Denali Highway

A long day began with a 6am departure for the Denali Highway and ended at 10;45pm…. What a day this was and with some of the best scenery of the entire tour complimenting a select bunch of bird and mammal sightings culminating in our first Grizzly Bear, a sow with two year old juveniles. 

The superb Denali Highway

We made lots of stops along the drive to view the numerous lakes and scenic overlooks and the first lake held a drake Surf Scoter and our first Lesser Yellowlegs, as well as a pair of Spotted Sandpipers. We followed this with a flock of 5 Bohemian Waxwings, a very confiding singing Arctic Warbler, there were close Wilson’s Warblers, Red Fox Sparrow, a flyover flock of White-winged Crossbills, Grey-cheeked Thrush, Swainson’s and Varied Thrushes, Bohemian Waxwing, a family of Grey Jays, Northern shrike, Alder Flycatcher, Rough-legged Hawk, Common and Red-throated Loons, Wilson’s Snipe, Barrow’s Goldeneyes, Caribou, and a Porcupine. 

Arctic Warbler

Bohemian Waxwings

Surf Scoter

Townsend's Warbler

Upland Sandpiper

Wilson's Warbler

American Porcupine

Our return journey proved to be a long drive of over two hours seeing a pair of distant Beavers, and on a crystal clear lake a drake Surf Scoter, several Red-necked Grebesand a flock of White-winged Scoterswere present. But nearing the end of the drive we were rewarded with a pair of Upland Sandpipers, with one of them stood on the road in front of us, and finally a Northern Hawk Owl perched majestically on top of a Black Spruce with snow-covered mountains forming the perfect backdrop behind him. 

Northern Hawk Owl - a little distant....

A return to our favourite restaurant and some of the local ‘Panty Peeler’ ale caused some amusement before finally retiring to our cabins for the night at 10;45pm.

The next day we went to Denali National Park, but in my opinion its not worth it. Yes you could get lucky with some great mammals but you're stuck in the park's bus and as a birder you haven't got the freedom to do what you want. So i'd skip it next time and do the Denali Highway for a second day. That's a great day out and still plenty to see there.

Grey-cheeked Thrush

Grizzly Bear

Denali National Park