The world of Alaskan Wildlife II captures the superlatives of three distinct biogeographical regions: the vast spruce forests and mirror lakes of the central coast, the bird rookery islands of the Gulf of Alaska, and the taiga-tundra majesty of the interior’s Alaska Range, perhaps the best wildlife-viewing area in all North America. Our first destination is Denali National Park, a six million acre wilderness beneath 20,306’ elevation Mount McKinley, highest point in all North America—and rising 18,000 feet above the surrounding plateau, the highest land massif in the world. Here we may find Golden Eagles, Willow and Rock Ptarmigans, Northern Hawk Owls, Grizzly Bears, Gray Wolves, Caribou, Moose, and flocks of snow-white Dall Sheep grazing on swatches of tundra punctuated with spring’s first blue and yellow flowers. Potentially our best birding in the interior is our full day transect of the full length of the Denali Highway. Incredibly scenic and little traveled, possible birds along the Denali Highway include Gyrfalcon, Long-tailed Jaeger, and Smith’s Longspur, as well as nesting Trumpeter Swans. We’ll savor the magnificent Alaska Range area for three nights and four days, ample time to enjoy one of the world’s last great panoplies of wilderness, alive with truly large wildlife as abundant as before the advent of modern man. Next we visit the fjord and rain forest home of the Bald Eagle at Kenai Fjords National Park. Stupendous peaks rise vertically from icy waters and some 34 major, milky blue glaciers creep toward the sea. This is the province of Horned Puffins, Mountain Goats, Sea Otters, Humpback Whales, and above all Moose—the largest subspecies in the world. On an all-day boat trip we’ll witness the awesome sight of tidewater glaciers as they calve into the ocean. Off the Chiswell Islands we’ll even have a chance of seeing Orcas, the so-called “killer whales,” with their six-foot-tall dorsal fins. The Chiswell sea cliffs provide refuge for tens of thousands of Black-legged Kittiwakes and comical Tufted Puffins. Close relatives here too include such distinctive species pairs as Common and Thick-billed Murres, Marbled and Kittlitz’s Murrelets, and Rhinoceros and Parakeet Auklets. And we’ll not neglect the deep spruce forests of the peninsula itself. Here we’ll search for Spruce Grouse, Three-toed Woodpecker, American Dipper, Varied Thrush, and Pine Grosbeak.

Leaders: Moez Ali & Rick Taylor

Cost of Alaskan Wildlife II, Denali & Kenai Peninsula includes all land and water transportation, all day trips into Denali and Kenai Fjords National Parks, all accommodations, all meals, and guide services beginning and ending in Anchorage, Alaska—$3495.

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