birding never sleeps: ALASKA 2024: part 1 UK to Barrow (12-13 June)

Introduction. I joined the Cardiff Naturalists Society soon after arriving at University in 1972 (it had been going over 100 years by then) and enjoyed field trips (getting lifts with those who soon became friends or signing up to their occasional coach trips) and attended indoor meetings (usually slide shows). The indoor meeting that probably had the greatest impact on me was 'Alaska and its Wildlife' by Bryan Sage. He talked and showed slides of his time there as an ecologist concerned with minimising the environmental and conservation impacts of British Petroleum's activities. I hoped one day to visit and still have a copy of his book of the same title (published by Hamlyn in 1973 costing £2:50). Alaska remained somewhere I wanted to visit but it was very expensive and/or difficult to organise. There didn't seem any particular urgency to visit and as it was likely to cost twice what most other trips would it remained on the back burner. However with my 70s rapidly approaching Nick and I started looking into it fairly seriously. This confirmed that for two of us it would be very expensive to go on our own (and take a lot of organisation) while comprehensive tours would cost 10-15k each. Nick was keener to splash the cash than I was and felt a Birdfinders trip running in June was reasonable value at £10k including flights. I remained unsure but a sign at the end of the PanAm highway in Yaviza while visiting Darien National Park in February seemed like an instruction: BIENVENIDOS A YAVIZ/DESDE ALASKA KILOMETRO 12,580 HASTA ALASKA. Back home Megan wasn't overly impressed with me going away again but it being a week after my 70th birthday rather swung it. I signed up too but in the ensuing months the cost increased to almost £12k and I came close to pulling out. I didn't and was very pleased to discover that I knew or knew of all the other participants in what was a very experienced group - Alan Brown, Pete Ellis, Paul Harvey, Malcolm Oxlade, Richard Scofield, Nick and me.

Wednesday 12 June. Up at 04:40, Megan dropped me at the bus stop in town. I caught the 05:10 National Express coach to Heathrow T2 arriving at 08:00. I met Nick, we checked in and dropped off our bags for the 13:05-15:15 Iceland Air flight to Reykyavik. We joined Alan (who I'd not met before), Paul, Pete, Malcolm & Richard in the departure lounge. The plane was a Boeing 757 with minimal legroom, just a soft drink and limited entertainment if you had headphones with you. In a rather chaotic terminal we transferred to Iceland Air's 16:50-17:40 flight to Seattle, another 757 with similar issues, definitely a ‘budget’ airline. It was a little late departing and arriving although this was not an issue as we had plenty of time to collect our bags, clear US immigration & customs and bag drop before our Alaska Airlines 22:00-00:05 flight to Anchorage. It too was delayed but we had a drink and 2 biscuits! Vaughan was waiting for us with a motel minibus and we were at America’s Best Value Motel at about 01:00. We would return after each section of the trip, six visits in all. I can only think the motel was 'Best' in terms of cheapness as the Wi-Fi never worked ('it's being fixed' tomorrow became a standing joke). On one visit Nick found half eaten fruit in our fridge although that was preferable to ladies underwear in one of our groups bed!

midnight arrival at Anchorage Airport

Thursday 13 June. Against all odds motel breakfast was excellent (blueberry muffin, boiled eggs, frosties and strawberry yoghurt, banana, apple) despite nothing cooked and no dining room. Nick and I were out (pockets full in my case) from 07:00-10:00 walking to nearby Lake Spenard where we reminded ourselves how difficult Greater and Lesser Scaup identification could be (I put down 2 and 8). More straight-forward were 6 American Wigeon, 4 Mallard, 2 Red-necked Grebes, 2 Red-necked Phalaropes, 3 Spotted Sandpipers, a Lesser Yellowlegs, 30 Bonaparte’s and 20 Short-billed Gulls, an Arctic Tern, Great Northern Diver, 2 very distant buteos (presumably Red-tailed Hawks), 10 Black-billed Magpies, 8 Tree and 2 Violet-Green Swallows, 3 Black-capped Chickadees, Red-breasted Nuthatch, 4 American Robins, 20 Starlings, single Dark-eyed Junco, White-crowned and Lincoln’s Sparrows and a Myrtle Warbler.

American Wigeon at Lake Spenard

American Robin by Lake Spenard

Dark-eyed Junco by Lake Spenard

Lake Spenard and adjoining Lake Hood double as a Seaplane airport, impressive backdrop

Great Northern Diver on Lake Spenard

Bonaparte's Gulls on Lake Spenard, we only saw them on our first day in Alaska

Lincoln's Sparrow by Lake Spenard

Scaup and Seaplane at Lake Spenard

Black-capped Chickadee at Lake Spenard

Black-billed Magpie at Lake Spenard, my first and most underwhelming new bird in Alaska. Its vocalisations and particularly long tail being the only differences from our Magpies that I could discern

male Myrtle Warbler at Lake Spenard

We left the motel at 11:00 for the short drive to the airport where we had a long wait for our Alaska Airlines 15:00-16:50 flight to Barrow. James Smith was our guide with Vaughan and Svetlana Ashby taking a back seat to concentrate on photography. We checked in, my bag attracting attention due to my Sony bridge camera lens. Our flight was slightly delayed due to small a gap between the boarding bridge and the aircraft. Impressive scenery from my window seat including distant views of Denali which gave closer views to those on the other side of the plane. A chaotic arrivals shed in Barrow with many waiting for baggage which only arrived after a load of big parcels including a wide-screen TV clogged up the small luggage slide.

Denali, North America's highest peak (20,310 feet above sea level) in the distance

frozen Tundra

pack ice of the Barrow coast

landing at Barrow

Vaughan and James went off to collect the van while we waited at the airport watching singing Snow Buntings, Red-necked Phalarope and Pectoral Sandpiper. We were shuttled in two shifts to the aptly named Top of the World Hotel as our van wasn’t big enough to fit all 10 of us and our luggage. We arrived at 18:15 and checked in. three other groups had come off the plane ahead of us and were already going out. We decided to eat first (me finishing off some stuff in our room) and then went out from 19:00-23:00. It was bizarre birding in full daylight so late. First impressions were that Barrow was both spectacular and a complete tip. Spectacled Eider above all else was the bird we'd all come to Alaska let alone Barrow to see and being very focused were keen to see them at the earliest opportunity as they could be quite mobile and so were potentially missable. It was disappointing therefore that our guide wasn't asking any other groups if/where they'd seen Spectacled Eiders. Hopes he already knew were dashed when we turned around without seeing any and went looking for a Curlew Sandpipier. Nice in summer plumage but hardly a priority for a group comprised entirely of British birders a long way from home. Birds seen: 8 Snow and 40 White-fronted Geese, 3 Black Brants, 15 Tundra Swans, 30 Pintail, 2 Greater Scaup, 4 Steller's Eider, 50+ Long-tailed Ducks, 2 Semipalmated Plovers, a Dunlin, a Curlew, 4 Pectoral and 10 Semipalmated Sandpipers, 12 Red-necked and 9 Red Phalaropes, 3 Pomarine and a Long-tailed Skua, 20 Glaucous Gulls, Arctic Tern, 2 Pacific Divers, 3 Snowy and a Short-eared Owl, 3 Ravens, a Common Redpoll and 4 Snow and 10 Lapland Buntings, but no Spectacled Eider. Back at the hotel we discovered that all the other groups had seen them. More detailed directions suggested we’d been less than a mile short when we had turned around to look for the Curlew Sandpiper. To say we were very unimpressed is putting it mildly. It was still very light, and remained so all night, but we didn’t go back out, something we definitely would have done if we'd been travelling independently. At least we had the best part of three more days but I for one had an anxious night, not helped by looking out very early in the next morning to find it quite foggy.