ALASKA

Alaska can justifiably claim to be North America's 'final frontier'.

The scenery can be described as awe inspiring and certainly amongst some of the most spectacular landscapes in the world. Alaska has breathtakingly beautiful and dramatic scenery and is a remote wilderness of ice-blue fjords, vast forests, towering snow-capped mountains (including the gigantic Mt. McKinley) remote tranquil bays and wide-open stretches of tundra.

This massive US state has several time zones, and has a climate that at best can be called challenging, with short summers and extremely cold winters.

However, its wildlife can be described as some of the richest on Planet Earth, with millions of birds spending their summer here to breed and taking full advantage of the abundant food supply.

We begin the tour in Anchorage visiting well known birding sites such as Westchester Lagoons, where species could include Hudsonian Godwit and Red-necked Grebe.

We then travel to Nome, a small town surrounded by tundra, whose location lies just below the Arctic Circle, is our next venue, where we shall enjoy watching the abundance of shorebirds which breed on the open tundra.

We take a boat trip into the Kenai Fjords National Park from Seward to experience a marvellous variety of seabird species.

The diversity of breeding auks is quite unique – from Horned Puffins to Marbled Murrelets and there is also the possibility of some fine sea mammals, which could include Orca, Humpback Whale and Steller's Sea Lion.

The holiday then reaches a magnificent conclusion at Barrow in the High Arctic, where the vast stretches of tundra are ideal habitat for Red (Grey) Phalaropes, Baird's and Pectoral Sandpipers, Sabine's Gull, Pomarine Skua, Snowy Owl, Snow Bunting and King and Spectacled Eiders, in fact all four species of eider are possible.

A superb wilderness birding adventure in Alaska! The holiday will be run in conjunction with Avian Adventures.

2 June to 16 June 2018 (land)

Leader: Max Biasioli

2018 Cost 5.990 euro - single room suppl. €850

(GBP around £5.269)

Tour organized in collaboration with Avian Adventures

The Last Frontier

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