ABA BIRDFINDING GUIDES

12/03 Updates

A Birder's Guide to Alaska
George C. West
Published 2002
592 pages; wire-O binding
ISBN 1-878788-19-1

A Birder's Guide to Alaska gives you the detailed information you need to find the Great Land's great birds. Over 60 locations are covered, including the entire road system, the Alaska Marine Highway ferry system, and the Alaska Highway from British Columbia to Alaska. Special attention is given to providing birding information and trips for the larger communities—Anchorage, Fairbanks, Juneau—in addition to visiting Alaska's most popular tourist destinations—Denali National Park, the Inside Passage, Kenai Peninsula, Nome, and Barrow. Extraordinarily productive, off-the-tourist-track birding sites are detailed—Gambell on Saint Lawrence Island, the Pribilof Islands, Cordova, Kotzebue, the Denali and Dalton highways, Seward and Resurrection Bay, Homer and Kachemak Bay, the Homer-Kodiak-Dutch Harbor ferry, Kodiak, Hyder, and many more. Year-round birding information is included for most locations. Each chapter includes a section on local logistics relevant for birders, with more trip-planning help available in the comprehensive, informative Introduction.

Over 40 authors, expert birders from throughout Alaska, contributed to the guide. Their birding routes take you to the best local sites, and a wealth of local logistical information helps you plan ahead for your independent trip. Taking a tour? This guide will help you prepare to make the most of your birding time in Alaska. Over 120 detailed maps accompany the 44 chapters.

The status of 500 species of birds in Alaska—plus scores of field-identifiable subspecies—is treated in the Annotated List of the Birds of Alaska. Regional distribution and your probability of seeing over 400 species is readily accessible in a Checklists of Specific Locations in Alaska chart. Appendices include the detailed Organizations of Interest to Birders, Gazetteer and Alaska Pronunciation Guide, References and Selected Reading, and Mammals and Other Vertebrates.

George C. West, a longtime Alaska resident of Fairbanks and Homer, has done a superb job of bringing together birdfinding information to help visitors and residents alike benefit from all their Alaska birding trips. In addition, he has illustrated the guide with over 60 drawings.