Everything seems to be oversize in Alaska, from distances and mountains to prices and mosquitoes. Moose and bears look about twice as big as those found in Northern Europe, and the horizon always seems incredibly far away. And after you finally reach it, there’s another endless expanse of untouched land in front of you.

The prevalent impression when outdoors in Alaska is one of being totally overwhelmed by beauty. Except in the vicinity of some towns, everywhere you look and every bend of the road offers ever more incredible scenary. Wild animals are abundant and relatively tame and, being my first birding trip in North America, almost every bird was a lifer.



This has been my third trip with Jan Hansen’s company, Otus Asio. Although it’s not easy to cover such an immense territory in a two-week visit, the itinerary allowed for an excellent introduction to the state’s different habitats and fauna. It offered the opportunity to see many North American species along with a number of Eurasian birds, either scarce breeders or vagrants from the western fringes of Siberia, which lies a mere 90 km across the Bering strait.

These species are especially priced by American birders, which led to a certain feeling of sufficiency on my part when I saw them go crazy over a Northern Wheatear, a Yellow Wagtail or a Eurasian Wigeon. And then of course I’d try everybody’s patience, making them wait for me while photographing an American Wigeon or some other common bird.

American Wigeon (Anas americana)

Some bird names can be confusing to a European birder, since Eurasian species often have different names in America: Sand Martin (Riparia riparia) is called Bank Swallow in American guides, Brünnich’s Guillemot (Uria lomvia) is Thick-billed Murre, and so on.
In those cases I’ve tried to include both European and American names, followed by the scientific name. In the following text I only mention those species that I found more interesting; there’s a complete bird and mammal list at the end.

Books and guides: Nowadays the standard bird guide for the region is David Sibley’s Field Guide to the Birds of North America (Helm), available in either a single volume or two smaller regional ones (East and West). Alternatively, the National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America is also very good. There’s a photographic Guide to the Birds of Alaska by R. H. Armstrong (AlaskaNorthwest Books). Some of the photos are not very good, but it has the advantage of being exclusive to the region.

Mammals of North America by Kays & Wilson (Princeton) seems to be the guide of choice for most visitors, but I prefer the National Audubon Society Field Guide to Mammals (Knopf), with much better text and excellent photos.

The Insight Alaska Fleximap (scale 1: 4, 265, 000) is easy to use and good as a basic reference, but if one is to drive through remote areas the International Travel Map (scale 1: 1, 150, 000) is much more detailed. National Geographic publishes an excellent Trails Illustrated Map to Denali National Park, very useful for hiking within the area. As a tourist information guide I used The Rough Guide to Alaska.


We used Anchorage, the largest and most populated town in Alaska, as a headquarters from which we drove or flew to our various destinations. We stayed at the excellent Coast International Inn, close to the airport and right next to Lake Spenard, where I could see Red-necked Grebe, Common Goldeneye, Greater and Lesser Scaup, and American Wigeon. Nesting among the many small float planes along the lake there were Spotted Sandpiper (Actitis macularia).


Spotted Sandpiper (Actitis macularia)

I had previously seen this species in Tobago in winter plumage , when it’s virtually indistinguishable from the Eurasian Common Sandpiper (Actitis hypoleucos).White-crowned Sparrow, Savannah Sparrow and Violet-green Swallow were common around the hotel and the airport. Bald Eagles are a common sight in Anchorage skies.

Close to Anchorage there are many interesting and accessible sites; I took a long walk along the trails at Kincaid Park, where I saw my first Wilson’s Warbler, Golden-crowned Sparrow and many other common species. Wetchester Park and lake held Hudsonian Godwit, Hairy Woodpecker, Bonaparte’s Gull and an assortment of waterfowl.
At Hillside Park we found American Three-toed Woodpecker, and Arctic Valley produced American Dipper, Gray Jay and Black Bear, apart from superb views of Anchorage.

Seward and the Kenai Fjords.
The small and very pleasant town of Seward lies at the eastern end of the Kenai peninsula, on the Gulf of Alaska. It’s a 3-hour beautiful drive from Anchorage, and the road is full of interesting stops, especially along Chugach State Park.

A From the road we had excellent views of Dall’s Sheep licking mineral salts from a crag. We saw these magnificent animals several times during the trip, but never as close as here.

Stops at Potter Marsh and other wet areas produced Semipalmated Plover, Common Loon/ Great Northern Diver (Gavia immer), plus many Mew Gull/ Common Gull (Larus canus) and Arctic Tern breeding in the marshes.  Up to twenty Bald Eagles could be seen sitting on the extensive mudflats at low tide, and Jan spotted a Black Bear sow with three cubs on a forested hillside.

Arctic Tern (Sterna paradisaea)

We explored the beautiful area surrounding Eagle River Nature Center (www.ernc.org), where near a very scenic Beaver pond we saw a recently fledged Northern Saw-whet Owl peeping from a nest box. Jan had been told by his local contacts that most owl chicks had left their nests after an early spring, so our hopes to find this and other species were rather low. Distant views of Mountain Goat were frequent when scanning the mountains.


Lake views on the way to Seward

Seward harbor itself was an excellent place to see such treats as Harlequin Duck, Barrow’s Goldeneye and Black Oystercatcher, with an enormous flock of Black-legged Kittiwake feeding nearby. Sea Otters and Steller’s Sea Lions were also seen from the shore. Around the town’s densely forested outskirts Steller’s Jay was found near houses and backyards, and we found Chestnut-backed Chickadee after a short walk.


Steller’s Jay (Cyanocitta stelleri)

A chartered boat took us out of Seward for a day-long ride through Kenai Fjords National Park. The skipper was very knowledgeable about the area’s birds, and he spent time and effort making sure that we saw Kittlitz’s and Marbled murrelets, apart from the plentiful Tufted Puffin, Horned Puffin, and Pelagic and Red-faced cormorants. We also had brief looks at an elusive Rhinoceros Auklet.

Kenai Fjords NP

Apart from the birds, the scenery of the fjords is truly breathtaking. The boat took us until the bluish mass of Northern Glacier, from which huge ice blocks tumbled onto the sea. Spotted Seals and Steller’s Sea Lions were frequently seen sunbathing on rocks. We also saw Humpback Whale, Killer Whale and, the best surprise for me, a small group of Dall’s Porpoises playfully chasing the boat at amazing speed.