A view of Denali (Mt. McKinley) from the park road on our shuttle bus ride.  The rain and overcast of the previous day lifted!

A telephoto view.

Our visit to St. Paul went off nearly without a hitch.  We learned of the one hitch as we were getting on the plane in St. Paul to fly back to Anchorage.  We were told that 575 pounds of luggage needed to be held back because of weight restrictions.  Needless to say, we were concerned that we wouldn't have any clothes to wear, etc.  It turned out that everyone from our group got their suitcases, but boxes which contained our tripods, rubber boots, and a few other items were held back.  We weren't to see them for two days.

Initially, we thought we might get our tripods and other stuff around noon the following day, so we stayed close to Anchorage during the morning of Tuesday, 6/3/08.  This altered the plan to take a slow drive to Denali National Park, birding along the way.  It turned out that we didn't get our stuff until Wednesday eve, near Denali.  Chris and Jesse purchased a few tripods to get us by in the meantime.  We visited Westchester Lagoon in Anchorage and saw some distant Hudsonian Godwits, and great closeups of Red-necked Grebes.  On the drive to Denali, it rained quite a bit, so maybe we didn't miss too much.

Just another beautiful Red-necked Grebe.  They were very common around Anchorage.

This moose broke up the long drive to Denali.

On Wednesday, 6/4/08, we rode the shuttle bus to the end of the road.  It took all day, and we had a wonderful driver, Wendy, who was especially good at spotting mammals.  Despite the Disneyland aspect of taking a shuttle bus into the park, it was a very memorable day.


Just a few miles into the shuttle bus drive, I saw this Northern Hawk-Owl perched right along the side of the road.  The bus stopped for wildlife, and we became proficient at yelling "STOP!"

On our return, several folks in the group stopped near the hawk-owl site.  We never got as close, but there must have been a nest in the area.  We saw a food exchange between the pair.


Flying with a bloodied rodent.

No tripod...improvise.  Gary borrowed the work crew's stop sign for stability.  The owls were seemingly unconcerned by the roadwork nearby.

Just last night, I got to look at Gary Lindquist's photos.  They're spectacular and I wish mine were as good!.  He takes his photography seriously!


This male Willow Ptarmigan was calling from the middle of the road.

The two ptarmigans were high on my list of desired species, so I was very happy to see this Rock Ptarmigan--a little farther off of the road.


Caribou was another species I really hoped to see.  These large deer are incredibly charming.  There is no sense of fear in their eyes, like you see with even the most tame mule deer.  Of course, they were in the Park--more to fear from wolves and grizzlies than people at this location.

The hair-like velvet on their antlers was interesting to see at close range.

A red fox.  In this color morph they are known as "cross foxes."  We had great views from the bus of this fox stashing prey (probably Arctic ground squirrels) by digging holes and burying them.

The following morning we saw another color morph:  a silver fox.

This grizzly bear, another life mammal, was grazing almost frantically--trying to fatten up after a long winter.  It was odd to see this bear posing like a cartoon circus bear balancing on a stool.

The views were incredible, as you might expect.  Even on the drive north from Anchorage, it was as if there was a set of incredible mountains to rival the Grand Tetons, and just behind them, another amazing, yet almost overlooked, range of mountains.

Throughout the day, it began to get more cloudy.  This is the classic view of Denali that you see in all of the postcards, but it is now behind the clouds!

We had about three miles to walk back along the road from where we got off of the bus to see the hawk-owls.  On the way, we passed this spruce with multiple burls.

Birding the spruce forests is very different than forest birding in California.  The birds are few and far between.  As often as not, they are Myrtle Warblers, but there were a few we were really looking for--and we found most of them in the next two days.  Other birds we saw on the bus ride included Northern Shrike, great views of Long-tailed Jaegers on nests (this was great, but the jaeger show in Nome and Barrow was even more impressive), and nice scope views of a Gyrfalcon.

On Thursday, 6/5/08, we drove the amazing Denali Highway.  It may not be quite as scenic as Denali NP, but the lack of people makes it, in most ways, more enjoyable (highway is a misnomer, at least by Lower 48 standards--the Denali Highway is a gravel road).  Some folks skip Denali NP altogether, but I'm glad we didn't.  The large mammals make it worthwhile...and then some.

We heard many Blackpoll Warblers, and had a few good looks.  We usually see one to a few of this species in the fall, especially along the coast, but I'd never seen a male in breeding plumage (with a black poll) or heard one sing before.

The shorebirds here don't act the way they do at home.  Lesser Yellowlegs were seen many times sitting on top of trees and calling ("weedity, weedity, weedity").

White-winged Scoters are a treat off of the CA coast (and much more rare than they used to be), so it was great getting good looks on their breeding grounds.  The male's brown sides are typical of North American breeders.  In Nome, we looked (well, not too hard, there was SO MUCH else to see) for the black-sided Asian race.

A pair of Trumpeter Swans.
Video of calling birds here.  And looking graceful here.

Not your typical deer tracks (moose). 

I read several warnings in the park and in books and pamphlets about what to do in case an animal charges.  If it's a grizzly bear, hold your ground.  They're most likely bluffing.  If it's a moose, get out of the way.  They don't bluff.  The second half, "you can't outrun a moose," didn't seem to offer too much hope of getting out of the way.

A Boreal Chickadee.

Gray Jay.  It could be called the "Chickadee Jay."

A juvenile Gray Jay.

An American Dipper with food.

Bohemian Waxwing.  One of a number of species on this trip that we had only seen once before.

A pair of Harlequin Ducks.

Video of a singing Gray-cheeked Thrush.

Woolly lousewort was one of the most conspicuous flowers.

Great views from the highway.


After dinner on the evening of our Denali Highway day, I went for a walk until about 11:30 pm.  Even though it was light, with sun still on the tops of the hills, the birds, except for a few Hermit Thrushes, were pretty quiet.

The following day, the end of part one of our tour, we drove back to Anchorage--making many stops along the way.  We made a great stop at the Chulitna Wayside along the Parks Highway.

Common Redpoll

Male Pine Grosbeak.

Female Pine Grosbeak

American Three-toed Woodpecker!  This species was the last of the North American woodpeckers for me (except Ivory-billed!).  Kimya and I have looked for this one several times within their range.  Near Seward, we were to get even better looks at a male, but I was very happy at this point with this bird.

The wayside (like a rest area/small park) had a lot of activity, and just when we thought we were finished, another interesting bird would pop up.

As we were getting ready to leave, someone spotted this porcupine.

Red squirrels were common in here.

At a Denali view point (great views, but didn't photograph as well as two days earlier--more clouds), we saw this singing Alder Flycatcher.

At another brief stop, we had our best look at a Hudsonian Godwit.

We had a farewell/welcome dinner in Anchorage on Friday evening.  Four people left the tour, and three joined us.  It was a good group, and our guides, Chris Benesh, who has been doing this tour since 1992, and Jesse Fagan, were a lot of fun to bird with.

I just got the chance to look at the video CD of the trip that Jesse sent.  It is really great.

This was the first professional birding tour that I have been on.  You don't have the freedom you have when you're on your own, but Chris's long-term experience with the birds and other aspects of the environment and human history added a lot to the trip.  It was also fun to see new birds with people who were also very excited about them.  After the first week, it was a pretty tight group.  I was sorry to see a few people leave, though the new folks were great to travel with as well.  The only thing that really got old was clambering in and out of the vans, with camera(s), bins, scope, lots of clothes.  That, and I probably doubled the amount of flying I've done in my life, so it has been nice to have a couple of weeks away from airports.

To see Installment I, St. Paul Island, click here.

The other two installments will follow, I hope, in quicker succession.