The Barrow Birding Center Website
NEW Barrow Bird Notification System
Local Updates:
June 21, 2006:
By the Cakeeater Road I saw tundra swans, great white fronted goose, northern pintails, common eider, by my house I see snowbirds, common red polls, longspurs, a varied thrush, up past Cakeeater Road, phalaropes, snipes, jaegers, snowy owls, pectoral sandpipers, golden plovers, black bellied plovers, semipalmated plovers, sanderling, longbilled dowitchers, arctic tern, raven, savana sparrow, other sandpipers.....
July 4, 2006:
Besides the usual snow buntings, red polls, lapland longspurs viewed at my feeding station at my home, (A-Block rooftop), today I saw a White-crowned sparrow, and the second I saw a Slate-colored Junco. May 27th I saw a pair of Varied Thrushes behind the old bus transfer station. The second of July I saw a Stellar's Eider out on the gas-line road and down the water-way a bit.
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Birders: Please review the site location list on the table at Pepe's North of the Border Restaurant. Click here to type an email identifying species and location (from the list). We will then start to update this site with information regarding location and species! Quyanaqpak for your participation in this program!
Site Locations for Birds in the Barrow Area
(Use the letters and numbers to indicate the location for your sightings)
A. In Town
1. Around Buildings
2. On Ground In Open Area
3. In Flight
B. Freshwater Lake Road
1. Between Town and Satellite Dishes
a. On Ground
b. In or Near Water
c. In Flight
2. Between Satellite Dishes and Freshwater Lake
a. On Ground
b. In or Near Water
c. In Flight
C. Gas Well Road
1. Between Beach and Gas Wells
a. On Ground
b. In or Near Water
c. In Flight
2. Between Gas Wells and End of Road
a. On Ground
b. In or Near Water
c. In Flight
D. NARL
1. Near Buildings
2. Open Area
3 In Flight
E. Between NARL and Pt. Barrow
1. On or Near Water (Ocean or Lagoon)
3. On the Ground
4 In Flight
F. DEW Line Station
1. On the Ground
2. In or Near Water
3. In Flight
Do you have a story or pictures of your Barrow birding adventure you are willing to post?
Send to frank.f.willingham@nhmccd.edu and then watch for it on the BASC birding website. www.arcticscience.org
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Welcome to the Barrow Birding Center Website!
Welcome to the Barrow Birding Center. The birding center is a virtual guide to birding and bird information in and around Barrow, Alaska originally designed by Dr. Frank F. Willingham.
The purpose of the Center is to help local and visiting birders find the best locations for spotting the area's unique avifauna, and to help birders with information about staying in the Barrow area.
Dr. Willingham no longer spends the entire year in Barrow, but may be reached via e-mail at any time at Frank.F.Willingham@nhmccd.edu. The North Slope Borough Department of Wildlife Management Biologists Noah Ashley, Robert Suydam, Craig George, and Brian Person can be contacted for more on-site information.
Barrow is the northern most town in the U.S., and is situated on the arctic coast of Alaska at 71°18' North by 156°40' West. The population is about 4500, of which a majority are native Inupiat. Although many modern conveniences are available in Barrow, the subsistence lifestyle is still much in evidence, and fishing, hunting, and whaling are a way of life and central to the culture. Barrow has been continuously occupied for thousands of years by people who have learned how to live in the harsh arctic climate. The Inupiat Heritage Center should be on the list of sites for every visitor.
Barrow is one of the top 100 birding spots in America. Although the diversity of birds is somewhat small, the annual visitors are spectacular. All four species of Eider ducks migrate along the coast and nest in the tundra around Barrow. Numerous other ducks and waterfowl also nest in the millions of small puddles and lakes across the tundra. Barrow is also prime habitat for many shorebirds. Perhaps the most spectacular summer visitor and breeder is the snowy owl, from which comes the Inupiat name for Barrow, Ukpeagvik, which translates to "place to hunt snowy owls". Now days the owls are observed and studied.
Barrow is the only spot in America one can reliably expect to see the elusive Ross's gull, which shows up, sometimes in great numbers during the last week of September through the first couple of weeks of October.
We welcome you to Barrow to see our birds, and while you are here encourage you to learn about our heritage. Please respect the native ways and ask permission before taking photos or crossing native-owned land.
 
Download the Birding Checklist Click Above for Accomodation Info Click Above for Photo Gallery |