Readers’ wildlife photos

Ecologist Susan Harrison went way north in Alaska and sends us a variety of photos. Her captions are indented, and you can enlarge the photos by clicking on them.

Alaska part 2:  Utqiagvik, on the shore of the Beaufort Sea

Today’s post is the second part of a June 2025 Alaskan bird and wildlife trip.  The first part featured Nome at 64.5 degrees latitude, while today’s treks farther poleward to Utqiagvik (Barrow), the northernmost tip of the US at 71.3 degrees latitude.

JAC: This is touted as the northernmost city in the U.S. (population 4,927), and here’s a small map from Wikipedia showing where it is:

Three large, beautiful, seldom-seen Arctic ducks are found here: King Eider (Somateria spectabilis), Steller’s Eider (Polysticta stelleri), and the rare Spectacled Eider (Somateria fischeri).  They breed in the Far North, and while the first two overwinter at slightly lower latitudes, the hardy Spectacled Eider spends winters in ice-free openings on the Bering Sea.  Seeing all three Eiders cruising the tundra ponds in prom-like pairs, with the males in their fantastical breeding plumages, is a good enough reason to visit Utqiagvik in summer.

King Eider:

Steller’s Eider: (

Spectacled Eider:

Phalaropes are delicate tiny waterbirds that spin rapid circles in the water while hunting invertebrates.  Females are the larger and more colorful sex.  While I’ve often seen them the lower 48 states, it was a revelation to see the breeding colors and behaviors of Red Phalaropes (Phalaropus fulicarius) and Red-necked Phalaropes (Phalaropus lobatus).   Also very common in the same tundra ponds were Long-tailed Ducks (Clangula hyemalis).

Red Phalaropes:

Red-necked Phalaropes:

Long-tailed Ducks:

Various little wading birds were courting on the tundra hummocks.  Pectoral Sandpipers (Calidris melanotus) puffed out their chests until the bird was shaped like a half-football, then flew around hooting loudly.  Dunlin (Calidris alpina) and Red-necked Stint (Calidris ruficollis), the latter a “stray” from northern Eurasia, were dressed to kill.

Pectoral Sandpiper:

Dunlin:

Red-necked Stint:

Songbirds were not very diverse, but two handsome and abundant species were the Snow Bunting (Plectrophenax nivalis) and Lapland Longspur (Calcarius lapponicus).

Snow Bunting:

Lapland Longspur on a leopard-patterned snowmobile seat:

And finally the mammals. We came upon a Polar Bear (Ursus maritimus) that was tugging at the carcass of a small whale on the beach.  After returning to the sea ice, the bear stayed at just the right distance to allow us to safely take photos, until it wandered out of sight while hunting for seals.  Later, we caught a distant view of an Arctic Fox (Vulpes lagopus) hunting for bird eggs on the tundra.

Polar Bear:

Arctic Fox (photo Chris Brown):

Utqiagvik (population ~5,000) is a mainly Indigenous community in which whales, seals, birds, and other animals are hunted by traditional and modern methods.  Heaped next to the weatherbeaten houses were bones, antlers, hides, snow machines, sleds, trucks, and well-used gear of all sorts.  The 2011 movie “On the Ice”, filmed here with a local cast, offers a window into this ancient town’s modern way of life. The movie has quite a different feel than “North of North,” the sunny new series set in a Canadian Arctic village (I recommend both).

Utqiagvik houses and traditional skin boat:

Sign explaining that the town’s name means “place where we hunt Snowy Owls”: