Everything is blooming on the Solstice

The Lodge sits in part of the migratory bird flyway to the Copper River Delta, the largest nesting area on the planet. Birds from all over the globe migrate to our neck of the woods to nest. Here at the Lodge we see ptarmigans, spruce grouse, the green-horned owl, northern flickers, gray jays, an assortment of quick, bright finches, ravens and sassy magpies, hermit thrushes, the ruby-crowned kinglet, warblers, white-crowned sparrows and those always welcome harbingers of summer sun and fun, the red-breasted robins. Our on-site nesting boxes are all full and we expect to see hatchlings soon. We never tire of the bald eagles and Peregrine falcons soaring overhead. The hummingbirds will arrive later in the summer when the flowers, nourished by nonstop light in this land of the midnight sun, are in full and enormous bloom.

Summer brings a riot of colors to the flower beds of Ultima Thule. They’re already lit up with perennial daisies in variegated rainbow colors, deep blue forget-me-nots, hollyhocks and brilliant, hot-hued poppies. Delphiniums, lobelias, pansies and petunias - our planters are stuffed with annuals from countless trays of bedding plants shuttled in on multiple trips by our planes.