Our trip began on Thursday 12th June with a flight from Dublin to Anchorage (via Chicago) our first experience of Alaska was a welcome detour from our pilot to give us stunning aerial views of Alaska's breath-taking scenery of snow covered peaks, Glaciers, National Forests and in the mist Mount McKinley, North American's highest mountain. We arrived in Anchorage fourteen and a half hours later with a time difference of nine hour time difference behind Irish time.

Friday 13th June we birded locally around Anchorage and met up with the UK guided bird tour.

Saturday 14th June we commenced our long journey to Denali birding enroute in North Palmer, Little Susitna River for American Dipper, Pittman and Parks highway which gave us a treat of stunning views of 4 Northern Hawk Owls, 1 adult feeding three fledgelings, we later went on to see a total of seven birds on the trip. General birding was good which included breeding Bonaparte's Gulls to Gray Jays.

Sunday 15th June we spent a whole day in Denali National Park. We travelled by shuttle bus around the park (as access for private vehicles is restricted) enjoying this vast wilderness and some of its resident species included Moose, herds of Caribou, Dall's Sheep, 6 Brown (Grizzly) Bear which included mothers with cubs, Snow Shoe Hare and Arctic Ground Squirrels. The park had breath-taking scenery and best birds included dozens of Willow Ptarmigan, several Golden Eagles and our first views of Varied Thrush.

Monday 16th June was spend birding along the Denali highway which is circa 130 miles long of a graded dirt road where habitat varies from boreal forests to undulating tundra all with the backdrop of snow covered mountain peaks. This was an exceptional day for variety of birds alone which included Ducks from Ring-necked, Long-tailed, Bufflehead, American Wigeon, Blue-winged & Green-winged Teals, Lesser Scaup and White-winged Scoter, also Warblers included Arctic, Yellow, Yellow-rumped, Wilson's, Blackpoll and the pools included Lesser Yellowlegs, Spotted Sandpiper, Wilson's Snipe and Red-necked Phalaropes. We overnight in Paxson.

Tuesday 17th June was an early morning delight to bird the tundra between Paxson and Tangle Lakes breeding species included three Smith's Longspurs, twenty plus Lapland Buntings, nesting Long-tailed Skuas, American Golden Plovers and hunting Short-eared owl, all the time we had 360 degrees surrounding of flower laden tundra and snowcapped mountains a morning to remember for a long time to come! The afternoon produced interesting birding along the Richardson and Glenn Highway enroute back to Anchorage, specializing in Rough Legged Buzzards, Red-tailed (Harlan's) Hawk, Bald Eagles, Northern Hawk Owls, Pacific Divers, Solitary, Spotted and Least Sandpipers, Three-toed Woodpeckers, Rusty Blackbirds, Pine Grosbeaks, White-winged Crossbills and Bohemian Waxwings.

Wednesday 18th June we left Anchorage enroute south to Seward birding Potters Marsh for breeding Canvasbacks, Beluga Point for Golden-crowned Sparrows, Summit Lake for Greater & Lesser Scaup and Wandering Tattler, Tern Lake for Rock Ptarmigan and breeding Great Northern Diver and our first encounter of a distant Black Bear. Overall it was a good day for spotting Thrushes which included Grey-cheeked, Swainson's, Hermit, Varied and Northern Waterthrush.

Thursday 19th June - Pelagic Day and thank God the weather was calm and visibility was good for our Seward Kenai Fjord Tour in Resurrection Bay. The boat brings you up close to seabird colonies of Pelagic, Double-crested and Red-faced Cormorants, Horned & Tufted Puffins, Brunnich's, Common and Pigeon Guillemots, Marbled and Ancient Murrelets, Parakeet & Rhinoceros Auklets. As the boat approached the deeper water to experience a closer view of Aialik Glacier all the time threading slowly through the flowing ice Kittlitz's Murrelets gave stunning views and seem to follow our path through the icy water. We had plenty of time to take in the enormity of this tidewater Glacier and to enjoy its thunder-like sound as ice broke off and dived into the sea below it and quickly re- submerged on the water level to silently float away as a mobile Iceberg. Our day also included excellent whale watching of 13 Hump-backed Whales and several pods of circa thirty Orca's (Killer Whales) which at times where too close to the boat for our zoom camera lens, also we enjoyed views of Settler's Sea Lions, Harbour Seal and Sea Otters. Our pelagic encounter was filled with stunning scenery, super views and trigger happy photography of seabirds, sea mammals and Glaciers this trip is a must for and serious birder or mammal lover!

Friday 20th June we birded the surrounding area of Seward for Chestnut-backed Chickadee and Seller's Jay, along the Kenai Lake River on Skilik Road we encountered up close and personal roadside views of Black Bear (from the comfort of our vehicle) and not an experience of two local fishermen who had to leave their fishing pitch on the river as a Black Bear approached them to claim their catch of his fish and ran them from his territory!

Saturday 21st - 24th June: On mid-summers day we flew to Nome (we were the first flight in five days due to canceled daily flights because of dense fog) which coast-lined the Bering Sea. Our first day we birded Kougarak Road and our target species was Bristle-thighed Curlew the early morning started with a long hike up rough mountainous terrain to be rewarded with views of three birds which included one flying quite close calling over our heads, also the surrounding tundra we enjoyed Sandhill Cranes, Long-tailed Skuas, Whimbrels, Willow Ptarmigan, American Golden Plover and on the opposite side of the road Pacific Golden Plover. Our second day at Safety Sound Lagoon we watched the impressive breeding Aleutian Terns, from Council Road wader- watching was good with Semi-palmated Plover, Semi-plamated & Western Sandpipers, Black Turnstone also Greater Snow Goose, Black Brants, Tavern's Cackling Geese, hunting Arctic & Long-tailed Skuas, Mew, Vega, Slaty-backed and Glacous Gulls and a nice find of a Thayers Gull. At higher altitudes we watched Rough-legged Buzzard, summer plumaged Snow Buntings, American Pipits, Northern Wheatear and a pair of Surf Birds rearing chicks, both days we were flooded with impressive views of Arctic (Hoary) Redpolls which out-weighted Mealy numbers. On our last day before our return flight to Anchorage a town stroll up this once striving gold rushed western style town we watched White- winged Scoter, Harlequin Ducks and divers offshore and to our delight we had a rare find of Siberian White Wagtail along the docklands.

Wednesday 25th June and back in Anchorage we spent the morning birding Webster Lagoon which was excellent for close views of Red-necked Grebes, Canada Goose, American Wigeon, Blue & Green-winged Teals, Greater & Lesser Scaup, Barrow's Goldeneye, Greater & Lesser Yellowlegs side by side and Short-billed Dowitchers. In the afternoon we flew to St. Paul's Island (via Penn Air on a wee thirty-five seater plane) which lies out in the Bering Sea circa 720 miles from the Alaskan mainland and circa 1,000 miles from Russia.

Thursday 26th - 27th June - We stayed two nights on St. Paul's Island in the King Eider Hotel. This island is circa 10 miles long by 2 miles wide is an impressive and important seabird and Northern Fur Seal Colony (hosting 90% of its population which litter the beaches) and we caught up with additional seabirds not seen on our pelagic from Seward which included Crested & Least Auklets, Short-tailed Shearwater, Fork-tailed petrels (feeding close offshore at East Landing). Other island specialties included Red-legged Kittiwakes, Glacous-winged Gulls, Rock Sandpiper & Grey-crowned Rosy Finch. The photographic opportunities on this island was second to none at the cliff colonies which hosted millions of birds including Brunnich's Guillemots, Red-faced & Pelagic Cormorants, Horned & Tufted Puffins, Parakeet Auklets & a resident adult male King Eider. We were lucky to leave St. Paul on our last day as many previous groups in June had been stranded due to fog, although we had dense fog in the morning it had burnt off enough by the afternoon, seemly the pilot has to use the visibility of the tips of the windmills for his gauge for safe landing!

Saturday 28th June we birded Eagle River Nature Center for the last few hours to catch up on Red-breasted Nuthatch and Hairy Woodpecker. We caught our afternoon flight from Anchorage to Frankfurt on the Condor 767 which flew over the Arctic Circle & Ocean and gave us stunning views of the ice-pack and a shorter flight of only nine hours and connected with a flight to Dublin to return home on Sunday 29th June.

We would like to thank our bird leader James P. Smith for his patience and field knowledge.

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Copyright: Paul and Andrea Kelly 2008