Sunrise Birding, LLC - ALASKA! - June 2010 Plus Pribilofs, Barrow and Dutch Harbor

ALASKA
Gambell, Pribilofs, Nome,
Denali, Kenai, Barrow,
& Dutch Harbor

One of the wildest and most exciting places on Earth, Alaska offers the bird watcher an unrivalled experience. With long daylight hours, spectacular scenery, and comfortable lodges, there is no better way to enjoy North America's "Last Frontier" than an authentic ground-based wildlife tour. These itineraries are designed to visit all the best areas, seek out the most sought after specialities and take in the world’s greatest gatherings of seabirds. From Gambell to the famous Pribilof Islands, to Nome, Seward, Denali, and a cruise into the Kenai Fjords National Park, opportunties abound to see bird specialties including Bristle-thighed Curlew, Smith’s Longspur, Red-legged Kittiwake, Emperor Goose, Aleutian Tern, and myriad seabirds including all of the prized species of Auklet, Murrelets, and Puffins. The Barrow itinerary should yield Spectacled Eider and Snowy Owl, while a very special trip to Dutch Harbor offers the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see the extremely rare and localized Whiskered Auklet. With possibilities of Polar Bear, Grizzly Bear, Moose, Dall’s Sheep, Humpback Whales, Steller’s Sea Lions, and Otters, Alaska is a true wilderness and these tours offer the best way to experience this wonderful place!

This comprehesive group of tours is designed to see all the best birds that Alaska has to offer. Each itinerary can be taken on its own or in combination with other itineraries. Click the links to see each itinerary. Prices are per person based on double occupancy.

May 23 - 29, 2010: Gambell 1 -- $3875.00>>
May 30 - June 2, 2010: Pribilofs $2825.00>>
June 3 - 7, 2010: Nome -- $2700>>
June 8 - 16, 2010: Denali Park & Highway; Kenai Fjords National Park -- $3650>>
June 13 - 16, 2010: Barrow -- $2125.00>>
June 16 - 20, 2010: Dutch Harbor -- $3850.00>>

Check our trip report for the amazing 2008 tour>>

The small Yupik village of Gambell, at the northwestern tip of St. Lawrence Island in the Bering Sea is little known except to birders. Thought to be the remains of a land bridge that once linked Siberia and present day Alaska, St. Lawrence Island is closer to Russia than it is to Alaska. To birders, Gambell has the distinction of being the best place in North America to see high arctic and Asian vagrants. The birding here is truly an adventure and not for the faint of heart but on most days it is fabulous, if not incredible. Some of the species seen in Gambell over the years include Hawfinch, Black-tailed Gull, Oriental Pratincole, Great Knot, Eurasian Dotterel, Red-breasted Flycatcher, Dusky Warbler, and Pechora Pipit to name a few.

Migrating seabirds pass by the thousands close to Northwest Point allowing amazing views of Arctic Loon, Yellow-billed Loon, Dovekie, Emperor Goose, Common, King, Steller’s and sometimes Spectacled Eiders, jaegers, Slaty-backed Gull and possibly Ivory or Ross’s Gull as well as many other seabirds and ducks. At the nesting cliffs along the coast, the antics of Parakeet, Least and Crested Auklets are on show and in the marsh areas the shorebird opportunities are superb. If it happens to be a slow day for vagrants and seabirds there are always the local breeders to look for including Red-necked Stint, Bluethroat, Red-throated Pipit and with much good luck McKay’s Bunting. It's no wonder, veteran birders end up in Gambell at some point in their birding career. Some return year after year for the thrill of birding at Gambell.

Accommodations in Gambell are simple but comfortable in a community-owned facility with double-occupancy rooms with four shared bathrooms complete with hot showers. All food must be brought in and home cooked meals are the fare. Much of the birding is on foot and takes place within a few miles of the village. Communication by radio keeps us informed of the most recent birds and there locations. The terrain is mostly flat but walking can be very strenuous on the loose gravel surface. To access more remote areas and to travel further distances to find birds, ATVs are used, usually two people per ATV.

As you might imagine, the weather conditions can be harsh, with cold temperatures and frequent fog, drizzle, or even snow. But as birders know, often the poorer the conditions, the better the birding! We hope for strong Southwest winds to push in Asian vagrants migrating up the Bering Sea. Westerly and Northwesterly winds can bring in birds as well. Southerly and Easterly winds are likely to bring in birds from headed for the Alaska mainland. There’s not a thing we can do about the weather except be prepared for it and reap the benefits of it!

If you want the birding adventure of a life time or are working on your North American list, you simply MUST go to Gambell. Join us for an unforgettable tour!

ITINERARY
Day 1 - Arrival Anchorage
We’ll meet in Anchorage at the Coast International Hotel at 6:30 PM for dinner. After dinner, the evening light will allow us to do some local birding before retiring for the night in anticipation of our Gambell birding adventure.

Day 2 - Travel to Gambell via Nome
After breakfast, we take a flight from Anchorage to Nome and transfer to a smaller plane for our 50-minute flight to Gambell. It is common place to experience weather delays in getting into and out of Gambell so we will hope for good weather. The good news is that we only need concern ourselves with this on our first and last day and we must console ourselves with the fact that this the only way to experience incredible birding opportunities in Gambell. You must be prepared to pay any additional costs in the event of delays due to weather, mechanical or other factors. It is highly recommended that you secure a good travel insurance policy, should you need to incur additional costs of travel to and from Gambell. Also remember to keep all receipts so that you can be reimbursed from your insurance. Being prepared for this will make it less of an annoyance if it happens and eventually we will arrive safely in Gambell to continue our adventure!

Days 3-6 - Gambell Birding
Eurasian Dotterel.

While birding, we will be in radio contact all the time. We may split up to cover more ground as we search for newly arrived birds. We will stay in contact as well with other groups on the island. On any given day, we will bird the one or more locations including:

Day 7 - Travel from Gambell to Anchorage via Nome
This morning we will be prepared for our flight back to Nome which will be between 11:00 and 3:00. Much depends upon weather, and we hope to know the day before about approximate time. Upon arrival in Nome, we will check our bags for the day and pick them up later for our evening flight back to Anchorage. If there is time, we might fit in a few hours of birding time in along Safety Sound to get a taste of birding in Nome. Later on we will board our flight back to Anchorage and check into our hotel.

Day 8 - Departures
This morning we will say good bye to those departing Anchorage or have a free day to
spend for those continuing to the Pribilofs.

May 30 - Arrival Anchorage
The tour begins in Anchorage in the evening. Night Anchorage.

May 31 - Anchorage to St. Paul and the Pribilofs
This morning you will start off our Alaskan adventure with some local birding around Anchorage to find a variety of species including Red-necked Phalarope, Red-necked Grebe, Barrow’s Goldeneye, Greater and Lesser Scaup, Green-winged Teal, and Lesser Canada Goose. We'll watch the skies for Violet-green and Tree Swallows, while scrubby areas should hold American Robin, White-crowned Sparrow, Pine Siskin, and Yellow-rumped Warbler. Mid-morning, we will board our flight to St. Paul Island on the famous Pribilofs. Situated in the cold waters of the Bering Sea, these islands play host to a staggering 3 million seabirds, and it is this awesome spectacle that has made the Pribilofs world renowned in birding circles. After our arrival we will check into our hotel which will be our base for the next two nights. Our first afternoon should find us such delights as Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch, Lapland Longspur, and Glaucous-winged Gulls.

June 1 - Birding the Pribilofs
Red-legged Kittiwake. Photo by Steve Bird.

Today you will endeavor to visit the very best seabird cliffs on St Paul where every rocky ledge seems to be occupied by countless puffins, auklets, guillemots, and cormorants. Imagine the feeling as you get close up views of Horned and Tufted Puffins, Crested, Parakeet, Rhinoceros, and Least Auklets, Thick-billed Murres, Red-legged Kittiwakes and Red-faced Cormorants. The Kittiwake is a rare specialty of remote islands, as is one of the land birds that we will be making a special effort to find – the gorgeous McKay’s Bunting. Searching the barren, stony ground for this exciting bird, we should also find plenty of Snow Buntings. Nearby pools attract water birds and waders including King Eider, Long-tailed Duck, Semipalmated Plover, Wandering Tattler, and Least Sandpiper and very likely a rarity or two from Siberia. A Northern Fur Seal colony will prove an added attraction and we should also be able to see the beautiful Harlequin Duck, Bufflehead, Short-eared, and Snowy Owl and a variety of gulls including Glaucous-winged, Glaucous, Slaty-backed, and Vega. Hopefully, we can finish off by finding the Pribilof race of Rock Sandpiper and Winter Wren or the dark subspecies of Arctic Fox.

June 2 - St. Paul to Anchorage
After a final morning birding on this wonderful island, you'll have lunch and then catch an afternoon flight back to Anchorage for an overnight stay.

June 3 - Anchorage to Nome
This morning and early afternoon, you can bird the Anchorage area before taking a late afternoon flight to Nome in the far west of Alaska where you will stay four nights. Night Nome.

June 4, 5, 6 - Birding Nome
Nome is the best place of all to search for arctic specialties as well as offering great opportunities to find Asian vagrants. It is here that you will look for the much sought after Bristle-thighed Curlew. During the search, there will plenty of other exciting species to keep the adrenalin flowing such as Emperor Goose, Red-throated Loon, Aleutian Tern, Golden Eagle, Rough-legged Hawk, Gyrfalcon, Tundra Swan, Brant, Rock and Willow Ptarmigan, American and Pacific Golden Plovers, Wandering Tattler, Surfbird, Black Turnstone, and stunning little Sabine’s Gulls. Long-tailed and Arctic Skuas vie for attention along with Whistling Swan, Pacific Loon, Surf, Black, and White-winged Scoter and land birds such as Red Fox Sparrow, American Tree Sparrow, Hoary Redpoll, Bluethroat, the local form of Yellow Wagtail (Alaska Wagtail), and Gray-cheeked Thrush. Nights Nome.

June 7 - Nome to Anchorage
After a final day of birding and searching out any recently reported vagrants, you will take an evening flight back Anchorage for an overnight stay. Night Anchorage.

June 8 - Seward
This morning plan to depart early and travel along a stunningly scenic road toward the little town of Seward. Along the way, you can see Belted Kingfisher, Canvasback, and Redhead around wetland areas. In damp areas with surrounding scrub, Rusty Blackbird, Dark-eyed Junco, Black-billed Magpie, Wilson’s Warbler, and Black-capped Chickadee can be found. Along the way at the aptly named Beluga Point, we will make a short stop in the hopes of seeing one of these beautiful white whales. The habitat will not include large areas of spruce forest and species there can include Spruce Grouse, Northern Goshawk, American Three-toed Woodpecker, Northern Flicker, Varied, Hermit and Swainson’s Thrush, Gray and Steller’s Jay, Northwestern Crow, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Brown Creeper, Pine Grosbeak, Olive-sided and Alder Flycatcher, Chestnut-backed and Boreal Chickadee, Townsend, Yellow-rumped, Blackpoll, and Orange-crowned Warblers. We'll scan offshore waters for Aleutian Tern and Kittlitz’s Murrelet. This is also a good area for Black Bear. Night Seward.

June 9 - Kenai Fjords National Park
Kittlitz's Murrelet. Photo by Steve Bird.

Today will surely prove to be an unforgettable experience as you cruise out into the Kenai Fjords National Park. The boat will be chartered exclusively for our group and the focus of today will be the huge variety of seabirds and marine mammals that abound in these food rich waters. With the backdrop of snow-capped mountains and blue-white glaciers that extend out into the icy waters, we will search for Pigeon Guillemot, Rhinoceros Auklet, Ancient, Marbled, and Kittlitz’s Murrelets, Pelagic and Double-crested Cormorant, Short-tailed Shearwaters, and the impressive Bald Eagle. Careful observation could also find us a playful Sea Otter, Steller’s Sea Lion, Minke Whale, Dall’s Porpoise, or an awesome Humpback or Killer Whale. Night Seward.

June 10 - Seward to Denali National Park
This morning we will do some more birding in the hopes of seeing Rufous Hummingbird, one of several possible races of Canada Goose, Barrow’s Goldeneye, or Sooty Fox Sparrow. Later in the morning, we Gray Wolf. Photo by Steve Bird.

head north for the famous Denali National Park where we will spend the next two nights. Along the way, roadside pools can be full of wildfowl and wading birds which might include Bufflehead or the delightful Red-necked Phalarope. We will enter an area of outstanding natural beauty where mammals and raptors are much more common, and the great Mount McKinley, the highest peak in North America, dominates the landscape. Night Denali.

June 11 - Denali National Park
With all day to explore this spectacular park using the park bus system, we will travel through impressive passes to Eielson. The awesome Gyrfalcon will hopefully be in our sights, and we could easily come across Merlin, Red-tailed Hawk, Northern Harrier, Say’s Phoebe, American Pipit, Hairy Woodpecker, Great Gray Shrike, White-winged Crossbill and mammals such as Grizzly Bears, Caribou, Hoary Marmot, Snowshoe Hare. With luck, we will encounter Gray Wolves, a species which still survives here in good numbers. Night Denali.

June 12 & 13 - Denali Highway & Paxson
Smith's Longspur. Photo by Gina Nichol.

From Denali we will head east along the Denali highway toward the town of Paxson. We will search bogs and some of Alaska’s three million lakes for exciting species such as Upland Sandpiper, Horned Grebe, Trumpeter Swan, and a profusion of breeding ducks. We should also come across many Beavers dams and hopefully one or two of the owners. There will, of course, be other birds to look for including Northern Waterthrush, and singing Arctic Warblers, and this is going to be our best chance of finding the diurnal Northern Hawk Owl, a superb bird that normally proclaims its presence by sitting right out in the open on top of a Spruce Tree. If time permits we will start our search the rare and elusive Smith’s Longspur, a stunning species sadly in rapid decline. Two nights Tangle River.

June 14 - Return to Anchorage
After a final morning looking in all the damp grassy areas for Smith’s Longspur we will head back to Anchorage for our flight home. Those continuing on the Barrow extension will overnight in Anchorage.

BARROW
June 13 - 16, 2010

June 13 - Anchorage to Barrow
Those continuing will take a morning flight north across the Arctic Circle and Brooks Range to the small town of Barrow beside the Arctic Ocean. This unspoiled wilderness of vast flat tundra is “the land of the midnight sun” although fog can often be a problem. If the pack ice is breaking up we can search open areas of icy water for ducks, divers, Snowy Owls, and if we are really lucky, a Polar Bear! Night Barrow.

June 14 - Birding Barrow
The continuous daylight will allow us plenty of time to search the bird rich tundra. Our main target species is the very attractive looking Spectacled Eider, yet another species in serious decline. There will be plenty else to see and, if the lemming population is good, we could thrill at the antics of hunting Snowy Owls. We'll watch for Skuas patrolling overhead as waterfowl and wading birds parade around in full breeding plumage, none better than the gorgeous female Red Phalarope. With all four eiders possible including stunning King Eider and Steller’s, we could also be lucky and find the superb Yellow-billed Loon or Sabine’s Gull. Further searching should reveal Greater White-fronted Goose, Pomarine Skua, Black Guillemot, Buff-breasted, White-rumped, Pectoral, and Baird’s Sandpipers. Night Barrow.

June 15 & 16 - Birding Barrow. Return to Anchorage
After our final morning we take a flight back to Anchorage for flights back home. Time permitting we can search out areas around town for any species we want to see again or perhaps find something new. Those continuing to Dutch Harbor will stay overnight in Anchorage.

June 17 & 18 - Birding Dutch Harbor
The incredibly rare Whiskered Auklet can only be seen on a few remote islands, the most accessible of which is Dutch Harbor in the Aleutians. We will look for this attractive species from a boat and it is likely that we can also see Cassin’s Auklet. It is the prized Whiskered Auklet that will be the focus of this trip but regular occurrences of fog could mean that the plane may get delayed, or rough seas could prevent the boat trip. Despite the unpredictable weather, we will hope for the opportunity to see what few other birders have ever seen. Nights Dutch Harbor.

June 19 & 20 - Dutch Harbor Birding. Return to Anchorage
After some final birding we will fly back to Anchorage and then home.