Grand Alaska: Utqiagvik (Barrow) Extension

Steller's Eider © Kevin Zimmer

A short Extension to our Gambell & Nome Tour, offering 3+ days of exciting high-Arctic birding at the northernmost community in Alaska. This is THE place in North America to see all of the eiders (King, Steller’s, and Spectacled all nest, and Commons migrate through), males of which are spectacular in their breeding plumage. We will also focus on an array of breeding shorebirds (many of which will be actively displaying) and waterfowl, as well as on seeing Snowy Owls.

Utqiagvik (Barrow) is an entirely different world! In a setting of 24-hour sunlight, the bird life is unmistakably High Arctic. Three species of eiders nest here (the magnificent King, the beautiful Steller’s, and the bizarre Spectacled), with the males resplendent in their breeding dress, and there is no more accessible place in all of North America to see them.

Displaying sandpipers are everywhere—Pectorals with their ruffs distended as they perform their strange hooting flights, dressy Dunlins singing shrill “songs” from atop moss-covered hummocks, and ponds alive with gorgeous Red and Red-necked phalaropes. In some years, leks of wing-flashing Buff-breasted Sandpipers are also to be found. Brilliant Snow Buntings and Lapland Longspurs are the common passerines! Yellow-billed Loon, Red-necked Stint, and Sabine’s Gull are regular migrants that are seen in some years by our groups, and there is always the very real chance of some Asiatic vagrant showing up (vagrants seen on our past visits have included Temminck’s Stint, Gray-tailed Tattler, Spoon-billed Sandpiper, and Ross’s Gull). If the lemming population is not in a crash year, we should be treated to the sight of Snowy Owls and Pomarine Jaegers cruising over the tundra. Even Polar Bear (seen by several of our past tours) is a possibility here!

Good accommodations; easy to moderate terrain; mostly roadside birding, with optional, short, off-road walks; commercial flights between Anchorage and Utqiagvik (Barrow) on large jets; all meals in restaurants; optional post-dinner birding, lasting until 10:00 p.m. or later, may be offered on one or more nights; generally cold climate, with expected temperatures anywhere between mid-20s F and mid-40s F.

King Eiders © Kevin Zimmer