If you've ever been to Alaska, you were probably left with some powerful impressions of the place,

because, well, Alaska is impressive. Visitors to the state are met with range upon range of snow

and glacier-clad mountains. The forests and tundra extend to the horizon in many places with few if any signs of human influence.

The rugged coast teems with marine mammals, salmon, and wheeling flocks of seabirds.

If you've never been to Alaska, you might picture some of these same things.

Or perhaps you envision a frozen wasteland, populated by only

penguins and polar bears that guzzle Coca-Cola by the gallon. Sorry if this comes as a shock to you,

but there are no penguins in Alaska, or anywhere else in the Arctic. Penguins are confined

almost entirely to the southern hemisphere, with only one species

found just north of the equator. There are polar bears up in Alaska, but they much prefer the

taste of human flesh to that of any saccharine brown liquid that comes from a bottle. It turns out

we can't believe everything we see on TV.

But Alaska is, like, for real, a truly amazing place that even today is dominated by nature.

It's a wonderful region to explore for anyone who loves birds and big shaggy mammals.

Many of Alaska's vast natural areas are relatively intact.

They offer endless opportunities for visitors to immerse themselves in raw nature.

I recently returned from leading a birding tour in Alaska, and I was inspired to make a podcast

episode about the Birds of Alaska.

The trip was super awesome. My group and I explored Kenai Fjords National Park, Denali National Park,

and the remote region around the town of Nome in the far west. In Nome, we were only about 175 miles or 280 kilometers from Russia.

Some bird songs that created a sonic backdrop to our adventure in Alaska

included the song of the gray-crowned sparrow.

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