Utqiagvik (Barrow), Alaska - Part 3 (Oct 11-12, 2025)

Oct 11

Following yesterday's strong NNW winds, we awoke to less favorable conditions...a light west breeze. It was pretty dead offshore. After just an hour we abandoned watch. We explored a bit further up the road, just past the cabins to the end of Stevenson Street. This is as far as one can go without a permit. Again, it was quiet, though we did add a trip bird in RED-THROATED LOON.

A kind local pulled up in his truck and chatted with us for a bit. He was one of the local whalers scouting sea conditions for the afternoon. He was headed out to the end of the Point and offered us a ride out and back for a quick check. Obviously we took him up on this! While we didn't see much in the way of wildlife, we enjoyed seeing the Point for a second time and appreciated Frederick's perspective on local tribal history, politics, etc.

It was back to NARL for a midday check. Yet another passerine had joined the party. A gambelli WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW was present along with the continuing Palm Warblers and Junco. At this rate, what new passerine would tomorrow bring?!

gambelli White-crowned Sparrow

Given the lack of offshore excitement and the benign weather, we thought today would be a perfect time to explore the tundra a bit. We hit Nunavaaq Road first, which runs through tundra to the coast southwest of town. As we neared the end of the road, Dan spotted a snow white WILLOW PTARMIGAN atop a hump against the gray sky. We soon realized that several more were tucked out of view and eventually counted seven in total. They began vocalizing and even moved closer to the road. Great experience and a lifer for Dan.

Willow Ptarmigan

more Arctic Foxes

cemetery

A bit more roadside tundra exploring did not turn up any Snowy Owls, which were apparently very scarce this year. We eventually reached the "new" landfill where Dan refound the adult SLATY-BACKED GULL we had seen a few days earlier.

We decided to finish the day along the coast in search of eider, as today's calm seas would allow for easy scoping of birds on the water, with our main target being Spectacled Eider. Right on cue, as we were conducting our search near town, Aaron Lang's group texted with news of a female SPECTACLED EIDER on the water by the north end of Stevenson Street. We rushed out there and had distant scope views of the bird on the water. Looks were not great, and for some time there was confusion regarding which lone female eider was the Spec. That should tell you how good our looks were :). Much thanks to Aaron for the text.

Oct 12

Today was the day we had circled for excitement potential. A storm was rolling in, bringing strong east winds and, eventually, snow. Based on our research, it seemed the day with the greatest Ross's Gull fallout potential. Though the birds are generally moving east at this time of year, strong NE to E wind seems to be the most productive for a quality Ross's Gull experience. A bit counterintuitive, as this is more or less a headwind, but it seems to consistently produce. Fingers and toes were crossed.

All three tour groups and the two of us were at the base of the Point first thing. Alas, not much was moving. COMMON EIDER and LONG-TAILED DUCKS dominated. A couple of WHITE-WINGED SCOTERS were new. Another juv POMARINE JAEGER was seen by all.

White-winged Scoter

Pomarine Jaeger

Finally I picked up on a single adult ROSS'S GULL that was still quite a ways to the west, but was right off the beach, headed our way. We all expected to be buzzed by this one, but it inexplicably veered offshore and vanished well before it reached us. A few folks got on it, but not all.

Soon, a driving snow began that would last a few hours. Visibility was trash, so Dan and I walked around NARL to see if we could continue the "one new passerine per day" trend.

Conditions were rough. It was difficult to keep the optics dry and useable. Horizontal snow is not easily birded. At least one Palm Warbler, the Junco, and the White-crowned Sparrow were present. Dan started to head back towards the vehicle to dry his gear. I turned the corner around one of the buildings, and out of a pile of equipment in the lee flew a Palm Warbler and two larger birds. The closer large bird landed in the open, a VARIED THRUSH. I yelled out to Dan who hadn't gone very far. He got on the VATH and spotted the second large passerine further back, a bit more obscured in the grasses. We worked that bird, also a thrush, and pretty quickly realized this was something Eurasian akin to Song Thrush or Mistle Thrush.

It probably took us another 5-10 minutes or so to track that bird and nail down the ID as a SONG THRUSH, documented with flight photos capturing the rusty underwing linings. NARL had delivered again, and in a big way!

Song Thrush

We immediately got word out to the tour groups, all of whom were able to twitch both thrushes successfully. Conditions remained brutal, but everyone persevered and enjoyed the thrill of the chase.

thrush twitchers!

This is approximately the 11th (fifth mainland) North American record (per eBird). Most of those are Alaskan records, all since 2020. Amazingly, the second ABA and first US Song Thrush was found at this exact spot (NARL) on Oct 9, 2020. Even crazier, one of the three folks who found that bird is CT native and good friend Matt Bell of Connecticut Audubon Society EcoTravel. Needless to say, Matt found this all very amusing!

As the groups were still pursuing the thrush, the snow finally began to let up a bit. Dan and I took this as a sign that we should get ourselves back to the coast to see what might be on the backside of the storm.

The snow was still coming down, but at a much lighter clip, and visibility was less terrible than earlier. The heart of the storm was clearly pulling away. After about 15 minutes into our resumed seawatch from the base of the Point, the first ROSS'S GULLS emerged like ghosts out of the snow, and quite close to shore! It started with a handful, and then more, and then more. IT WAS HAPPENING. All right off the beach. There was a slow but steady eastward movement, but many birds were pausing to feed in the surf. Some kept going, and some lingered. We again texted the groups who were quick to appear to witness the sort of event that we all were there to see. Honestly, it was magical. Dan and I enjoyed every second of it.

Ross's Gulls

Dan, not really caring whether or not a Polar Bear could be lurking nearby

Eventually, as we began to lose light, the movement slowed down. Some ROGU remained in the surf to feed, but most had blown out. As for a count, we discussed with other observers and went with an estimate of 185 Ross's Gulls, most of which were adults. A few lucky folks had a brief overhead flyby of an Ivory Gull while the Ross's thing was happening, but there were no further sightings of that bird.

Stevenson Street, as it runs alongside the Arctic Ocean

Reflecting back as I write this a few months later, this immediately goes down as one of the best birding days of my life. Finding an Asian mega and beholding a Ross's Gull fallout on the same afternoon is about as special a day as we could have hoped for.

 - Nick