Will she make it to the Arctic Ocean?

Well, here we are in 2024 and I left you all way back in 2023 wondering if I would in fact make it to the Arctic Ocean. Sorry to leave you hanging! I am back, and reminiscing about this adventure, in preparation for a presentation with the Morro Coast Audubon Society.

21 June 2022, Day 25: Skagway, AK to Conrad Campground, Carcross, Yukon

Woke up at the Dyea Campground after a night of heavy rain. Birded the campground with who have quickly become the usual suspects: Warbling Vireo, Common Raven, Swainson’s Thrush, American Robin, Dark-eyed Junco (back to Oregon!), Orange-crowned Warbler, American Redstart, and Yellow-rumped Warbler. After packing up, I slowly drove Dyea Rd back toward Skagway – I quickly regretted not driving the road in the other direction, as I could spot some campers set up on the other side of the river right up to the edge of the tidal flats. Beautiful views along the way, but not particularly birdy – 4 Bald Eagles were actively fishing and flushed a couple Spotted Sandpipers. Finally! A new shorebird for the trip – a lone Wandering Tattler was perched on a rock, bill tucked, resting. A female Sooty Grouse was feeding right along the edge of the road, followed in proximity by three adorable chicks.

I headed into town with the intent of checking out some of the places mentioned in my trusty “A Birders Guide to Alaska” book. It was windy and stormy weather, and the town was descended upon by hundreds (thousands?) of cruise ship folk. I could see how Pullen Pond and the Dewey Lake Trails would be great birding spots, but I just couldn’t contend with the hoards of people. Instead, I headed to the ferry terminal and airport – both areas that afforded views of the sea. I spotted, bobbing in the waves a lone Pigeon Guillemot and a raft of ~14 Harlequin Ducks….those males are just unbelievable!!

I decided to wrap up my brief Skagway visit after this but first stopped at Klondike Brewing Company, hoping they sold canned beer I could take with me. They don’t – so I figured I should try one of their brews before I left. I ordered a tasting flight and nabbed a table to myself and began reading “Birds of the Dempster Highway”. That lasted about 2 minutes before two older gentlemen showed up and asked to share the table. Long story short, one of the men had recently received a terminal cancer diagnosis. A trip to Alaska has been a bucket list item for him, so his friends and family put together this trip for and with him. This softened my general opinion of “cruise ship people”. We had fun chatting and they all got a pretty big kick out of my adventure…telling me they were proud. AND they paid for my beer! So, all in all, a memorable final stop in Skagway.

The road back to Yukon is breathtakingly beautiful, climbing to ~3300 ft at its highest (I think). I stopped at almost every turnout – originally, I was hoping these stops would yield some new high elevation species, but the rain made this a bit less likely. Instead, I just enjoyed the stunning views with an eye an ear out for birds along the way. The storm clouds temporarily cleared on the Canada side of the road and getting through customs at Fraser was a breeze. I pulled into Conrad Yukon Government Campground and nabbed the last remaining campsite (a first, there have been plenty of available campsites everywhere else I’ve camped). I am grateful for this timing because within minutes of setting up the camper the downpour began.

The longest day of summer at the highest latitude I have ever been – I don’t think I’ll be able to stay up late enough to enjoy ALL of this daylight!

Other birds: American Crow (formerly Northwestern Crow), Steller’s Jay, Short-billed Gull, White-crowned Sparrow

24 June 2022, Day 28: Whitehorse to Stewart Crossing

It is Dempster Highway eve! As I sit here going over notes and plans, I find myself wishing I had arrived to this point a little sooner. I’ve enjoyed slowing down here and there and it has been A LOT of solo driving (and solo setting up camp and solo planning and solo worrying and solo everything else!), so I suppose I have just taken the time I’ve needed. I would really like to make it to Inuvik and Tuk beyond that, but we’ll just have to see.

I spent the morning regrouping in Whitehorse and departed for the ~4 hour drive north on the Klondike Highway. Given the late start, I only made a couple stops along the way and enjoyed the changing landscape (very interesting fire history along the North Klondike Highway – I’ll return here to share more about this).

It has been many weeks with very few shorebirds – a decent number of Spotted Sandpipers and one Wandering Tattler. I have been daydreaming of shorebirds on their breeding grounds for months as I participate in Sylvia’s “Shorebirds of North America” workshop. I had not known that both Solitary Sandpipers and Lesser Yellowlegs will perch atop spruce trees – one of the many examples of how familiar birds can behave quite differently on their breeding grounds. I passed a small pond between Pelly Crossing and Stewart Crossing and a shorebird flew across the road that swooped back looking like it was dive-bombing my truck! It was not an easy place to pull over, but I turned around and did just that – and opened my door to the dramatic alarm calls of Lesser Yellowlegs perched on a Lodgepole Pine. Two birds, I presumed both were LEYE at the time, flew back and forth across the road, calling frantically. It wasn’t until one landed near to the pond that I realized the second bird was a Solitary Sandpiper!

Our campsite at Moose Creek is ringed by Arctic Lupine and Prickly Rose. Townsend’s Warblers are singing their hearts out (..a song I’ve heard many times on this trip but is quite different than all of Sibley’s recordings). The mosquitoes are brutal. I seem to manage well when doused with DEET. Pipit is another story – a cloud of mosquitos descends upon him the moment he is out of the car. We went for a short walk around the campground and he was shaking and kicking and rolling in dirt until we finally looped around and he eyed Charley – at which point he pulled with all of his might to get back inside. This was before dinner and I’ve yet to get him back out.

Other birds: Boreal Chickadee, Townsend’s Warbler, American Robin, Swainson’s Thrush, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Chipping Sparrow, Alder Flycatcher, Red-tailed Hawk, Trumpeter Swan, Black-billed Magpie, White-crowned Sparrow, Short-billed Gull, Green-winged Teal.