Tired in Juneau

Location: Juneau, Alaska
Population: 30,988

The wave action picked up slightly overnight, and while I live on a houseboat I'm not used to the swells of the open ocean! I slept, but not very well or very deeply, so I'm going to call it an early night and just post a briefer update about today. Make sure to check out the post below about crossing the Gulf of Alaska.

Yesterday I woke up to a black-footed albatross out the window, and today it was to cries of, "Whales!" I saw three humpbacks before even rubbing the sleep out of my eyes and many more as the day went on, as well as more playful Dall's porpoise. The wet weather has lifted and we even saw a peak of blue sky and some sunshine on a distant mountain.

We pulled into Juneau, Alaska's capital city which is accessible only by air or water, right around noon. Our first stop was at Mendenhall Glacier - previously named Auke Glacier by naturalist John Muir after a local Tlingit tribe, or originally known as Aak'wtaaksit by the Tlingits themselves. No disrespect to Mr. Mendenhall, the surveyor who never even saw the glacier, but I like the other names better. But, it is a beautiful blue glacier!

Nearby this bizarre plant, northern groundcone (Boschniakia rossica), was making a living parasitizing the shrubby alder trees.

Arctic terns were nesting nearby, and we saw them snag fish out of the nearby lake and streams and feed their young.

Barn swallows were also nesting nearby:

I was just about done for after that, and after a short walk through town I retired to the hotel for the night. Now for some restful, land-based sleep before catching an early ferry tomorrow for a couple of days in Sitka.

Rain and Fog in Resurrection Bay

Location: Seward, Alaska
Population: 2830

They had forecast rain for yesterday, but by the evening the skies were completely clear. The view looking across the bay was spectacular as we neared sunset, with a few low-lying clouds hugging the peaks and valleys of the mountains:

This morning I had time to check out the Alaska Sea Life Center, which was far more than just an aquarium. It is a top marine research facility as well as a marine mammal and bird rehabilitation center. While they do have seals, sea lions, and birds on exhibit in addition to fishes, the focus is clearly on education and scientific research. From viewing windows you can overlook their rehabilitation facilities and one of their labs, and informative panels tell you everything from how salmon return to their native stream to spawn to an update on 15 species of concern after the Exxon-Valdez oil spill. Great stuff. The coolest part for me was the walk-in aviary where you can observe spectacular sea birds such as Steller eiders and long-tailed ducks from just feet away. Many of the birds were engaged in courtship and nesting behavior, and you could also view them diving down a couple dozen feet via an underwater viewing window.

I had hoped the forecast for rain today would be just as wrong, but it was not to be. The weather deteriorated as the day went on which did not bode well for our five hour wildlife cruise into Resurrection Bay and Kenai Fjords National Park. We were scheduled to see several glaciers including the large Bear Glacier, but in the end we only saw this smaller glacier in Thumb Cove near the beginning of the trip before the fog hid all the mountain tops completely and the glaciers with them:

The main sightings of the trip were in Eldorado Narrows where there were several Steller sea lion haul outs and active sea bird nesting colonies. It was cool to see some sea lions with sea birds swirling around above them, and the larger waves from the Gulf of Alaska crashing the shoreline:

We got one brief look at a mountain goat and her kid before they disappeared above us. It was, however, our closest mountain goat sighting of the trip and hence close enough to photograph, so that was good:

There were lots of both tufted and horned puffins, which was exciting to see after seeing just a few of each in Kachemak Bay. I tried taking some photos but the conditions were very dark which made for a lot of blurry photos! Here's one that turned out okay:

I've shared some photos from earlier in the trip of black-legged kittiwakes, but I thought this one was a little different since it is a view from a little further back, showing just how massive these nesting colonies are:

It may seem like we saw a lot of wildlife, but all of the above were seen right together over a span of about 20 minutes, which made the rest of the trip a bit underwhelming. Of course since I work as a naturalist myself I know the weather and wildlife are out of control of the tour company, but it was disappointing that we didn't stop to see the humpback whale my mom and I spotted (at least we were the only ones on the boat who saw a whale!) or any of the sea otters we passed closer to the harbor.

The seas towards the mouth of Resurrection Bay were pretty rough today, with big swells the likes of which we thankfully don't see in the San Juan Islands. Some trips ventured out further into the Gulf of Alaska, but with the weather and sea conditions I was thankful we stayed in the more protected waters of Resurrection Bay.

On the way back, for those who were willing to brave the cold and wet, you could see a couple of groups of Dall's porpoise riding off our bow. We see them in the San Juans as well, but the Alaska porpoises definitely seem to be much more playful. It was cool to be higher up above them than we are on the Western Prince. It's always hard to capture the thrill of bow-riding porpoises in photo stills, but here are a few of my favorites:

So, today's trip wasn't the best, but they can't all be great. Looking at the pictures I realize we did see more than I felt like we did at the time, but we all came back a little disappointed as we were hoping this would be a highlight of the trip. Ah well.

Here's to hoping the weather improves a bit for our upcoming ventures on the Alaska Marine Highway as we start to make our way back south on the ferries.

Halibut Cove and Exit Glacier

Location: Seward, Alaska
Population: 2830

Yesterday we had another boat ride out of Homer, this time a passenger ferry over to Halibut Cove, a small artist's community on the other side of Kachemak Bay. The weather report was for wind and showers, but we lucked out and were greeted with a beautiful day. On the ferry ride over we got to make a stop at Gull Island again, and I certainly didn't mind seeing it twice! The sun was shining and some different birds were about, so I got some completely different photos from the day before. Here's a pigeon guillemot taking flight:

Most of the murres that were floating in rafts the day before were perched on top of the rocks this time. Although it's a more common sight in Alaska, it's still bizarre to see mountains behind sea birds:

Most exciting of all, horned puffins (year bird 202)!! We didn't see any the day before, but we saw at least two or three yesterday, and we were even close enough for pictures:

Most of the people that take the few hour excursion to Halibut Cove eat at their locally famous restaurant, The Saltry. We decided to pack a picnic lunch and take more time to explore the quaint boardwalk community and the two art galleries featuring local artists. It was certainly a picturesque place!

We also hiked up the hill on the island where Halibut Cove is situated, which gave views towards the Kenai Mountains on one side and back towards Homer on the other. Here is a view overlooking the trail, the town, and the mountains beyond:

This morning as we packed the car the owner of the cabin where we were staying came to tell us there was a moose nearby. We went over to take a look, hoping it would be one of the moms with calves she had seen around recently. Sure enough, with a little patience, two young ones emerged from the trees and took a curious look at us before scampering deeper into the woods after mom:

Then it was time to hit the road and make our way towards Seward on the other side of the Kenai Peninsula. We stopped a few miles outside of Seward to take the hike up to Exit Glacier, the most accessible point of Kenai Fjords National Park and Preserve. As we hiked up the trail, we saw and heard a couple of hermit thrushes (year bird 203). It was amazing to see how much the glacier as receded, as marked by signs stating the years at sites that were formerly the ice front of the glacier. This photo was taken from where the ice stood in 1998:

It's easy to jump to the conclusion that global climate change is the sole reason for the recession of this and other glaciers. I'm sure it plays a role, but it's also interesting to think about the cyclical advance and retreat of ice ages that the earth goes through anyway. Exit Glacier, for instance, has been retreating since the end of the last "little ice age" around 1815. We passed signs showing where the glacier stood along what is now the highway, miles away from its present location. It lost a lot of ground before we humans were pouring greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, indicating that we're in the middle of a warming phase anyway, though human factors are accelerating it to never before seen levels.

The air temperature dropped considerably as we approached the glacier and we started feeling the katabatic winds, or a chilly breeze that runs off the glacier as the cold air rushes down its slopes. Basically, the air on top of the glacier is cooled, and as a result becomes more dense since the density of air is inversely proportional to its temperature. The denser air then sinks and is pulled down the slope by gravity, replacing the warmer, less dense air down at the face of the glacier, where we were standing. Luckily it was warm enough out that the cold air felt great!

Even though Exit Glacier is just a fraction of its former size, and in fact is one of the smallest glaciers that extend of the Harding Ice Field that makes up the bulk of Kenai Fjords National Park, when you are right at the face of the glacier it still seems pretty huge!

Animals and Icebergs in Prince William Sound

Location: Valdez, Alaska
Population: 4036

Today we took a wildlife watching trip out of Valdez into Prince William Sound. When I was 12, we came to Alaska for a week on a family vacation and went whale watching in Glacier Bay National Park. I was always an animal lover, but in many ways that trip cemented my passion for the natural world and for whales in particular. It was the first time I saw orcas in the wild, and when I got home, I looked to see if there was somewhere closer to home where I would have a chance to see killer whales again. That's when I learned about the San Juan Islands, where I have visited or spent every summer since then. Even though I have loved being in the San Juans, a part of me has always yearned to return to Alaska, which is why I couldn't pass up this trip. As we pulled out of the harbor this afternoon, I couldn't help but smile - I've finally made it back!

We passed a fishing boat offloading its catch to a cannery on the way out, and it was interesting to hear the captain explain that in Alaska, the salmon fishing season only opens after the escapement goals are met, rather than based on projected escapement as occurs in other states. (Escapement refers to the amount of fish that "escape" a fishery to ensure the population remains sustainable.) Perhaps that is one reason Alaska's fisheries are so much more sustainable than those in Washington, Oregon, and California?

A bald eagle flew right by the boat and several black-legged kittiwakes (192) followed us out into the sound, a good omen for the trip to come. It didn't take long to spot a young humpback whale. This whale was lunge feeding on herring - something I've never seen before! It was awesome to watch. The whale would suddenly erupt from the surface head first with its throat expanding to take in a mouthful of water and fish. Then water would stream out its mouth as it filtered through its baleen and swallowed the herring. The whale would then take one breath, fluke as it dove, and we would have to wait and see where it would burst to the surface again. The whale was remarkably close to shore doing this behavior as well. Just like in the San Juans, the fjords here have been carved out by glaciers and thus the channels are very deep right where the land meets the water. The captain said the whale was in about 250 feet of water when it was as close to shore as in the photo below:

It's a little hard to tell what you're seeing in this next photo, but it is the whale's head coming out of the water with its chin facing the camera. If you look closely, you can see little herring jumping out of the water trying to avoid becoming lunch.

Humpback whales can be identified by the unique markings on their flukes. We got several nice looks as this one dove down to set up for another lunge:

After a while we headed further out into the sound. We saw several groups of Dall's porpoise throughout the day, including a group of about 6 or 8 that came over and rode off the bow for a while. That is always so much fun to see!

We passed Bligh Reef, the place where the Exxon-Valdez ran aground in 1989 causing what was, until recently, the most devastating oil spill ever to occur in North America. It's pretty poignant to be at the site of this oil spill now with what is going on in the Gulf of Mexico. The captain was talking a lot about how well the ecosystem has rebounded, which is great to hear. He said there are actually more herring and hence more humpback whales in the area now than in the pre-spill days. Unfortunately, he didn't talk much about how the area is still feeling the impacts of the spill that occured more than 21 years ago. For example, the large numbers of deaths that occurred to local marine animal populations will take a long time to rebound, if they do at all. The 22 orcas that died as a result of the oil spill have doomed at least one local pod. I don't want to put such a damper on things, but it's important to talk about, especially in light of what's going on right now!

We went past Glacier Island, which had an impressive colony of Steller sea lions on it. It was cool to see so many females, which we only rarely see in the San Juans. They are amazingly small next to the big males! I got some closer pictures of the sea lions, but I thought this shot that showed how many were there was actually kind of neat. It also shows what most of the landscape we passed looked like:

Also in the same area we spotted two far-away flying tufted puffins (193). Apparently it's still a bit early in the year for them. I'm going to count them on the year list, but I hope we get a better view of them and maybe their cousins the horned puffin sometime this trip!

Today was our first day of the trip that was gray and drizzly. The temperature also dropped considerably. The air temperature was about 40 degrees when we left the dock, and dipped to a frigid 34 by the time we made our way towards the Columbia Glacier! As we navigated through the the bay filled with icebergs to get closer to the glacier, we spotted this sea otter with a pup on her chest. It was cool to see sea otters all over the place today! In this shot you can just make out the head of the little one below the head of the mom:

The gray skies and low-level clouds were an appropriate atmosphere for being surrounded by ice. We had experienced the warm temperatures and mosquito-filled air of the Alaska summer, but today it truly felt like we were approaching the Arctic. Our captain, who has been running trips in the area since the mid-1970s, said it used to be possible to drive right up to the face of the Columbia Glacier. In 1977, a crack formed in the glacier that sped up the calving process, and since then the glacier has retreated a remarkable 8 miles in just over 30 years. Tidewater glaciers advance and retreat for a variety of reasons and not all dwindling tidewater glaciers are as a result of climate change. Apparently, it's debated what caused the crack in the Columbia Glacier, but the result is clear. Where once you could boat right up to the front of the glacier, you are now met with an impassable field of giant icebergs that have broken off from the main ice of the glacier.

It was an impressive sight and an unusual one, which led to the taking of lots and lots of pictures. Here are two I picked out to give you the feel of it:

On our way back to the harbor we came across another, slightly larger humpback whale. This one seemed to be feeding as well, though with a little less enthusiasm, and it didn't lift its tail once when it dove. It did, however, surprise us by coming up right off the bow, first by rolling at the surface as it gulped some herring and raising one pectoral fin in the air in the process:

Then it took a breath and gave us a fantastic look at the double blowholes humpbacks have, like all other baleen whales (orcas and other toothed whales and dolphins just have one blowhole):

The spray from the blow drifted right into our faces on the deck - so cool! Too soon it was time to go and we headed back to port, again accompanied by some black-legged kittiwakes:

Mountains, Glaciers, and Birds on the way to Valdez

Location: Valdez, Alaska
Population: 4036

Although we did have some rainstorms overnight, we woke up again to sunny skies and hit the road to head to Valdez. The first part of the drive was along the Tok Cutoff which brought us by several lakes and marshes. We stopped at one point to look at some ducks, and noticed some birds that were flycatching from the trees next to the marsh. A closer examination revealed them to be a flock of Bohemian waxwings (year bird 190, life bird 325)! I often see their cousins the cedar waxwings, but have long wanted to see these slightly more colorful birds. Very cool. While we were working to identify the waxwings a male rusty blackbird (year bird 191, life bird 326) also flew in!

Next up were some great views of several of the mountains in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park. At over 20,000 square miles (over 13 million acres) it is more than six times the size of Yellowstone and is the largest National Park in the United States. It borders Glacier Bay National Park of the US and Kluane National Park and Tatshenshini-Alsek Provincial Park of British Columbia, which together are recognized as a World Heritage Site and make of the largest internationally protected areas in the world. Within Wrangell-St. Elias are several of the tallest peaks and biggest glaciers on the continent, and since access to the park is limited we were thankful for the clear views of the mountain peaks from the highway that borders the park. This is Mount Drum, which measures in at 12,010 feet:

It's a good thing we didn't make quite as many stops in the morning because once we reached the Richardson Highway that heads south to Valdez we were again face-to-face with snow-capped mountains and glaciers which required frequent stops to photograph and take it all in. Here is a view looking straight down the highway:

It wasn't just about the mountains though, as we had some good wildlife sightings as well, including our closest moose encounter. This female was swimming around in a boggy area - quite an impressive sight!

We stopped to take a look at Worthington Glacier which is close enough to the road that you can walk nearly to the face of it. By this time we were near the top of Thompson Pass, and while it's just over 2700 feet there was still quite a bit of snow on the ground. We had to trudge through the snow-covered paths to get the best look at the glacier, but the woman at the visitor's center said that just about a ten days ago the snow was still towering over her head and the parking area and paths were impassable. These warmer temperatures are just now bringing summer to the region. Here is a photo looking up at the glacier that, due to its accessibility, is also a research site for scientists studying how glaciers move and the impact of climate change:

The lady at the visitor's center had also put out some fresh fish in a nearby snow field with hopes of keeping this eagle from predating on the mew gull nests nearby. I'm not sure if that's the right thing to do, but how different is it really from putting seeds out for passerines in your backyard? The eagle gave one impressive flyover - look how mottled it is! Not quite fully adult yet since the tail isn't white:

Several black-billed magpies were also taking advantage of the easy meal:

As we passed through Thompson Pass a little further on we found ourselves nearly surrounded by mountain peaks. A single photograph just wouldn't do it justice so I tried piecing together a panorama. It's not the best but it gives you the idea of about 180 degrees of the view. I'm not sure how to post it much bigger than this so you'll have to click on it to see a larger view. The only time I've seen a view even remotely like this was in the Alps in Switzerland 12 years ago!

As we descended from the Pass the snow faded quickly into waterfalls, rivers, and marshes fed by all the snow melt. We saw several more pairs of trumpeter swans, but this is the first pair thus far that we've seen that already has signets. A baby swan is the little ugly duckling of the storybook, but these guys were already pretty darn cute!

As we continued our descent towards sea level the tall cliffs of Keystone Canyon started to tower over us on either side. This trip has at many times been a living geology lesson as in a short stretch of highway we passed through the broad U-shaped valley characteristic of being carved by a glacier into the steep V-shaped valley cut through the mountains by a river. The numerous tumbling waterfalls continued to slowly shape and morph the canyon as we watched, and by looking up into the grooves cut into the valley walls you could see where water had been running for thousands of years. This is Horsetail Falls:

The weather has finally caught up to us! The beautiful clear skies stayed with us into Valdez, but this morning there is rain and low-lying clouds are now hiding most of the mountains that encircle this town.