| New England Seabirds | Wandering Birder | Wandering North America | Alaska | 3/4 |
| Denali National Park June |
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In the campground outside the park and other places in the spruce forest were Boreal Chickadees and the dark form or juvenile Gray Jays. There is one road into the park. The first part of this road runs through spruce forest and transition zone. One morning I had Northern Hawk Owl perched at the top of a spruce tree along this road near the park headquarters. A woman I met on the bus told me she lived at park headquarters and had been watching a nesting pair. At Savage Creek there are many nesting Mew Gulls and one pair of Harlequin Ducks.I looked in vain for a Dipper which I remember finding here on a Bill Drummond trip ten years ago. I did see Dippers in other locations such at Ship's Creek in Anchorage and at Seward near the salmon run.
Past Savage Creek the road climbs into the tundra. Animals here are very visible and you can expect to see Grizzly Bear, Moose, Barren Ground Carribou. If you get lucky and I did twice on two different trips you will see Wolf. I first saw a very dark wolf very close to the road. The second wolf was a small gray female carrying a carribou leg to the den.
All bus drivers are not equal. The two best I had on five trips were Scott Richardson and Darlene Huss. Scott has driven in the park for many years and points out everything including birds, flowers and big mammals. If you get on a shuttle bus with a rather mediocre driver you can get off and walk a ways and hope the next bus that comes along has a more experienced driver. Even with a poor driver you can expect to see the big mammals. One special thrill was seeing a Grizzly Bear nursing 3 cubs very close to the road. From the bus I saw:Willow Ptarmigan and Rock Ptarmigan.
Approaching what used to be the Eilson Vistor Center, I saw the Long-tailed Jaeger flying over the road. Later in the summer I got off the bus at Fish Creek and walked back toward the entrance. I had a Golden Plover with a chick and an Upland Sandpiper that seemed very upset.
In the lakes before Wonder Lake were: White-fronted Goose, Red-necked Grebe, Long-tailed Duck, Surf Scoter, Northern Shoveler, At Wonder Lake there was a Common Loon on a nest. Later in July there were Bonapart's Gull and Red-throated Loon. One late afternoon on the way back and in the spruce forest again I saw a Spruce Grouse walking slowly across the road. The bus driver had to stop because the bird was right in the road.
One afternoon I got off the bus at Tatler Creek and walked along the road following Igloo Creek. I had Tree Sparrow, Arctic Warbler, Wilson's Warbler, Hermit Thrush.
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Gyrfalcon Nest Ten years ago when I visited Denali National Park in mid July, the highlight of the trip was a pair of Gyrfalcons with their fledgling at Polychrome Pass. The birds (or maybe one of their offspring) are still nesting in the area. This picture was taken by Noel Benkman of Orinda, California www.lushtone.com (Photo remains the property of the photograph.)The nest (red arrow) was on the side of Marmot Rock and clearly visible if you walked about 400 yards past the Polychrome cliff stop. |
| Noel took this picture through my telescope. You can see one adult bird on the left and at least one fuzzy baby on the right. That day we were sure we saw two fuzzy babies and perhaps a still unhatched egg. Later in July I went back and there were two babies about the same size as the adult. The adult was sitting on a nearby rock eating something and the babies were calling loudly. He or she just went on pulling apart the prey and eating it. A second adult was seen harassing a Golden Eagle. What a wonderful show. |  |
| Denali Highway |
Birders come here to see Smith's Longspur and I saw this bird after a long trek across the tundra on a trip ten years ago with Bill Drummond. The bird is no easier to see now and I did not really attempt to find it alone. I did see Red-necked Phalaropes, Trumpeter Swans and many ducks. There is a colony of Bank Swallows in a mud bank close to the road. There are Cliff Swallows under many bridges. The scenery is spectacular and I recommend a day devoted to this trip.
This trip was not just for birding and I made a side stop at Talkeetna to take a flight to the top of Mt. Denali/ McKinley. Talkeetna is the jump off point for climbers. They come here to take a flight to the bottom of the glacier from which they begin their climb. The flight around the summit cost $125 and was worth every penny. It was the end of the climbing season and some tents could be seen at the highest camp. The climbers were inside the tents because the wind was too high to attempt to summit. Talkeetna is supposed to a unique town which was the subject of the TV program Northern Exposure. The series however was actually filmed in the lower 48. As far as I am concerned except for the flight around the mountain, Talkeetna is worth missing.
| Dutch Harbor Unalaska Island Aleutian Islands June 17-21 |
 Dutch Harbor and the town of Unalaska as seen from the summit of the overland trail. |
My trip started with a beautiful flight that was on time leaving Anchorage. For some time we had beautiful views of the Kenai Peninsula and the start of the Alaska Peninsula before the clouds shut us out. Head winds caused the flight to be a half hour late. Not bad start, but then things went a bit downhill. First PennAir had decided not to put any baggage on the flight. It was very warm when we left Anchorage. I was dressed very lightly and worst of all had worn sandals on the plane. Then our guide Forest Davis met us at the plane with the news that big storm was expected the next day and we needed to take advantage of an open window to get out on the water. Our boat trip to see the Whiskered Auklet would be as that night as soon as we could get ready. Now not having any luggage was now a real problem.
| Fortunately High Lonesome's contact at the hotel was able to
find boots and a white all rubber suit used by cannery workers. So here is what
a fish cannery worker with binoculars would look like. As you can see, I had a
hooded sweat shirt on under the white rubber suit. Even in all this I still got
cold that night. I guess the lesson is to never trust the airlines. In the harbor on the way out that evening we had Horned and Tufted Puffins, Red-faced Cormorants. |
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This is photograph of a Whiskered Auklet through glass in a
display at the Cincinnati Zoo. This is the only collection of Whiskered Auklets
in captivity. The display also contains Crested and Least Auklets along with a pair of Smew and Spectacled Eider. Certainly makes a trip to the zoo worth while for any birder. Photo by Emmalee Tarry using a Cannon Powershot. |
| Usually trips to Dutch Harbor do two boat trips the second
out on the banks. Since the storm was expected to keep us ashore for the rest
of our trip, we elected to extend this evenings trip to the banks. This was
possible since it doesn't get even partially dark until about 2 AM in the
summer. Out on the banks our boat was surrounded by hundreds of Northern Fulmars all but one of the dark morph seldom seen on the east coast. Notice that the bird in the foreground seems to be a shade lighter than the one behind. Notice too the dark feathers of the central breast on both birds. |
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In the flocks of dark Fulmars, this one white morph stood
out. The white morph lacks the dark central breast feathers. We also had 2 Laysan Albatross that evening neither of which stopped at the boat. Laysans are known to be scanvangers and to feed behind fishing boats so I was disappointed that they were uninteresed in our chum. I suggested to the captain that they might want to use the basket of frozen fish which worked so well in New Zealand. |
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In the parking lot a company called Swan Net straightens out, repairs, and rolls up huge fishing nets. Along the shore are stacked crab pots waiting for the season to open. The airport is at the far right. The small structure in front of and to the right of the truck with the crane is a WWII pillbox. I could see four of these pillboxes from the window. Gray-crowned Rosyfinch and American Pipit sang outside the window. |
Tourists to Unalaska can visit a small natural history and art museum to learn more about the Aleuts and the island. Unalaska had a role in World War II and there is small museum that commemorates the story. The Japanese bombed Dutch Harbor and invaded and held the last two islands in the Aleutians: Attu and Kiska. Aleuts on Attu were imprisoned in Japan and used as forced labor for the duration of the war. The U.S. decided to evacuate all Aleuts to the south east Alaska where they were kept in cold, run down camps with inadequate food and medicine. The Aleuts were treated worse in the camps than German POW's. We they were finally returned to their islands they found their homes and possessions destroyed by the military. This sad history is documented in a movie in the museum.
The island is treeless except for some spruce trees planted by the Russians when they occupied the island during the fur trading years. Most of these trees are dead now, but a few survive. The Russians left in 1869 when Alaska was sold to the U.S. A large number of Bald Eagles hang out in the piteful little clump of dead spruce trees just outside the dining room of the Grand Aleutian. The Grand Aleutian is a first class hotel with excellent food. During our visit it was fully booked because of the influx of workers regarding the oil spill. A ship lost power during a storm last winter and rather than call for help, the skipper stuck it out until the ship sunk releasing a large amount of heavy fuel oil. Durch Harbor is on the great circle route from the west coast of the US. to Asia.
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