| Description |
| Nome is a little know treasure for birders. The city of Nome is bounded by tundra on three sides and the Bering Sea coast on the other. Once the ice begins to break up, migration begins. Virtually the entire area of the Seward Peninsula that is accessible by road from Nome is comprised of extremely valuable nesting areas for many bird species including most North American waterfowl.Safety Sound, less than twenty miles from Nome on the Nome Council road, is a migrant trap before breakup. Observers have noted Emperor Geese, and Stellar's Eiders in this area. A Whooper Swan was sighted there for three weeks in the spring of 1991. Off-shore in open patches of water, called leads, ringed seal often bask on ice ledges. These leads also concentrate migrating waterfowl: Scoters, Eiders, Harlequin Ducks, Old Squaws, Arctic and Pacific Loons and, occasionally, Yellow-Billed Loons. Tufted and Horned Puffins, Common Murres, and Pelagic Cormorantare all possibilities in this bird rich area. The terminus of this road is Council, and is the only place accessible from Nome where boreal species may be found.
|
|
