Alaska North to South (10 days/9 nights) - Deadhorse to Anchorage/Seward

Alaska North to South (10 full days, 5 participants max)

Peak Season: 1 June – 30 July

This is the ultimate Alaska birding expedition, an epic road trip carrying you from the Arctic coast to the Pacific Ocean, crossing four mountain ranges and an incredible variety of habitats along the way.

Starting a stones throw from the Arctic Ocean in Deadhorse, Alaska, we will, over the course of ten days and nine nights work our way south, ultimately finishing our southward journey in Seward, Alaska.

We’ll spend two nights in the Arctic, chasing down specialties like Common, Spectacled, and King Eiders, Yellow Wagtail, Snow Bunting, Snowy Owl, Yellow-billed Loon, Bluethroat and Arctic Warbler. Then we will drive south down the gravel Dalton Highway, and into the Brooks Range (Smith’s Longspur, Gray-crowned Rosy Finch. Northern Wheatear).

We’ll spend two nights in the Brooks Range community of Wiseman birding the northern extent of the boreal forest and looking for alpine species on the nearby mountains. From Wiseman we will again head south to Fairbanks and the core of the boreal forest where we will hopefully get our fill of boreal specialties like White-winged Crossbill, Pine Grosbeak, Gray Jay, Boreal Chickadee, Bohemian Waxwing and (if we are lucky) owls like Boreal Owl, Great Gray Owl and Northern Hawk Owl.

After a night in Fairbanks, we will make the easy drive toward the Alaska Range where will have two nights to explore around Denali National Park and the western portion of the Denali Highway.

It’s a solid day’s drive from Denali to Seward, but one full of great scenery, and good birding opportunities. Ponds and lakes along the road play host to boreal nesting ducks like Common and Barrow’s Goldeneyes, Lesser and Greater Scaup, Gadwall, Bufflehead, and other wetland birds like Solitary Sandpiper, Lesser and Greater Yellowlegs and Horned and Red-necked Grebes. We will pass through Anchorage and then drive the final couple of hours to Resurrection Bay and the seaside town of Seward.

During our full day in Seward we will board a small boat for a trip through nearby Kenai Fjords National Park. We will make stops at Seabird colonies for great views of Black-legged Kittiwakes, Common Murres, Tufted Puffins, Pigeon Guillemots, and Red-faced and Pelagic Cormorants. And we’ll keep our eyes peeled on the water for other northern alcids like Marbled, Kittlitz’s, and Ancient Murrelets.

Later that evening, we’ll celebrate the end of the trip with some fine seafood, before turning in to browse our checklists and relive our cross-Alaska journey.

On the final morning, we will return to Anchorage in time for afternoon flights home.