Today we plan to depart from Anchorage to fly to the archipelago of the Pribilof Islands, landing in St. Paul Island. We can arrange a pre-tour hotel night for you if you wish, but the group’s official first meeting is at the gate for our flight to St. Paul Island.

Smack in the middle of the Bering Sea, the Pribilofs are volcanic islands providing cliff faces for nesting seabirds with nearby rich waters nearby, from which these birds provision their nestlings. The same waters provide sustenance for the large (albeit declining) colony of Northern Fur Seals here. These are at times joined by the endangered Steller’s Sea Lion.  Weather is a factor always in Alaska, but typically upon departing from  Anchorage, our flight should reach the island after about 4 hours of flying time, touching down sometime mid-late afternoon.

Though it looks just a speck of land on the map, we have some 42 square miles to cover as we seek our target birds here on St. Paul. Much of the island is accessible by two-track or gravel roads, and we’ll have vehicles by which to explore this amazing place. Well known hotspots include the salt lagoon right in the town of St. Paul, Ridge Wall and the other sea cliffs, the quarry, Northeast Point, Reef Point, and there are a series of lakes and ponds that dot the southern and eastern side of the island. We’ll see what the weather serves up and plot a plan based in part on that, and also in part on what is being seen around the island. Reliably, the rocky shores are good for seeing large numbers of Least Auklets, while the cliffs provide nesting areas for other auks like Parakeet Auklet, Crested Auklet, the two murres, and the two puffins, along with Red-faced Cormorants, and the real speciality of St. Paul, the Red-legged Kittiwake. Though ranging through much of the Bering Sea, over 75% of the population breeds here in the Pribilofs, and this unique, large-eyed, stout-billed gull is seldom seen elsewhere by birders. Between enjoying the cliff-nesting birds we’ll check ponds and ravines for migrant and vagrants and see what we can turn up here, at the top eBird hotspot in Alaska. Night at the King Eider Hotel on St. Paul Island.

We’ll enjoy a final morning out in the field trying to mop up any last birds we might like to see, and then we are headed back to Anchorage. Once we arrive into Anchorage our Alaska adventure together is over, and we must bid each other farewell.