Alaska: St. Paul Island, Nome, Kenai Fjords, & Utqiaġvik

Highlights of Alaska: St. Paul Island, Nome, Kenai Fjords, & Utqiaġvik

• PLANNED FOR SUMMER 2025 – check back soon!
• Ultimate Alaska birding tour!
• Utqiaġvik, Nome, St. Paul Island, & Kenai Fjords
• Exceptional wildlife-watching experiences!
• Fantastic photography opportunities!

Description of Alaska: St. Paul Island, Nome, Kenai Fjords, & Utqiaġvik

This 18-day tour is the trip of a lifetime! We designed it to perfectly take full advantage of all the incredible breeding-season highlights of Alaska’s most wild places – Utqiaġvik to the North, St. Paul Island in the Pribolofs, Nome to the West, and Kenai Fjords to the South! This is truly a bucket-list opportunity for wildlife enthusiasts. Anchorage will serve as our base between excursions to remote outposts, each with their own collection of special target species – many of which we will see engaged in courtship and breeding behavior! We thoroughly cover four major eco-regions of the state, targeting the best wildlife they have to offer! The scenery and photo opportunities will be superb!

Anchorage. As the largest city in Alaska, Anchorage will be our hub for branching out to the more remote regions of the state. Nestled between Cook Inlet and the Chugach Mountains, Anchorage features several city parks and reserves that we will visit for a few target species. Westchester Lagoon and Potter Marsh provide good introductions to the breeding waterbirds of this region. American Three-toed Woodpeckers, Short-billed Gull, Canada Jay, Varied Thrush, Boreal Chickadee, American Dipper, Spruce Grouse, and White-winged Crossbill will be searched for. Moose, Beluga Whale, and Dall’s Sheep may be seen.

St. Paul Island. This remote island lies 770 miles west of Anchorage in the middle of the Bering Sea and has recently exploded in popularity among birders, naturalist, and those interested in Native American culture. There are four islands which make up the Pribolofs, and St. Paul Island has comfortable accommodations (with shared bathroom facilities), plenty of good food, and from there we can access quite a bit of the island on the dirt roads. The huge numbers and diversity of nesting seabirds is a major draw in addition to the island’s rich history of vagrant birds from both Asia and America popping up during spring and fall migration! Red-faced Cormorant, Red-legged Kittiwake, Thick-billed Murre, both Black and Pigeon Guillemots, Ancient Murrelet, Parakeet Auklet, Least Auklet, Crested Auklet, Rhinocerous Auklet, Horned and Tufted Puffins all nest on the island! An impressive list of Eurasian vagrants includes some heavy hitters like Smew, Common and Oriental Cuckoos, Lesser Sand Plover, Ruff, Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, Wood Sandpiper, and dozens of potential songbirds. The island also has endemic subspecies of Rock Sandpiper, Pacific Wren, and Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch in addition to potential for McKay’s Bunting. The World’s largest concentration of breeding Northern Fur Seals occurs here, and we’ll be able to visit a few rookeries on St. Paul’s rocky beaches. The island has a variety of habitats to explore including wetlands, grassy tundra, ancient lava flows, and idyllic seaside cliffs. Introduced Reindeer and Arctic Fox may be seen.

Nome. There are daily flights from Anchorage to this remote western outpost along the southern coast of the Seward Peninsula. This region is characterized by vast lowland tundra broken up by patches of drier, upland tussocks, lagoons, and scrubby creeks. Dirt roads reach inland and up and down the coast to access and explore this magical area. We will venture out in search of Gyrfalcon, American and Pacific Golden-Plovers, Bar-tailed Godwit, Aleutian Tern, Golden Eagle, Rough-legged Hawk, Tundra Swan, Bluethroat, Northern Wheatear, Arctic Warbler, White and Eastern Yellow Wagtails, and Hoary Redpoll. Both Willow and Rock Ptarmigan are possible. A primary target here will be the rare Bristle-thighed Curlew which have been found in the center of the peninsula and will require a two- or three-mile hike over the tundra to view. Most of the birding will, however, be done from along the roadsides. We will enjoy comfortable accommodations right along the coast. Muskox, Caribou, Red Fox, and Arctic Fox may be seen.

Seward & Kenai Fjords National Park. The crown jewel of the many scenic regions in southern Alaska is the rugged Kenai Fjords National Park on the southeast side of the Kenai Peninsula. This massive maritime park protects seabird nesting colonies that host many thousands of alcids, cormorants, and kittiwakes. The shear number of seabirds, abundance of marine mammals, exceptional views of snow-covered peaks and stunning glaciers combine to make this area a tour highlight. We’ll be taking an adventurous 9-hour boat trip out of Seward and into the fjords that will allow us to view Pelagic and Red-faced Cormorants, Surf and White-winged Scoters, Black Oystercatcher, Black-legged Kittiwake, Common and maybe Thick-billed Murres, Pigeon Guillemot, Parakeet and Rhinoceros Auklets, Marbled, Ancient, and Kittlitz’s Murrelets, and both Horned and Tufted Puffins. Humpback Whales, Dall’s Porpoise, Steller’s Sea Lion, and other marine mammals may be encountered in addition to Black Bears! Small-group tours on 43ft charter boats out of Seward are the ultimate way to view the regions nesting seabirds and mammals. Lunch will be provided on board. These sheltered, glacier bays are often quite calm but there are a few rough stretches of open water, especially near Cape Aialik where we hope to see the very rare Kittlitz’s Murrelets. The spruce and hemlock forests in the Seward area are quintessential of southeastern Alaska, and home to a few specialty birds we will target including Rufous Hummingbird, Chestnut-backed Chickadee, Steller’s Jay, and Pine Grosbeak.

Utqiaġvik. The far-northern outpost of Utqiaġvik (formerly Barrow) is where Alaska’s North Slope meets the Arctic Ocean. Our flight from Anchorage will take us over the Brooks Range and more than 300 miles north of the Arctic Circle! This small town is literally at the edge of the World. The landscape is fractured into giant polygons of flat tundra, with scattered lagoons and gritty beaches. Utqiaġvik is loaded with a breeding shorebirds and waterfowl, including two of the most sought-after ducks in North America – Spectacled Eider and Steller’s Eider! We are likely to encounter Red-throated, Pacific, and Yellow-billed Loons, King Eider, Pectoral and Baird’s Sandpipers, Long-billed Dowitcher, Red Phalarope, Pomarine Jaeger, Sabine’s Gull, Snowy Owl, and Hoary Redpoll. Much of the birding here will be along the roadsides, with short hikes across the tundra. We may be able to take a special trip out to Point Barrow to search for Polar Bears if conditions are suitable. Various seal species and Arctic Fox may be seen. The Chukchi and Beaufort Seas meet at Point Barrow, and can still be locked in ice at this time of year. Be prepared for cold temperatures (20 to 40°F) during our stay.