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.
Why Barrow for birds? Barrow, Alaska, is home to many highly sought specialty bird species for both bird watchers and wildlife photographers. It is the best place in North America to photograph many high arctic nesting birds. There are few places in North America where one could expect to see all four species of eiders (Common, King, Spectacled and Stellar), all three species of Jaeger (Pomaraine, Long Tailed and Arctic) or three species of loons (Red-Throated, Pacific and Yellow-billed) without tallying a Common Loon. In Barrow, you have a good chance of doing all three! We came very close to this goal ourselves! During this scouting trip, we saw and photographed all of the above, with the exception of the Yellow-billed loon and the Common Eider. We also saw and photographed approximately a dozen Snowy Owls (although none of them allowed us to approach close enough for anything more than distant record shots).
In addition to the above specialty species, Barrow is home to a wide array of nesting shorebirds, many of which exhibit fascinating breeding displays. If that were not enough, throw in the possibility of photographing Sabine’s Gulls and magnificent Snowy Owls, and it makes for a pretty engaging proposition for any birder or wildlife photographer. Despite the challenges of photographing in relatively harsh conditions, you will likely encounter many opportunities in this land of the midnight sun. Those opportunities are not necessarily easy, but they do exist.
Barrow is the largest city in the North Slope Borough, home to roughly 4000 people. Like many native communities, the town of Barrow is dry; no alcoholic beverages can be sold or brought into Barrow. The village of Barrow is perhaps most accurately described as a living garbage dump (sorry – but it’s true). It is a depressing place of broken down decrepit houses set amidst almost endless squalor of abandoned rusting vehicles. There are no pretty words to describe this town, and it, unfortunately, epitomises my experience in many native towns worldwide. Without overstating the squalid nature of Barrow, it is perhaps sufficient to say that it is a sad inditement of Western society.
All of that said, most photographers visiting Barrow will not be there for cultural sightseeing but rather to photograph many of the Arctic birds that transit through the surrounding Arctic tundra. The most notable species diversity occurs during the brief arctic summer that begins in early June; hence this scouting trip took place from the 6th until the 16th of June. Most birds generally arrive during the first week of June, with snow melting and tundra ponds thawing. We found our first couple of days to offer the best opportunities for Eiders, which mysteriously vanished in the following days. We saw and photographed the Stellars, King, and Spectacled Eiders in our first two days, after which we only encountered Kings and the occasional Spectacled Eider. If you were in Barrow in 2023 to photograph Eiders and you were not there on the 6th, 7th or 8th of June, you certainly missed the best opportunities.
During this scouting trip, we experienced temperatures that fluctuated between zero Celsius and approximately +10º degrees Celsius. We had some wind in our first few days that, thankfully, died away to still calm, rain-free evenings (except for our last evening when it absolutely poured).
Personally, I found the experience of photographing birds around Barrow to be extraordinarily challenging and frequently quite frustrating. With the exception of the many Phalaropes and Golden Plovers, the Eider and Loon species are extremely shy and difficult to approach if you want to make anything more than a record photograph. I chose to photograph with a 600mm F4 lens and a 1.4 Teleconverter for a total focal length of 840mm, which frequently proved inadequate for anything more than distant record shots. I discussed this problem extensively in Podcast number #76, Thoughts and Impressions of Barrow, Alaska. If you are planning a future trip to Barrow, I encourage you to listen to this episode.
Typically, and in my experience, most Eiders, Loons and Owls will swim and fly away before you can get close enough to make anything more than a distant record photograph. This situation occurred repeatedly, despite extremely slow and careful approaches. The birds often moved away from us before we exited the vehicle. I had to work extremely hard to get close enough for all of the photographs in this report. As I discussed in the above podcast, it is less than ideal to employ hides in Barrow due to the low density of birds. Not to belabour the point, but if you plan a trip to Barrow to photograph birds, I encourage you to temper your expectations accordingly. If you are just going to spot and watch birds, then I believe it will be just fine.
Although I enjoyed my time in Barrow photographing many Arctic birds, I will not be planning or running a future workshop at this location. The birds’ low density and shy nature make for challenging photography when working solo. Trying to work in a group of even four or five will significantly compound the problem and result in far too few opportunities for all participants. If you are only interested in sightings and record shots, then Barrow might be just your cup of tea, but it is highly challenging and frequently problematic for those looking to do more than make record shots.
Addendum – I will continue to update this post with more photographs as I get time to process them.
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