Thanks for the tips!! Potter Marsh is on the agenda, I have heard elsewhere that this is a must stop, and I think it is right on Turnagin Arm on the way to the Kenai. There is a place called Goose Lake in ANC I also have to check, which has Pacific Loons.

I heard good things about the Petersville road from other birders, and also there is supposed to be a great restaurant there, near the end by that bridge. I have to find my notes!

If anyone is interested in a very good specific Alaska birding book, by the way, check this one:
http://americanbirding.org/pubs/siteguides/ak.html

Dr. West has a 2008 edition due out any day now. I have e-mailed him personally several times and he has had some great suggestions! He's a former AK resident/birder who now lives in AZ....

Potter Marsh is down a bit from ANC on Alaska !. Not far at all. Watch out for bears and moose!

Most tourists drive along Turnagain Arm as fast as possible (or sleep on the trains and tour buses) and miss it all.

Sad!

They think that just because it is close to Anchorage and a well traveled road that nothing is there to see.

Potter's Marsh is in ANC.They just opened up some great new upgrades.
When I think about it the ANC borough is a birders paradise,with all the area between Eklutna and Portage.

Not this tourist! We absolutely loved that drive along Turnagain Arm and we stopped wherever there was a stop to take in the spectacular views. Anybody who drives on that road as fast as they can is, well, I guess there's no other way to say it; an idiot.

Great restaurant?? The only restaurant I can think of is the Forks Roadhouse and it's ok, not great. (I guess you could call it the best around for miles though)

The Petersville Road is reasonably good up til the Forks, but it's often a mess beyond there. There can be huge rutted, eroded sections up and down the hills that require considerable care and flooded sections in the low lying areas that require either fording them or simply turning back.

I enjoy the road and the area, but then again I have no qualms about taking a compact rental car through fords or on a road with 18" deep ruts.

Here's a brief writeup on the road:

http://www.alaskavisit.com/static/in...m?contentID=90

Also while it's a very busy road and less than 20 miles from Anchorage, it's one of easiest and most accessible places in Alaska to spot Dall Sheep.

Not just spot them, but get somewhat up close and personal with them. At one of the turnouts there were over 10 of them along the hillside. Another day there was just two in the same area, but one stood there for at least 10 or 15 minutes, walking around and stuff, but pretty much posing for the cameras. We were the first to stop, and as with most places in Alaska when one tourist stops with a camera, other will follow.

After we had our fill of picture taking, we left to give up our spot to someone else. By that time the turn out was full and a small back up was happening out on the highway. That is the biggest thing about viewing, stopping and photographing the wildlife that you have to be aware of, the impact on the traffic . . . especially if people are speeding through there and tourists are slowing down, turning off, or worse yet, stopping ON the highway to see animals.

A similar situation happened when we were leaving Soldotna and folks were pulling off on the shoulder to "see something". We weren't sure what, but darn it, we were going to stop too. It was a great show, a moose in a deep marsh eating. He would dunk his head deep into the water, and about 30 seconds later, come up with a mouth full of grassy "stuff" from the bottom. It was very cool to watch and photograph, but clearly the locals weren't happy as they drove by yelling stuff at all of the tourists.