The final (seventh) day of our Alaska Cruise started with a visit to Hubbard Glacier. We witnessed calving of chunks of ice as high as 20 story buildings. Favorable winds had cleared the icebergs from the area in front of the glacier, so our ship was able to maneuver quite closely.
Hubbard Glacier begins 76 miles away in Canada's Yukon and meets the sea in Disenchantment Bay (also known as Yakutat Bay). It is North America's largest tidewater glacier. As it breaks off into the sea it towers 60 feet tall and is 7 miles wide.
Far to the right, barely visible along the face of the glacier in the above photo, is an ice formation that looks like an animal's head with two protruding ears. We called it the "Batman" formation and it looked unstable.
The large deep blue tower just this side of Batman's "ear" suddenly came crashing down with a thunderous roar.
Luckily, I had captured a burst of about 12 frames as the tower fell. If you do not see the animation, click on the image to view the series as an animated GIF, or VISIT THIS LINK.
I did not expect to see many birds from our vantage point, but a mixed flock of Surf Scoters and Long-tailed Ducks appeared in front of the ship.
They burst into flight. This was the first time I had ever photographed Long-tailed Ducks. They are distinguished from the scoters by the white they show on their outer tail feathers.
This chunk of ice shows how the glacier's deepest layers are blue, indicating that the weight of snow that accumulated over more than a hundred years have squeezed out all the air.
Members of the ship's crew collected chunks of blue ice to be used in carvings (...and maybe cocktails.* Glacier "worms" crawl out when they are irritated by the alcohol-- see note at end of this post).*
In the foreground, a Bald Eagle was roosting on an iceberg.
The eagle flew up. It was in sub-adult plumage, probably in its fourth year.
Black-legged Kittiwakes flew around the ship.
We were offered a private tour of the ship's galley.
The next morning, we docked in Seward. Our ship, The Radiance of the Seas, is in the background.
Our families visited the Alaska SeaLife Center. The open aviary provided photo opportunities. Here are better views of Long-tailed Ducks:
Horned Puffins:
Tufted Puffins:
Common Murres:
A Common Murre with a pair of King Eiders:
Close-up of the male eider:
Red-legged Kittiwake:
Black Oystercatcher
We proceeded up to Denali National Park on the land portion of our tour.
*More about ice worms at this link
The Ballad of the Ice Worm Cocktail
--Robert Service, 1940
(final stanzas as Major Brown finally drinks it down
to earn the right to be called a "sourdough.")
...The Major took another look, then quickly closed his eyes,
For even as he raised his glass he felt his gorge arise.
Aye, even though his sight was sealed, in fancy he could see
That grey and greasy thing that reared and sneered in mockery.
Yet round him ringed the callous crowd - and how they seemed to gloat!
It must be done . . . He swallowed hard . . . The brute was at his throat.
He choked. . . he gulped . . . Thank God! at last he'd got the horror down.
Then from the crowd went up a roar: "Hooray for Sourdough Brown!"
With shouts they raised him shoulder high, and gave a rousing cheer,
But though they praised him to the sky the Major did not hear.
Amid their demonstrative glee delight he seemed to lack;
Indeed it almost seemed that he - was "keeping something back."
A clammy sweat was on his brow, and pallid as a sheet:
"I feel I must be going now," he'd plaintively repeat.
Aye, though with drinks and smokes galore, they tempted him to stay,
With sudden bolt he gained the door, and made his get-away.
And ere next night his story was the talk of Dawson Town,
But gone and reft of glory was the wrathful Major Brown;
For that ice-worm (so they told him) of such formidable size
Was - a stick of stained spaghetti with two red ink spots for eyes.
Visit these links to view the entire series of blogs on this Alaska trip:
Cruising to Ketchikan, Alaska
Cruising to Alaska's Icy Strait and Hoonah
Visiting Juneau and Skagway
Hubbard Glacier and Seward, Alaska
Denali National Park
Riding the rails from Denali to Anchorage
We love Alaska and have cruised and flown there five or six times. We persuaded our daughter and son-in-law to take a family vacation cruise along with a land tour. They invited us and his parents to join them. It was not a "birding" trip, but rather a great family experience. Of course, I always have an eye out for birds wherever I might go.
On day 1 of our Alaska Cruise, we departed Vancouver, Canada and sailed into the night. This is the Vancouver skyline.
I really loved the photo opportunity presented by this lighthouse as a sailboat passed by.
It inspired me to render the scene as a painting (thanks to Corel PaintShop Pro):
Here is another lighthouse similarly textured:
Hundreds of Steller's Sea Lions crowded on these rocks just past the above lighthouse as we steamed into the open waters of the Pacific Ocean. This was taken at about 9:30 PM as the Summer Solstice approached. The sky remained deep blue all night.
A poor shot of a Pelagic Cormorant:
Rhinoceros Auklets typically fly in single file. They are stocky short-winged alcids with heavy and often light-colored bills.
A few days later, in Seward, we would get close-up looks at them in the Alaska SeaLife Center.
Pigeon Guillemots flew away as the ship approached. From our balcony 9 stories high, we caught only passing shots.
At Alaska SeaLife Center, the birds were wild caught or raised in captivity. They wandered and flew freely in a large aviary. Here is a better look at Pigeon Guillemots.
The next day we cruised the Inside Passage, which weaves its way among the islands that lie just off the Pacific coasts of British Columbia and Alaska.
On Day #3 of our Alaskan cruise we arrived in Ketchikan early in the morning and enjoyed mostly clear skies. Our son-in-law Roly and his dad left on a deep sea fishing trip at 6:00 AM, and the rest of us boarded a coastal wildlife cruise. Unfortunately, its main targets were large furry and feathered creatures and provided only fleeting opportunities to photograph waterfowl, most of which I missed as the catamaran moved along at cruising speed. All three wildlife excursions out of our first stops should have carried a warning "We do not brake for birds!"
Ketchikan harbor:
Here are Mary Lou and I departing on the wildlife cruise, heading out with our daughter and her mother-in-law and our two granddaughters. Our ship, "The Radiance of the Seas," is in the background.
Many eagles were roosting along the shore, exploiting the numerous schools of herring. The salmon run had not yet begun.
This sub-adult Bald Eagle retains a dark eye stripe and its tail is not completely white.. It is probably four years old.
Two Adult Bald Eagles faced each other on the shore.
We saw many immature Bald Eagles in various plumage phases. These are probably in their third year (about two years old). Their bills are beginning to turn yellow.
We drew close to a group of Harbor Seals.
They eyed us warily.
I got off three shots of this pair of alcids as they were disappearing in the wake of our boat. Their brown color and short bills suggested they were Marbled Murrelets, confirmed when viewed on the computer screen.
Several Red-legged Kittiwakes foraged along the rocky shoreline. This was my first "lifer" of the trip.
I was lucky to get a shot of these Surf Scoters while everyone else was looking for bears.
Our daughter spotted this mother Black Bear with her cub just as the captain was about to depart. To me they appeared to be just rocks until they moved. We were able to get within a few hundred yards and watched them grazing.
Mother bear munching on grass.
We saw two Sitka Deer, a "black-tailed" species related to the Mule Deer. They had long shaggy coats and appeared to be shedding fur.
Departing Ketchikan. Next stop: Icy Straits and the port city of Hoonah.
We arrived back in Florida this afternoon and I put this post together past my normal bedtime, but my OCD would not allow me skip a weekly edition!
Visit these links to view the entire series of blogs on this Alaska trip:
Cruising to Ketchikan, Alaska
Cruising to Alaska's Icy Strait and Hoonah
Visiting Juneau and Skagway
Hubbard Glacier and Seward, Alaska
Denali National Park
Riding the rails from Denali to Anchorage
