The Deskbound Birder: Alaska - 11th June (Day 15

Saturday 11 June 2016

Alaska - 11th June (Day 15 - Part 1)

We were up at 07:30 for a 08:00 breakfast and then spent the morning (09:00-14:30) at Barrow Point slowly working our way along the headland scanning and checking for birds. There were numerous Glaucous Gull on the frozen Chukchi sea and on the clear areas of water were several thousand King Eider, 30+ Spectacled Eider, 15 Pacific Diver, 6 White-billed Diver while overhead passed the occasional flock of Snow Goose. Around the old whaling station were Snow Bunting and Arctic Redpoll of the race exilipes. Martin, scanning the pack ice with his scope, exclaimed ‘Polar Bear! I am not fuckin’ joking’ and we knew he was serious! There amongst the shards of ice were two Polar Bear, even at this distance they were impressive animals and we watched as one tossed around a large block of whale blubber. The next three hours were spent watching these animals as they swam along the ice edge, played with a traffic cone used to mark local hunters way across the ice and did a great deal of sleeping. Iconic mammals but I wanted to head back to the birds, I get a lot more pleasure from birds than mammals these days. We headed back to the hotel for coffee and a siesta and then out to the North Lights Restaurant for another Korean meal, our food intake now down to breakfast, a few snacks and then dinner before another eight hours or so in the field.

Snow Geese over the Chukchi Sea, Barrow

Snow Geese and a Greater White-fronted Goose - Barrow

Snow Goose - Barrow

Snow Geese - Barrow

Arctic Fox on the frozen Chukchi Sea - Barrow

Polar Bear on the frozen Chukchi Sea - Barrow

Arctic Redpoll of race exilipes - Barrow

On Barrow Point with the frozen sea beyond

Old whalers settlement on Barrow Point

Whale bones at the old whalers settlement on Barrow Point

We started the afternoon by birding the Freshwater Lake Road which runs south-west from the airport. We stopped at the end of the road and spread out, the theme had become to spend time birding and taking photographs alone but within site of the group. I headed over to the freshwater lake with Ian as we had both spotted a pair of Pacific Diver that we both wanted to photograph. The lake was large and deep and as well as the divers supported six Spectacled Eider and two Red-throated Diver, the margins inhabited by Arctic Tern, Long-billed Dowitcher, Pectoral Sandpiper, Red-necked Phalarope and Grey Phalarope. It was fantastic birding and our ‘allocated’ two hours at the site flew by in no time at all.