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Chevak Spectacled Eider CampBirding Focused
June 11-14
4 days - $3,700 from Anchorage

At roughly the size of the state of Oregon, the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta (Y-K Delta) is the largest wetland in North America and the breeding area for millions of waterfowl, gulls, terns and shorebirds.  It is among the most productive bird breeding areas in North America and one of the least visited regions in Alaska.  A journey to this wetland is truly an amazing and out of the ordinary birding experience where we will come as close as we ever will of guaranteeing the sighting of a Spectacled Eider!

Ulric Ulroan, a Cup’ik Eskimo from the village of Chevak on the Y-K Delta, has recently opened his hunting and fishing camp for birders to visit.  We offered our first trip to this vast area in 2008 and were delighted with what we found.  The beautifully bizarre and threatened Spectacled Eiders were often seen from camp as they prepare to pick nesting sites. Sabine’s Gulls, Emperor Geese, Black Turnstones and Bar-tailed Godwits displayed constantly in and around our camp.  The quantity and quality of the birds we encountered rivaled that of any trip we have conducted in Alaska; one’s eyes and ears were filled with constant bird activity in the 24-hour daylight.

We are very excited to offer this one-of-a-kind adventure to western Alaska.  There are no roads on the Y-K Delta so we fly from Anchorage to Bethel and then fly again on to the Yup'ik Eskimo village of Chevak far out into the Y-K Delta.  Chevak is 135 miles northwest of Bethel. The population of about 1,000 residents is 96 percent Cup’ik Eskimo.  We’ll spend some time birding around Chevak.  Eastern Yellow Wagtail and Hoary Redpoll are two species that can be found around the village, but not farther down river at the camp.  We’ll look for these and other birds before we head down to camp.  Rivers are the roads in this part of the world, and we’ll travel about 45 minutes by boat to Bird Camp where we’ll stay for three nights, immersing ourselves in the frenetic breeding behavior of tundra nesting birds.  We will be staying in a remote permanent camp operated by Ulric and his family, sleeping in camping tents and using a wood heated wall tent for a common area.  We’ll spend our time at camp exploring by foot and boat.  The area right around camp will be alive with nesting birds and we won’t have to go far to see and photograph most of the birds we hope to see.  We’ll also take a few boat rides to other habitats near by.  The treeless terrain around camp is comprised of spongy wetlands and shallow ponds which are divided by a maze of slow moving and interconnected sloughs and rivers.  Our time at camp will be loosely structured and our activities will be largely determined by weather, tides, bird activity and the desires of the group.  In addition to our regular meals, Ulric enjoys offering visitors the opportunity to taste some traditional Native foods and to experience other aspects of life in this seldom-visited section of the Bering Sea coast.

Notes. The price includes: round trip flights between Anchorage and Chevak; ground transportation during the trip; all meals (home-cooked) during the trip; a WBA guide; tents. You are responsible for your Anchorage lodging, meals and other Anchorage arrangements. The trip begins and ends at the Anchorage airport. The flight departs for Bethel on Day 1 at about 6:50 AM, connecting with our flight to Chevak, arriving there around 10 AM. We depart Chevak on Day 4 around 5:15 PM, arriving Bethel around 7 PM, and connecting to our flight to Anchorage, which arrives approximately 10 PM.