Alaska - At Last...!

Flew to Nome, Alaska on the 10am flight, one of the top birding sites in North America. Needless to say everyone was really excited to be here, and with such a spectacular flight with snow-covered hills and mountains visible from the plane as we approached this remote outpost in the Alaskan wilderness, we were certainly ready to begin our exploration. 

View from the plane as we approached Nome

Rental cars were obtained, room keys at our motel were available and lunch at Subway was almost an inconvenience before we could set off on the Council Road that follows the coast south, bordered on one side by tundra and on the other by the Bering Sea. First up were the exceedingly common Glaucous Gulls, with Wilson’s Snipe, Lapland Longspur and a Red-throated Diver sitting on its nest close by.

Some scenery from the Nome area

The pattern for the rest of the day from 2pm – 8.15pm was just to stop along the road whenever we saw something of interest. It’s really difficult to give an accurate chronological order of events, but the next ‘biggie’ was a Slaty-backed Gull, which showed a few times before flying away, and a Vega Gull. The nearby willows held Golden-crowned, American Tree, Red Fox and White-crowned Sparrows, plus our first Grey-cheeked Thrush and Arctic (Hoary) Redpoll. Numerous small lagoons and lakes held a variety of waterfowl including Greater Scaup, Northern Pintail, Black Brant, a single Northern Shoveller, American Wigeon, and Green-winged Teal. Out to see we encountered flocks of Black Scoter, with numerous White-winged Scoter and a single drake Surf Scoter. But I think the group of 8 Harlequin Ducks just offshore really stole the show. 

Harlequin Ducks

And talking of stealing the show, you just couldn’t beat the stunning and totally amazing sighting of a male Walrus hauling itself onto a beach and frolicking in the surf right below us. It was a mesmerizing and totally gobsmacking experience and was totally out of the blue. And we even saw a Gray Whale close inshore and not too far away from the Walrus. Unbelievable!

Walrus.....

 The tundra was home to quite a few sexy Long-tailed Skuas (Jaegers), whilst a group of Pomarine Skuas and a couple of Arctic Skuas also flew over at various stages during the afternoon. 

Long-tailed Skua

Breeding shorebirds mainly comprised of Semipalmated Sandpipers, with smaller number of Western Sandpipers, plus Least Sandpiper on a sandbank, a few Semipalmated Plovers, and a single Pacific Golden Plover. 

Semipalmated Sandpiper

Semipalmated Plover

A pair of Bar-tailed Godwits was nice, as were small groups of shorebirds on the beaches that included both Ruddy and Black Turnstones, and a few immaculate-looking Surfbirds. Numerous Red-necked Phalaropes adorned the small pools, with a few flocks out on the open ocean, and at one stage late in the day a pair of awesome Red Phalaropes appeared. One of my personal favourites was the summer-plumaged Sabine’s Gulls, a few of which were loafing in the coastal lagoons.

Surfbird

 But it wasn’t until the final hour of the day did the two best avian highlights of the day occur. First of all, a random roadside stop to scan some waders on the beach produce the unexpected sighting of a pair of Rock Sandpipers. What odd birds these were and how obliging they were to the camera toting birders amongst us!

Rock Sandpiper

And, thanks to some diligent observational skills by Andy, we eventually nailed the much-wanted Aleutian Tern. It wasn’t close but that’s why we carry scopes with us right?

Other good sighting today certainly include the numerous Red-throated Divers we saw, a single breeding-plumaged Great Northern Diver (Common Loon), some displaying Willow Ptarmigans, Pelagic Cormorants, loads of Mew Gulls, Yellow Warbler etc. All of this surrounded by the awe-inspiring landscape certainly made this a great day and one we would never forget.  

Red-throated Diver

The thing about being in Alaska is that it never gets dark. So, as a birder, it's hard to 'switch off' and get some sleep with bright sunshine outside at 11pm!!