Our Alaskan Wildlife odyssey is divided into three sections:
Alaskan Wildlife I
The Pribilof Islands support perhaps the largest colony of nesting sea birds in the world, as well as a rookery of almost two million Northern Fur Seals. Here these giants spar for precious space, vying for our attention among a spectacle of literally thousands of alcids in the Bering Sea. During our five days on St. Paul Island we will seek out Parakeet, Crested and Least Auklets, Thick-billed Murre, quizzical Tufted Puffins, cliff-nesting Red-faced Shags and Red-legged Kittiwakes. We will enjoy beautiful Harlequin Ducks while searching for Rock Sandpiper and Grey-crowned Rosy-Finch, Snow Bunting and Lapland Longspur, all of which we should find displaying their dazzling mating plumages. Rarities we might encounter include Bean Goose, Smew, Great Grey Owl and McKay’s Bunting plus other wildlife such as the sly Arctic Fox. We conclude with a final day birding near Anchorage, offering our best chance of seeing Hudsonian Godwit, Northern Saw-whet and Boreal Owl and Black-backed Woodpecker.
Alaskan Wildlife II: Denali National Park and the Kenai Peninsula.
In the second installment of our Alaskan adventures, we travel inland exploring the vast spruce forests and mirror lakes of the central coast, the bird rookery islands of the Gulf of Alaska, and the taiga-tundra majesty of the interior’s Alaska Range, perhaps the best wildlife-viewing area in all North America. Amazing Denali National Park, a six million acre wilderness beneath Mount McKinley may reveal Gyrfalcon, Rock Ptarmigan, Northern Hawk-Owl, Grizzly Bear, packs of Grey Wolves, Caribou and herds of snow-white Dall Sheep. At Kenai Fjords National Park where stupendous peaks rise vertically from icy waters, an all-day boat trip might reveal tidewater glaciers calving into the ocean, Killer and Humpback Whales, Sea Otters and Horned Puffins. Later while visiting the Chiswell Sea cliffs we will find tens of thousands of Black-legged Kittiwakes as well as Marbled and Kittlitz’s Murrelets and Rhinoceros Auklets.
Alaskan Wildlife III: Nome and Barrow
Our final segment takes us on to Nome, a small Eskimo village on the treeless shore of the Bering Sea, where we will sift through an impressive selection of nesting birds in this remote corner of the Seward Peninsula. Furthermore, we will travel to Barrow, the northernmost point in Alaska above the Arctic Circle, where permafrost pools scattered across the apron of tundra north of the Brooks Range host an astonishing assemblage of high Arctic fauna. These northern land provides us a chance to find Asian specialties such as Bluethroat and Northern Wheatear sharing this vast landscape with the lordly Gyrfalcon, Snowy Owl and all four species of eiders. On a special trip inland through the starkly beautiful mountains we may encounter Reindeer, Moose and Musk Ox, as well as upland breeders including Rock Ptarmigan and Bristled-thighed Curlew. A trip to Barrow Spit may yield Yellow-billed Loon and the greatest Arctic predator, the Polar Bear.
Tour duration:
Alaskan Wildlife I - Pribilof Islands: 25 May-1 June (8 days)
Alaskan Wildlife II - Denali and Kenai: 31 May-8 June (9 days)
Alaskan Wildlife III - Nome and Barrow: 7-16 June (10 days).
Notes:
Airfare is not included in the tour price.
Alaskan Wildlife I: US$ 3,295 per person, US$ 450 single supplement
Alaskan Wildlife II: US$ 2,995 per person, US$ 455 single supplement
Alaskan Wildlife III: US$ 3,695 per person, US$ 485 single supplement (US$ 200 discount for combining all 3 sections).
Also see tour packages in:
USA
Alaska
Wildlife Viewing
Birdwatching
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