VENT. Grand Alaska Part II: Anchorage, Denali & Kenai Peninsula 6/16/2025-6/25/2025

https://ebird.org/tripreport/389183

Once again, our Grand Alaska Part II tour was a huge success. From boreal forest and tundra birds in the Denali region to spruce forest dwellers around Anchorage and Seward to wonderful seabirds in Kenai Fjords National Park, our avian list was superb. Additionally, we had wonderful mammal viewing throughout the trip (18 total species seen—possibly a tour record) and had Denali in full view (albeit through some serious smoke haze from nearby fires) for two days in a row! What more could you ask for?

Our tour began with a wonderful dinner in downtown Anchorage. A brief post-dinner option to Lake Hood and Lake Spenard behind the hotel produced an absolutely stunning male Barrow’s Goldeneye from about twenty feet away and a cow Moose ambling through a residential neighborhood right in front of our vans!

Barrow's Goldeneye, Lake Hood, Anchorage, Alaska, June 16, 2025 © Barry Zimmer

We had a full day of birding in and around Anchorage the following day. Our first stop was at Westchester Lagoon, where we tallied a pair of Trumpeter Swans with cygnets, Greater Scaup, many nesting Red-necked Grebes (in gorgeous breeding plumage), Short-billed Gulls, Sandhill Crane, abundant Arctic Terns (some with babies), and Lincoln’s Sparrow among many others. A bathroom stop back at the hotel yielded wonderful looks at a pair of Redpolls sitting on the fence of the hotel parking lot. From there we headed to nearby Kincaid Park, where we walked the Mize Loop before lunch. Our efforts yielded repeated views of a male American Three-toed Woodpecker at a nest, Alder Flycatcher, glimpses of a nesting pair of Boreal Chickadees, Swainson’s Thrush, and Orange-crowned Warbler. A close bull Moose at Viola Swamp was a bonus!

American Three-toed Woodpecker, Kincaid Park, Anchorage, Alaska, June 17, 2025 © Barry Zimmer

After lunch, we headed down to Potter Marsh just south of town. There we added Ring-necked Ducks, nesting Bald Eagles, and Black-capped Chickadee to our rapidly growing list. With time enough for one more stop, we headed south to the town of Girdwood. Spruce forests there produced our first Varied Thrush, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Townsend’s Warbler, Wilson’s Warbler, and an American Goshawk nest with two babies (the adult bird seen only in flight). Despite the excellent birding, our incredible dinner at Kincaid Grill may have been the highlight of the day! A successful first day indeed!

The next day, we headed north towards the Denail region. En route we birded an area known as the Sockeye Burn, where we very quickly found a rare Black-backed Woodpecker that posed for scope views, in addition to a Boreal Chickadee pair from about fifteen feet away and a wonderful family group of Canada Jays. A nearby Osprey was a bonus. Further north, we stopped for lunch at McKinley View Lodge for lunch. The mountain was completely obstructed by clouds, but we had fantastic studies of gorgeous Violet-green Swallows nesting in the building. Later, we detoured onto the beginning stretches of the Denali Highway tallying White-winged Scoter, Bufflehead, Common Merganser, Lesser Yellowlegs (in trees!), Wilson’s Snipe (also in a tree), Fox and Lincoln’s sparrows, Northern Waterthrush, and Blackpoll Warbler. A very close Moose alongside the highway capped things off. Pretty good results for a travel day!

Boreal Chickadee, Sockeye Burn, Alaska, June 18, 2025 © Barry Zimmer

Much of the following day was spent inside Denali National Park on the park sponsored Tundra Wilderness Tour. Shortly before 9 AM, we boarded our tour bus that would take us into the national park. Due to a fairly recent landslide (in 2021), we could only go as far as mile 43 on the park road. This limited our chances for some of the mammals, as well as birds. Still, we had a very nice trip into the park highlighted by a stunning male Spruce Grouse (thanks Leslie!), two families of Willow Ptarmigan with adorable little babies, a wonderfully close Golden Eagle, four Caribou, a dozen distant Dall’s Sheep, and five Grizzly Bears! Although the smoke haze from nearby fires made viewing far less than ideal, we had Denali in full view from several points in the road! This only occurs on average on 10% of June days, so we were very fortunate.

Willow Ptarmigan, Denali National Park, Alaska, June 19, 2025 © Barry Zimmer

A late evening run up to Healy added a rare Blue-winged Teal, Surf Scoter, a pair of Solitary Sandpipers, Northern Flicker, and a very cooperative Yellow Warbler.

We returned to the Denali Highway the next morning with a full day to explore the road. We managed to cover almost 40 miles of the highway before we had to turn back. Highlights were plentiful on this day and included two Merlins, Olive-sided Flycatcher, a pair of American Dippers nesting under a bridge, several Arctic Warblers, a distant in-flight view of a White-winged Crossbill, and best of all, a pair of dapper Bohemian Waxwings right next to the road! And our luck with the mountain continued with more stunning views through the smoke haze. It was an awesome day!

The next day we traveled back to Anchorage but had a couple of hours to poke around the Healy area a little bit more. Not too many new birds, but we did have wonderful scope views of Varied Thrush, a handsome pair of Buffleheads, and another point-blank Moose. A pair of Common Loons at Kashwitna Lake on our way back to Anchorage were also new for the list. A return to Westchester Lagoon upon arrival in Anchorage was highlighted by a pair of Red-necked Grebes with two adorable striped babies riding on their backs.

Red-necked Grebe, Westchester Lagoon, Anchorage, Alaska, June 21, 2025 © Barry Zimmer

The final leg of our journey was a visit to the Kenai Peninsula. Heading southward from Anchorage, we paused along Turnagain Arm for some much closer Dall’s Sheep than we had seen in Denali. We also tallied Red-necked Phalarope (Potter Marsh) and Red-tailed Hawk as we made our way south. Next up was the Girdwood area, where our first stop was, of course, the Alpine Bakery with its sumptuous blueberry fritters! A short distance away, we birded Granite Creek Campground. There we added Golden-crowned Kinglet (almost at arm’s length), Hermit Thrush, Golden-crowned Sparrow, and a pair of lovely Pine Grosbeaks. We had lunch at Turnagain Pass as we entered the Kenai and enjoyed excellent views of another Golden-crowned, as well as “Sooty” Fox sparrows. The scenery along the entire route was simply breathtaking. We stopped briefly along the highway for scope views of Mountain Goats before we headed to Bear Creek. A juvenile American Dipper foraged along the edge of the weir, Bald Eagles sailed right over our heads, and we watched Sockeye Salmon navigating the waterfall at the weir. After dinner, we cruised out to Lowell Point, getting close views of two Marbled Murrelets from shore, as well as a dozen Harlequin Ducks, three Wandering Tattlers, and a Pigeon Guillemot!

Marbled Murrelet, Seward, Alaska, June 22, 2025 © Barry Zimmer

A nine-hour boat trip into Kenai Fjords National Park and the Alaska Maritimes National Wildlife Refuge was on tap for the next day. We enjoyed generally good weather (with the exception of the first hour or so of fog and drizzle), and we had spectacular success! We saw all of the hoped-for seabirds, including hundreds of Horned and Tufted puffins, Pigeon Guillemot, Common (many hundreds) and Thick-billed (19 total) murres, Marbled and Ancient murrelets, Parakeet (exceptional views) and Rhinoceros auklets, Black-legged Kittiwakes by the thousands, two close Black Oystercatchers, and three Red-faced Cormorants (best views in years of this declining species). But it was the views of the rare, glacier-loving Kittlitz’s Murrelet that stole the show. We tallied an unbelievable 34 in about thirty minutes with multiple pairs on the water right off the boat. It was ultimately voted the favorite bird of the tour! The mammals were nearly as good as the birds with four Humpback Whales, a pod of three Killer Whales, two rarely seen Fin Whales, numerous Steller’s Sea Lions, over a hundred Harbor Seals, ten or so Dall’s Porpoises riding the bow for nearly ten minutes (simply awesome), and comical Sea Otters (some with babies). Additionally, Northwestern Glacier was calving some while we visited, so we had nice viewing of ice chunks crashing into the water. This was an all-around incredible day!

Orca, Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska, June 23, 2025 © Barry Zimmer

Our final day was largely devoted to travel and packing, but we did some early morning birding around Seward. Unsurpassed views of a Steller’s Jay were perhaps the most exciting sighting, but we also saw our only Chestnut-backed Chickadees, the bizarre kenaiensis subspecies of Song Sparrow, and had wonderful views of two more Townsend’s Warblers. At Tern Lake, we had close studies of two Barrow’s Goldeneyes, Greater and Lesser scaup side by side, and a a pair of Ring-necked Ducks all in one group. A pair of Common Loons calling hauntingly near shore at Lower Summit Lake was a very memorable finale, especially when a fuzzy black baby appeared on the back of one of the adults!

In all, we tallied 107 species of birds for the tour, 18 species of mammals, and countless breathtaking scenic vistas. Our time in the Last Frontier was simply epic!

LEADER ONLY BIRDS:

Red-winged Blackbird---Potter Marsh

FAVORITE BIRDS OF THE TOUR:

1. Kittlitz’s Murrelet (7 votes, 24 points)

2. Tufted Puffin (6 votes, 19 points)

3. Horned Puffin (5 votes, 18 points)

4. Spruce Grouse & Common Loon tied (5 votes, 18 points)

5. Bohemian Waxwing (4 votes, 13 points)

A complete list of the birds recorded on our tour can be found at: https://ebird.org/tripreport/389183

Explore the photo gallery.

Read the description for the next departure of this tour.

View Barry Zimmer's upcoming tour schedule.

View Erik Bruhnke's upcoming tour schedule.

ITINERARY:

June 16 – arrival in Anchorage; post-dinner visit to Lake Hood & Lake Spenard (14 species)

June 17 – Westchester Lagoon, Kincaid Park (Mize Loop), Potter Marsh, Girdwood (Crow Creek Road) (37 species; 39 total)

June 18 – drive to Denali National Park via the Parks Highway with stops at the Sockeye Burn & McKinley View Lodge; also the Denali Highway to MP 124 (39 species; 56 total)

June 19 –Denali National Park shuttle bus ride to East Fork River (MP 43); post-dinner option to Healy area and Otto Lake (27 species; 67 total)

June 20 – Denali Highway to MP 98 (38 species; 75 total)

June 21 –Healy area, including Stampede Trail; drive to Anchorage with stop at Kashwitna Lake; afternoon visit to Westchester Lagoon (37 species; 76 total)

June 22 – Anchorage to Seward with stops at Potter Marsh, Girdwood (Alpine Bakery), Granite Creek Campground, Turnagain Pass, Skilak Lake and the Bear Creek salmon weir; post-dinner to Lowell Point Road (50 species; 90 total)

June 23 – all-day boat trip from Resurrection Bay to Kenai Fjords National Park, Northwestern Fjord, Northwestern Glacier & the Chiswell Islands (part of the Alaska Maritimes National Wildlife Refuge) (31 species; 105 total)

June 24 –Benny Benson Park, Two Lakes Trail (Ravina Road), Tern Lake, Skilak Lake, Lower Summit Lake, drive to Anchorage (41 species; 107 total)

June 25 - departures for home (107 total species)

KEY:

A = Anchorage and surrounding areas (including Kincaid Park, Potter Marsh, Turnagain Arm, Girdwood, etc.)

D = Denali National Park, Denali Hwy, Healy and all of Parks Hwy north of Wasilla

S = Seward, Kenai Fjords National Park, Bear Creek, Skilak Lake, Tern Lake (Kenai Peninsula)

bold-faced species indicate birds of rare, casual or accidental occurrence

underlined species indicate birds of very uncommon occurrence or species which occur regularly but in such low densities as to be easily missed

# - indicates birds seen with babies or on nests