Workshop Partner Event: Birds and Musk Oxen of Nome, Alaska

Tour Itinerary

Day 1 (Jun 1)
Participants should arrange to fly from home to Anchorage, Alaska, and on to Nome where we meet for dinner. Following dinner we make a short first foray into the rugged landscape of the Seward Peninsula. (D)
 
Days 2–6 
The roads leading in and out of Nome offer us the chance to photograph along Bering Sea beaches and lagoons. We also take time to explore inland tundra and mountain landscapes. Our flexible schedule gives us time to photograph the light, the land, and the varied arctic wildlife.
 
With a very small group and five full days based in Nome we have the ability to adjust our plans to take advantage of the changing weather and light as we see fit.  The 24 hours of daylight requires some personal adjustment in sleeping schedules! Our typical shooting schedule—influenced by weather conditions and distance needed to drive to a shooting location—has us in the field between 5 AM and 11 AM. We return to town for an early lunch, break for a midday nap, and then eat an early dinner. We are again out in the field between 5 PM and 11 PM.

Because of the early shooting schedule, we may not be in Nome during typical breakfast hours. Breakfast items and snacks are not included in the trip fee, but can be purchased in town during the tour and consumed in your room or carried into the field. 
 
Musk oxen in NomePhotography of the dawn chorus of songbirds, such as arctic warblers, blue throats, the ever-present common redpoll, and numerous other northern species, is on our agenda. We encounter photogenic willow ptarmigans with plenty of opportunities to photograph these dapper birds, as well as many of the shorebirds that spread out over this expansive tundra breeding habitat. Small tundra ponds become important nesting habitat for intriguing waterfowl, including red-throated and Pacific loons, while almost every little wet area becomes home for other water birds from red-necked phalaropes to long-tailed ducks.
 
As the light changes throughout the day we can spend our time looking for larger species to photograph. Musk oxen are often spotted and can be safely and easily photographed from the road system. Always keeping a keen eye out may turn up a moose and calf along one of the river valleys.  Evenings are always a great chance to get out and photograph wildlife in the long hours of the quiet Alaskan twilight. (LD)
 
Day 7 (Jun 7) 
After one more early morning in the field we return to the hotel to gather our belongings and check out in time for the morning flight back to Anchorage.