Trip
Information
Date: June
9 - 16, 2005 or combine with Nome with Dalton Hwy (June 2 - 13, 2005)
Duration: 8
days
Leader: Dan
Wetzel
Limit: 15
people
Cost*: Price
$2,895 USD, $3,895 CDN
(single supplement $585 UDS, $790 CDN)
From: Anchorage,
Alaska
Featured
Birds and Mammals:
•
Red-faced Cormorant
•
Parakeet Auklet
•
Horned Puffin
•
Bristle-thighed Curlew
•
Slaty-backed Gull
•
Aleutian Tern
•
Arctic Warbler
•
Emperor Goose
•
Rock Ptarmigan
•
Bluethroat
•
Mongolian Plover
•
Red-necked Stint
•
Sea Otter
•
Humpback and Orca Whale
•
Mountain Goat
•
Muskoxen
Trip
Summary
• Weather
from warm to cold, sunny to rain, calm to wind.
• Great breeding bird photography
• Magnificent scenery, exceptional grandeur and wildness
• Several highly sought-after birds
• Wonderful mammals including Sea Otter, Humpback Whale, Orca
and Mountain Goat
• Begins and ends in Anchorage
• Includes Fjords Park cruise for a seabird bonanza
• Includes flight from Anchorage to Nome and return
• 4 to 8 participants with one leader; 9 to 15 with two
• Meals included where indicated
* deposits
on this tour are non-refundable and payments are 100% non-refundable
90 days or less before departure
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The
Kenai encompasses the Kenai Fjords Park, Maritime Wildlife Refuge and
Chugach Forest with open ocean, spruce-hemlock forests, glacial fjords,
rocky beaches and seacliffs. The bonanza of seabirds and coastal forest
species differ  greatly from those found at Nome and along the Dalton
Highway. The wildlife of the Kenai Fjords Park include whales, sea otters,
dolphins, mountain goats and black bear.
Nome enjoys a well-deserved reputation as Alaska’s oldest birding
destination. Taiga, tundra and marine biomes create 21 major avian habitats.
Nome sits astride a strategic location with the Bering Sea and Asia west,
and interior forest mountains east. This rich avifauna of resident shorebirds
and tundra species, Asiatic vagrants and migrants are some of the world’s
rarest birds. There’s no place like Nome for birdwatching.
See detailed itinerary
below.
Click on the links for a checklist of birds from the most recent Kenai
tour and Nome tour.
This tour can be taken in combination with our Dalton Highway tour.
Click
here to download a registration form
Photos:
Renee Franken, Dan Wetzel
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Itinerary
Day
1 -
Arrive Anchorage
Check-in the West Coast International Inn. Nearby Lake Hood is the world’s
largest float plane pond, where bush planes carry wilderness-bound fishermen
and explorers. In evening, group orientation and birding at Cook Inlet, where
tidal mudflats are a huge dinner plate for shorebirds and gulls. Welcome to Alaska.
Day 2 – Kenai coastal mountains: birds from
forest
to tidewater
Crown jewels of southcentral Alaska are the Kenai Peninsula and nearby Prince
William Sound. The 127-mile Seward Highway linking Anchorage with Seward was
designated as Alaska’s only All-American Road for its overall scenic, recreational,
cultural, historic and geologic qualities.
Our first stop on the edge of Anchorage is the Alaska Coastal Wildlife Sanctuary,
where a mix of passerines, shorebirds and waterfowl nest near the lush coastal
marshlands and birch forests. The sanctuary borders Turnagain Arm, named by the
famous English captain James Cook, whose ships, the Resolute and the Discovery,
entered Cook Inlet in 1778, on his quest for the fabled Northwest Passage. But
strong katabatic winds prevailed and “turned” his small ship back – “again.”
Beluga Point is a 4,000-year-old Alutiiq Eskimo hunting site. We scan 38-foot
bore tides searching for Beluga whale. On the mountain slopes, Golden Eagles
ride the thermals and Dall sheep graze in alpine meadows. In a nearby a mountain
stream rushes through the forest, American Dippers nest. Up Turnagain Arm we
enter the Portage River Valley, where glaciers are fed from the 1,500-square-mile
Harding Ice Field. At the Portage Glacier Visitor Center, innovative exhibits
and an award-winning 20-minute movie, “Voice of Ice,” explain this
glacial-scoured landscape. Nearby alder thickets host brilliant Fox Sparrows,
Steller’s Jays and Magpies.
Continuing to Kenai coastal mountains via Turnagain Pass, an alpine tundra meadow.
Tern Lake is a good nesting site for Common Loons, waterfowl and - Terns, while
mountain goats nurse their kids on the slopes above. As we near Seward, we stop
to hike along a cool, closed-canopy forest trail beside a turbulent Ptarmigan
Creek. Over the roar of the creek, we listen for Townsend’s Warbler and
Varied Thrush. Harlequin ducks and Common Mergansers nest along the creek. Check
in Windsong Lodge for two nights.
We enjoy a peaceful respite at Windsong Lodge, known for a delicious menu, with
its location by the Resurrection River, in a thick spruce forest, shadowed by
glacial-bound mountains. After dinner, we get our first look at what this extraordinary
natural setting holds for the keen, curious naturalist. (lunch)
Day 3 –Kenai Fjords: seabirds, sea
otters,
whales and glaciers
The Kenai Fjords National Park Tour has reached celebrity status for birdwatchers
who travel north to Alaska. A specially designed wildlife viewing motor vessel
will spend the day cruising in and out of the nooks and crannies of Resurrection
Bay, the Maritime National Wildlife Refuge and Kenai Fjords National Park. Today,
our sea legs give our hiking legs a rest. We search vertical sea cliffs and rookeries
where thousands of seabirds nest. Bald eagles nest in giant Sitka Spruce trees.
Sea otters lazily float belly-side up. “Thar she blows” calls the
keen observer who spots the first breaching Humpback whale, or if we’re
lucky, an Orca.
This seabird bonanza includes 10 species of Alcids, plus Red-faced Cormorant,
Thick-billed Murre, Parakeet and Rhinoceros Auklet, Fork-tailed Storm Petrel,
Sooty Shearwater, both Puffins, Kittlitz and Ancient Murrelet. Return to Seward
in early evening, refreshed, enchanted and excited from our incredible North
Pacific adventure. After dinner, we can walk along the river, explore the boat
harbor, gift shops or find a quiet, place in the forest. As we sleep, the songs
of birds of the thick coastal forests remind us of the setting. (lunch)
Day 4 - Science in the SeaLab and hiking mountain
trails
Back on dry land with early morning birding along the Resurrection River trail,
enroute to Exit Glacier. The “Chugach” is classic coastal forest
bird habitat for species like Townsend’s Warbler, Varied Thrush, Brown
Creeper, Chestnut-backed Chickadee, Steller’s Jay, Golden-crowned Kinglet
and Red Crossbill. Exit Glacier extended to Seward’s backyard during the
height of the last glacial advance. A well-groomed trail passes the ranger station,
over the moraine to the face of the glacier. As Wilson’s Warblers scold
us and Hermit Thrushes greet us, we’ll watch the mountain slopes for mountain
goat and black bear.
Back to the Seward boat harbor for lunch at a great deli, next door to Kenai
Fjord National Park headquarters and visitor center. From there, we’re
off to the Alaska SeaLife Center, a world-class marine research and rehabilitation
facility, where ornithologists, marine biologists and oceanographers explain
their scientific inquiries of the North Pacific Ocean. The SeaLife Center borders
Resurrection Bay. The next landfall is across 8,000 miles of open ocean - a BIG
laboratory for these devoted scientists. Late in the afternoon, we retrace our
steps and refresh our memories as we return to Anchorage and the familiar West
Coast Inn. (lunch)
Days 5 to 7 – Nome by the Bering Sea:
birds
of Beringia,
an Asian
connection
An early morning flight on Alaska Airlines offers a new perspective of 500 miles
of western Alaska wilderness. Nome has the longest history and most deserved
reputation of any birding destination in Alaska. Thus, it has engendered a very
devoted following of birdwatchers. This short testament does not do it justice.
Truly, there’s no place like Nome. Check in at Aurora Inn our comfortable
home of many birding trips, for three nights. Our first day is to familiarize
us to the variety of habitats on the Seward Peninsula. We spend the day birding
along the Nome River, Bering Sea beach, and the adjacent coastal mesic tundra.
The Seward Peninsula is the breeding and nesting grounds for a diverse and fascinating
avifauna that occupies three major biomes–tundra, taiga and marine–and
21 major habitats. The geographic location occupies a unique position between
Eurasia and North America, a pathway for species of special interest. The northern
uplands of the Kuzitrin River are a rolling topography. The Taylor Highway is
an 80-mile, one-lane gravel road that crosses mesic tundra, where we look for
exciting new birds like Bluethroat, Pacific Golden Plover, Willow Ptarmigan,
Rough-legged Hawk, Gray-cheeked Thrush and Arctic Warbler. If we’re lucky,
the Kougarok Road is open and we’ll focus on Bristle-thighed Curlew. Bar-tailed
Godwit, Whimbrel and Curlews - all large shorebirds - nest side-by-side on the
same tundra ridges. We need to keep our ears and eyes open.
We spend a lot of time “out to Safety” - Safety Lagoon that is, just
east of Nome. One of the most popular, productive and fun birding locations in
our Bering Sea adventure. The Bering Sea is on one side of the road and the Safety
Lagoon on the other side. We look to land, sea and air for a wide variety of
birds. Those include Bar-tailed Godwit, Black Turnstone, Aleutian Tern, Rufous-necked
Stint, Red Knot, Slaty-backed Gull, Emperor Goose and Mongolian Plover. “Safety” is
the last checkpoint on the world-famous Iditarod Sled Dog Race, 1,049 wilderness
miles standing on a 20”-wide dog sled from Anchorage to Nome. For us, a
two-hour flight, but for these rugged mushers and dogs, two cold weeks on the
trail.
We visit the Bering Land Bridge Preserve headquarters and visitor center in Nome.
This 2.5 million-acre unit of the National Park System is located on the north
side of the Seward Peninsula, and preserves ecological, geological, anthropological
and historical processes rather than specific places. Last night at Nome for
laundry, packing, shopping and one last beach watch. (lunches)
Day
8 - Anchorage
Morning
flight back to Anchorage and conclusion of trip.
What to expect
The tour
begins in Anchorage, followed the next day by a drive along
the incredibly scenic127-mile Seward Highway linking Anchorage with
Seward . Designated an All-American Highway, a truly spectacular
drive. One full day on Alaska’s best wildlife and birding cruise
in the Kenai Fjords National Park to see up to 10 species of alcids,
Red-faced
Cormorants, petrels and shearwaters, plus Sea Otters and whales and
dolphins. It also includes a flight from Anchorage to Nome, and
a return flight from Nome to Anchorage. The schedule is centered
around the best time for finding not only resident breeding
birds of the North Pacific Ocean and Bering Sea, but migrating and
vagrant species. Expect warm to cold weather. It may snow or rain
and blow, so participants should layer their clothing as conditions
can
change quickly while we are in the field. A thorough and useful pre-departure
packet of clothing and equipment, contact information, etc. will
be sent upon final payment.
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