View from the highway between Fairbanks and Anchorage
We spent two nights in Fairbanks, hanging out as well as returning gear to the Fish & Wildlife Service office and finalizing last details of the summer. We birded at a couple places in town as well as going and seeing The Avengers in theaters - our first movie in quite a while! After our wrap-up work was done, we were free to do what we wanted until our flights back on the 20th!
Alongside the highway there are areas with spruce forest extending as far as you can see, really striking landscape
We both knew people down in
Anchorage, so we headed down there next, stopping on the way south at Denali
National Park for a short while – a brief intermission in the 6 hour drive.
There was beautiful scenery on the drive, much of it featuring the enormous icy
crown of Denali in the background. We got to see a Black Bear with three cubs
in tow along the side of the road, and lots of fun birds, despite not locating
the desired Arctic Warbler.
Mrs. Black Bear and her cubs
Laura had a friend in Anchorage
that she had done fieldwork with in another part of Alaska a few years prior,
and so her and Alan made plans to stay with her friend Julie. A friend of mine
also currently lived in Anchorage, a former bander at Manomet back here in
Mass, and so it was nice to get to see and catch up with her! After one night at
my friend’s I spent the remainder of the time with Alan and Laura at Julie’s,
since Julie’s house was a much easier space with which to entertain guests.
Alan
and I wanted desperately to visit the Kenai Peninsula, since Anchorage is right
there next to it, and Laura also wanted to go dip-netting for salmon with Julie
for a weekend – so while they went and had a great time fishing, we went and
had a last few days of hardcore birding before the end of the trip, which is
where the next post will cover!
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