Arctic Birds of Barrow Alaska Scouting Trip Report
June 7th - June 16th, 2023
In June of 2023, I ran a private scouting trip for Arctic birds to the far northern slope of Alaska. For the duration of this scouting trip, we (the two of us) were based in the small Inuit town of Barrow and made nightly excursions via a 4-wheel drive vehicle to the surrounding Arctic tundra in search of birds to photograph. Barrow is far enough North that by June, it is illuminated by the midnight sun, and it is possible to photograph twenty-four hours a day. Working at night provides much softer light than traditional daylight hours, often further softened by sea fog rolling off the nearby pack ice. For the ten days we were in Barrow, we stayed in the King Eider Inn, which is basic but functional and conveniently located about a hundred metres from the airport.
