Part 3 Alaska 2022

Sunday, May 29 to Wednesday, June 1

We got off to a late start on Sunday, and we had a big day ahead of us. Our route was Kougarok Road which follows the Nome river north and then veers northeast past Salmon Lake and north again to Coffee Dome Trail, home of the Bristle-thighed Curlew. We stopped at various points of interest along the way.

Our first stop was the Nome River bridge. Here we had the usual waterfowl in the river but up on the slope we had our lifer Willow Ptarmigan.

Wilson’s Snipe were everywhere but they were all hidden deep in the brown grass. We continued north on Kougarok Rd. to find the related Ptarmigan, the Rock Ptarmigan, a very similar bird. Another Alaska specialty is the Wandering Tattler, a shorebird that is barred gray overall. That is a bird we had already seen in Alaska on a previous trip but fun to see again.

There was a small campground on the barren shore of Salmon lake. The ladies in the group were all thrilled to find an outhouse! We also enjoyed the lifer Bluethroat. This Alaska specialty is the most colorful bird we saw on the trip. The glaring sun made it hard to capture the bright blue on the throat and breast of this small thrush. It has a beautiful red and black tail but that was also hard to see.

Finally we reached or furthest spot-Coffee Dome Trail. The spot was marked by a stake on the side of the road holding a selection of old hiking boots. The terrain was somewhat difficult. The ground was very wet even though it was the side of a hill. there were little hillocks of grass everywhere with only small spaces in between them. We hadn’t brought our giant rubber boots so I tried to walk on the hillocks. They were very unstable and just collapsed to one side under my weight. Even stepping on the saturated earth was difficult because it was so spongy. One of the other ladies kindly loaned me her walking stick which made the going much easier. The target here was the famous Bristle-thighed Curlew. We were warned that we might have to stand on this hillside hours before it appeared. We were lucky. After twenty minutes two called and flew over the crest of the hill. I didn’t manage to get a photo and was very disappointed. The guide said it probably would be a while before they appeared again and we were a long way (72 mi) from Nome.

It was 7:00 pm as we were approaching Nome. We made a short detour to the Mouth of the Nome River.

We drove out onto the sand to bring us closer to the mouth of the river. There were a lot of shorebirds, mostly Semipalmated Sandpipers and red-necked Phalaropes. But a larger shorebird was by itself in the shallow water. This was the Bar-tailed Godwit. This is a bird we never see at home. Another lifer!! I love shorebirds and wished we could stay there longer but we still had to eat. So we all piled back into the van. Once Rich put it in gear we realized we were stuck in the sand! We all got out and pushed and finally got going again.

After dinner we went out again and saw a bird perched in the distance on a rocky area. This was the same Gyrfalcon that we had seen earlier in the day. Oddly enough, this is a bird we had already seen-in Waukegan at the beach last January.

We made one more stop and finally called it quits. It was 11:00 pm and still very sunny.

Monday, May 30th

There was another Alaska specialty bird we hadn’t seen yet- the Northern Wheatear. In order to see this bird we had to travel north and west on Teller Highway. This is the road with the sinister warning sign as you leave Nome. So off we went.

Today we would get out on the tundra.

There were rocks and boulders scattered everywhere. We were looking for a gray black and white bird probably perched on one of them.

We searched for nesting shorebirds and also got a really close look at the tundra . It looks barren from a distance but up close it is covered with tiny, low growing plants and flowers. When you step on the soil your foot sinks in a little and water squeezes out. There are potholes here and there, presumably where chunks of ice had melted.

This was our furthest point west. On the way back we saw some other interesting wildlife.

Tuesday, May 31

We only had half day left to bird before flying out of Nome. After breakfast we headed east along the shoreline. I had been asking about the Arctic Loon and was assured by the guide that it was only seen very far north, in Barrow, and then it wasn’t easy. He went on describing the bird but I had already discounted the possibility. Suddenly another birder in the van pointed out a loon that fit the description that the guide haad just provided. We stopped, took a lot of photos and discussed the ID points that were visible. The guide assured us it was an Arctic Loon. We were all thrilled. With that, Dad and I had all the North American Loons on our life list. More on this later.

We saw more Musk Oxen, including some young ones.

We finished birding at about 10:15. We were already packed with everything in the van and Rich got us to the airport at 11:30 for a 12:25 flight to Anchorage. The airport was busy with people checking luggage. We had a suitcase. It seemed everyone else had big coolers, presumably packed with seafood or salmon.

Rich had entered all of the birds we saw into eBird and shared the lists with us. All we had to do was check them and remove any birds that he saw and we didn’t. He was pretty good on getting everybody on the bird. Our Flight from Anchorage left at 9:04 pm and arrived at O’Hare the next morning. It was six hours but with all the on board food, etc. I didn’t sleep at all.

There was one small issue when we got home. I got an email from an eBird reviewer in Alaska. My Arctic Loon was really the regular Red-throated Loon after all. Very disappointing! But I’m glad it was corrected. It took forever to go through my photos and I’m still not quit finished.

It’s time to plan our next trip!