Information About

Point Barrow

Quick Facts

Open in The Map Point Barrow on The Map

Location

71 ° 23' 15" N,
156 ° 28' 52" W

Region

North Slope

Nearest City

Utqiagvik

Elevation

10 ft (3.05 m)

Point Barrow in Detail.

About

Between Beaufort and Chukchi Seas, northernmost point in the United States, Arcitic Plain.

History

Named by Captain Beechey (1831, p. 302), Royal Navy (RN), in Sept. 1826 for Sir John Barrow "to mark the progress of northern discovery * * * advocated by that distinguished member of our naval administration." The point was discovered by Thomas Elson, William Smyth, and the crew whom Beechey sent in an open boat to explore northward when his ship, His (Her) Majesty's Ship (HMS) Blossom, was unable to proceed farther. The Eskimo name for the point is "Nuwak" meaning "point of land". The name "Cape North," originally applied by Thomas Simpson, had some use on early charts before the present name became established.

Birds Sighted Here

Sorted by Most Common to Least Common Viewings

Glaucous Gull, Ross's Gull, Black-legged Kittiwake, Thick-billed Murre, Northern Pintail, Common Gull, Snow Goose, Steller's Eider, Greater White-fronted Goose, Whimbrel, Red Phalarope, Sabine's Gull, Yellow-billed Loon, King Eider, Common Murre, Arctic Tern, Aleutian Cackling Goose, Long-tailed Duck, Red-necked Phalarope, Hoary Redpoll, Canada Goose, Western Sandpiper, Parasitic Jaeger, Crested Auklet, Tufted Puffin, Cackling Goose, Spectacled Eider, Red-breasted Merganser, Semipalmated Plover, Sanderling, Wilson's Snipe, Parakeet Auklet, Pacific Loon, Short-tailed Shearwater, Tree Swallow, Common Redpoll, Emperor Goose, Tundra Swan, American Wigeon, Green-winged Teal, Greater Scaup, Long-billed Dowitcher, Horned Puffin, Red-throated Loon, Common Raven, Lapland Longspur, Savannah Sparrow, Northern Shoveler, Gadwall, Mallard, Common Eider, Harlequin Duck, Surf Scoter, Black Scoter, Rock Ptarmigan, Black-bellied Plover, American Golden Plover, Lesser Sand Plover, Bar-tailed Godwit, Ruddy Turnstone, Red Knot, Red-necked Stint, Dunlin, Baird's Sandpiper, White-rumped Sandpiper, Buff-breasted Sandpiper, Pectoral Sandpiper, Semipalmated Sandpiper, Pomarine Jaeger, Long-tailed Jaeger, Black Guillemot, Ivory Gull, Herring Gull, Iceland Gull, Slaty-backed Gull, Glaucous-winged Gull, Aleutian Tern, Common Loon, Northern Fulmar, Snowy Owl, Short-eared Owl, Merlin, Peregrine Falcon, Barn Swallow, Arctic Warbler, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Varied Thrush, Bluethroat, Northern Wheatear, Eastern Yellow Wagtail, Snow Bunting, American Tree Sparrow, Fox Sparrow, White-crowned Sparrow, Golden-crowned Sparrow, Lincoln's Sparrow