Where to find Alaska's best birds
Northern Alaska along the Dalton Highway
Dalton Highway, only road across 500 miles of northern Alaska, from Arctic Coastal Plain, Brooks Range and Yukon River Basin. These incredibly varied habitats are home to a greater variety of birds and mammals than any road in Alaska or Yukon. A 2.8-million acre wilderness transportation corridor helps protect the Arctic and Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuges and Gates of the Arctic National Park.
- Arctic Coastal Plain, a 55-mile wide swath of tundra paralleling the Beaufort Sea, Barrow to Canada, with Prudhoe Bay an important midway geographic location. Coastal tundra at Prudhoe Bay consists of wet meadows, thaw lakes, ice-wedge polygons, dry river banks and ocean beach: Upland tundra, farther inland, is drier and parallels the Sagavanirktok River floodplain featuring new habitats for new birds.
- Brooks Range, North America's last great wilderness, stretches 700 miles E-W and 100 miles N-S. Alaska's highest road summit @ 4,376-ft, crosses arctic alpine tundra at Atigun Pass on the Arctic Continental Divide. Below Atigun is Alaska's northern-most treeline, found on no other road.
- Yukon River Basin is Alaska's largest biogeographic region. A varied mosaic of plant communities in these northern boreal forests reflect the influence of permafrost and natural forest fires on avian habitats: a unique biotic community adapted to one of the coldest climates on Earth.
Target species at Prudhoe Bay, Arctic Coastal Plain, include Spectacled & King Eider, Sabine's Gull, Rock Ptarmigan, Pomarine & Parasitic Jaeger, Pectoral, Stilt and Buff- breasted Sandpiper, Yellow-billed, Pacific, Red-throated Loon, Red Phalarope, Snowy Owl & Tundra Swan. Brooks Range includes Smith's Longspur, Bluethroat, Arctic Warbler, Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch, Yellow Wagtail, Hoary Redpoll, Northern Wheatear, Baird's Sandpiper, Willow Ptarmigan & Bar-tailed Godwit. Yukon River Basin with Northern Hawk Owl, Boreal Chickadee, Spruce Grouse, Pine Grosbeak, White-winged Crossbill, Three-toed Woodpecker and Flycatchers.
Adak Island, in the Aleutians
The Aleutian Islands are known world-wide as the premier place for Asiatic species, thanks to its close proximity to Asia and North America with unique ocean currents and weather patterns. Adak is the only island in the Aleutians where organized birding is conducted.
Target species include Whiskered Auklet, Laysan Albatross, Hawfinch, Wood Sandpiper. Smew, Long-toed & Red-necked Stint, Great Knot, Red-throated & Olive Pipit, Tufted Duck, Emperor Goose, Common Cuckoo, Rosefinch, Pochard, Rustic Bunting, Ruff, Arctic Loon and Eurasian Kestrel.
Nome by the Bering Sea
Nome enjoys a well-deserved reputation as Alaska's oldest birding destination. Taiga, tundra and marine biomes create 21 major avian habitats. Nome sits astride a strategic location with the Bering Sea and Asia west, and interior forest mountains east. This rich avifauna includes some of the world's rarest birds. There's no place like Nome for birdwatching.
Target species include Bristle-thighed Curlew, Bar-tailed Godwit, Pacific Golden- Plover, Red-necked Stint, Slaty-backed Gull, Aleutian Tern, Bluethroat, Arctic Warbler, Emperor Goose, Mongolian Plover, Willow and Rock Ptarmigan.
Kenai Coastal Forests & Fjords
Kenai Peninsula encompasses Kenai Fjords Park, Maritime Wildlife Refuge and Chugach Forest with open ocean, spruce-hemlock forests, glacial fjords, rocky beaches and seacliffs. The bonanza of seabirds and coastal forest species differ from those found at Nome and Dalton Hwy. Wildlife ncludes whales, sea otters, dolphins, mountain goats and black bear.
Target species incl. 10 Alcid species and Red-faced Cormorant, Shearwaters sp, Petrels sp, Black Oystercatcher, Townsend's Warbler, Bald Eagle, Harlequin, Chestnut-backed Chickadee, Steller's Jay and Common Loon.
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