ALASKA 2024 part 2: Barrow (14-16 June)

ALASKA 2024 part 2: Barrow (14-16 June)

Friday 14 June. It remained light all night. I looked out a few times but our room's view was not inspiring while at about 05:30 it looked decidedly murky. It was brighter at 07:30 and I went out and scanned the nearby pack ice for half an hour but saw nothing. We were due to be leaving at 08:00 but our guides didn’t show until 08:15, not overly professional for the first day. We drove back along Cakeater Road and continued less than a km past where we’d turned back yesterday to a big lagoon. The light was very poor as we were looking directly into a lowish sun (yesterday afternoon it would have been perfect). We all started scanning and Paul picked up a fairly distant pair of Spectacled Eider. Walking further down the road improved views, they weren't much closer but the light was better. Big relief all round although distance and light initially left much to be desired. Views improved somewhat as we and they moved but never close and photographic efforts basely identifiable. Later Paul picked up a second pair of Spectacled Eider which were a bit closer with Steller's and King in the same field of view.. We continued birding until returning to a supermarket for lunch (I stayed in car. Out to 18:00, fish & chips, then 19:15-22:00 back to Spectacled Eiders where there now 5 on a distant island. A telescope was essential but the legs on my lightweight tripod were playing up a bit - very gritty dust not helping . Birds I saw around Barrow were 15 Snow and 30 White-fronted Geese, 4 Black Brant, 6 Tundra Swans, 15 Pintail, 2 Green-winged Teal, 4 Greater Scaup, 14 Steller's, 5 Spectacled and 15 King Eider, a Black Scoter, 100+ Long-tailed Ducks, single Grey, American Golden and Semipalmated Plovers, Red-necked Stint, Sanderling, 3 Dunlin, a Baird's, 10 Pectoral, 20 Semipalmated and a Western Sandpiper, Wilson's Snipe, 15 Red-necked and 20 Red Phalaropes, Grey-tailed Tattler, 7 Pomarine and 3 Arctic Skuas, a distant adult Sabine's and 18 Glaucous Gulls, 2 Arctic Terns, 3 Red-throated and 8 Pacific Divers, a Raven, 2 Barn Swallows, a Common and 2 Arctic Redpolls, 10 Lapland and 20 Snow Buntings and a Savannah Sparrow.

Snow Bunting in Barrow

Grey Plover along Cakeater Road

Grey-tailed Tattler at Cakeater Road

Long-tailed Duck on the Cakeater Road lagoon

it's debatable whether males are smarter in summer or winter plumage

Steller's Edier (left) with Long-tailed Duck

Spectacled (rear) and King Eider on Cakeater Lagoon

spot the Eider

female Snow Bunting near Cakeater Road

male Snow Bunting at Cakeater Road

Lapland Bunting at Cakeater Road

White-fronted Goose near Cakeater Road

Red-necked Phalaropes along Cakeater Road

Red Phalaropes along Cakeater Road

Cape Barrow road

pack ice near Cape Barrow, 4WD (and permits) necessary to go much further than this

Pomarine Skua near Cape Barrow

Pete and Paul studying part of a Bowhead Whale skeleton

Malcolm and Paul checking the ice flow

panoramic view

Pacific Divers near Cakeater Road, they often appeared to have inflatable heads

very distant Spectacled Eider (two males and three females) back at Cakeater Road

a pair of Steller's Eider

a pair of King Eider

Semipalmated Sandpiper along Cakeater Road

flashing its semipalmations, a feature shared with the more rufous, longer billed Western Sandpiper

Stoat or Ermine, through van windows

Pectoral Sandpiper at Barrow

Wilson's Snipe at Barrow

Arctic Redpolls at Barrow

Saturday 15 June. I was out just before 06:00 ice watching from near hotel seeing little. We left at 08:15 (another hoped for 08:00 start that slipped) and drove to a slightly raised promontory at the western edge of town near Mario’s Pizza which allowed distant views to the nearest ice flow. It was excellent with Malcolm picking up a distant Polar Bear at the far edge of the nearest ice flow. It was at least a km away, probably more. Further scanning revealed another three or four Polar Bears and an even more distant Walrus. A passage of auks and King Eider at a similar distance was equally frustrating. We continued to the Cemetery where we saw one of the same or another Snowy Owl then back into town to visit the supermarket for lunch. We spent the afternoon on Cakeater Road but there were just 2 King Eider on the main lagoon which had noticeably thawed out since yesterday's visits. We continued to Landfill Road but couldn't go further than the Landfill itself as the road beyond was under 2-3 feet of compacted snow. We walked into the Landfill hoping to see some close gulls but they remained distant and all appeared to be Glaucous Gulls. Scanning the tundra pools from the top Paul picked up a distant pair of Spectaled Eider. They appeared to be closer by some distance to a continuation of the road we had been on so after a brief discussion we drove back to the snow drift and continued walking down the road. We relocated them, not as close as we’d hoped, but walked part way out and had better views without disturbing them. Still not close but a big improvement and pretty stunning through a telescope. We were back in Barrow at 19:00 and I had fish and chips again for dinner. Birds I'd seen during the day were 3 Snow, 60 White-fronted and 3 Canada Geese, 14 Black Brant, 8 Tundra Swans, 30 Pintail, a male Green-winged Teal, 2 Spectacled and over 200 King Eider (5 on pools off Cakeater/Landfill roads and an estimated 200+ flying east along the main lead in the ice flow), 80 Long-tailed Ducks, single Grey, Semipalmated and Ringed Plovers, Red-necked Stint, 4 Dunlin, 12 Pectoral, 30 Semipalmated and 4 Western Sandpipers, 23 Red-necked and 14 Red Phalaropes, 11 Pomarine and 8 Arctic Skuas,20 Kittiwakes, a Sabine's and 50 Glaucous Gulls, 3 Arctic Terns, 250+ distant auks (Guillemots?? flying east along the main lead), 10 Pacific, a fly-past White-billed and 10 distant unidentified Divers, single Snowy Owl, Raven and Arctic Redpoll, 15 Lapland and 45 Snow Buntings and 2 Savannah Sparrows.

early morning seawatch

Barrow pack ice

one of the tidier areas of Barrow

Snow Bunting in Barrow

Pomarine Skua over the ice flow

distant leads in the pack ice

Polar Bear on the ice flow (centre left)

regally floating past on its ice throne

Walrus (imagination needed)

Snowy Owl at Barrow Cemetery

Ringed Plover at Barrow Gravel Pits, a rarity we were only interested in for direct comparison with nearby Semipalmated Plovers

Barrow Gravel Pits

Pectoral Sandpiper on Cakeater Road

Red-necked Phalarope along Cakeater Road

Grey Plover on Landfill Road, Paul whistled it in from at least 400m away - impressive!

Glaucous Gull over Landfill Road

Tundra Swans off Landfill Road

King Eider off Landfill Road

Spectacled Eider off Landfill Road

Long-tailed Duck at Cakeater Road

Arctic Skuas at Barrow

Sunday 16 June. We were out from 06:00-08:00 driving out to Cape Barrow which was very quiet. We returned to the 'Mario’s Pizza' promontory where channels in the ice flow appeared to be further out and narrower. It started to drizzle and as little was moving close enough to identify we soon returned to the hotel for breakfast and storing bags. The weather improved so I seawatched to 09:00 when we drove around Barrow seeing similar birds to previous days. Lunch in supermarket again then we visited the gravel pit west of town seeing a pair of Baird’s Sandpipers but otherwise it was quieter than yesterday. Back to hotel to collect stored luggage, then to airport in two trips. Check in was fairly chaotic especially when arriving passengers from the incoming fight were exiting through the same room. Birds seen around Barrow were 15 White-fronted Geese, 15 Black Brant, 2 Tundra Swans, 20 Pintail, 2 Greater Scaup,  8 Long-tailed Ducks, 3 Semipalmated Plovers, 3 Dunlin, 2 Baird's, 2 Pectoral and 8 Semipalmated Sandpipers, Wilson's Snipe, 16 Red-necked and 7 Red Phalaropes, 6 Pomarine and 3 Arctic Skuas, 20 distant auks, 15 Kittiwakes, 4 Glaucous Gulls, 2 Red-throated, 3 Pacific and another fly-past White-billed Diver, a Raven, 2 Cliff and 3 Barn Swallows, 2 Arctic Redpolls and 6 Lapland and 30 Snow Buntings.

Barrow

sea ice along the Cape Barrow Road

The Top of the World Hotel, Barrow and attendant minibuses

Bowhead Whale bones

at least eight Red-necked Phalaropes on this pool on the edge of Barrow

it was stacked out with emerging midges

another Red-necked Phalarope nearby

Red-necked and Red Phalaropes on another pool

Red Phalaropes on the edge of Barrow

Greater Scaup at Barrow

chasing Palearctic rarities: we made a couple of half hearted visits for a Common Snipe (once was more than enough for most of us)

Baird's Sandpipers at Barrow Gravel Pits

Long-tailed Duck at Barrow Gravel Pits

Fairbanks wasn't on our itinerary

closer to London than Florida!

Cape Barrow

frozen tundra

Our flight to Anchorage was on time but we had to wait 40 minutes to be collected by American's Best Motel's minibus. While the others were in McDonalds/Subway I followed the cycle track opposite, as recommended by Pete on our first visit, and saw a Moose. Birds seen in Spenard were: 5 Mallard, Wilson's Snipe, 6 Short-billed Gulls, Alder Flycatcher, Black-billed Magpie, 2 Violet-green Swallows, 3 Black-capped Chickadees, American Robin, 5 Starlings and single White-crowned Sparrow and Myrtle Warbler.

Moose in Spenard