Writing and Photography of wild lands and seas
Another bird-nerd critter post! I have a soft spots for goofy-looking birds and they don’t get much goofier than auklets. On our sail to the Arctic, Seth and I spent several days on St Paul island in the central Bering Sea, binoculars and cameras trained on cliffs full of nesting auklets. It was a toss-up for my favorite, but the Least Auklet was certainly a contender.Continue reading “Critter Post 6: Least Auklet”
All my critter posts so far have focused on mammals, but we see so many interesting birds while sailing that I thought it was time for an avian critter post. We were lucky enough to see a snowy owl on the tundra of Alaska’s North Slope. We watched him for hours as he swept low over the tundra and perched on whalebones. Since it was summer in the Arctic, he was hunting in full daylight (even though it was close on midnight), and the low angle of the sun made for lovely light for photography.Continue reading “Critter Post 5: Snowy Owl”
Sailing south through the Alaska Panhandle, we spotted our first American mink, the animal I’ve decided to make the subject of my fourth Critter Post.
Basic Facts:Continue reading “Critter Post 4: American Mink”
Despite a paucity of images, I’ve decided to write about the caribou for Critter Post 3. Caribou are an integral part of life in the Arctic and we were lucky enough to see one on the shore of the Beaufort Sea on Alaska’s North Slope – quite the sight, the lone antlered creature on the vast tundra. He was too far away to photograph, so for Critter Post 3 I’m using a couple of images taken on our trip to Denali National Park.Continue reading “Critter Post 3: Caribou”
I’ve decided to make the American Black Bear the subject of Critter Post No. 2. For those of you who didn’t see Critter Post 1, the inspiration for this series came from fellow blogger, sailor, and birder who writes a regular Bird Photography Challenge post on her site s/v Take It Easy.Continue reading “Critter Post 2: American Black Bear”
As many of you know, the wildlife we see on our voyages is one the big highlights of sailing for us. So I’ve decided to try out a few posts exclusively about critters. This is mostly inspired by fellow birder, sailor, and blogger Chris of s/v Take It Easy, who writes informative posts about bird species that she sees, accompanied by her excellent photos. After spending a recent afternoon watching sea lions on a navigation marker outside a town in Alaska (see photo above), I’ve decided to make the subject of my first Critter Post the Steller Sea Lion.
This was a tough winter for living aboard our sailboat – the harbor froze over; it was unusually cold and snowy for the Pacific NW; and the short days were a bit depressing at times – but we made some great friends and, being amateur bird nerds, we really enjoyed all the wintering avian visitors – harlequin ducks, long-tailed ducks in their winter plumage, American widgeons, buffleheads, common goldeneyes, and hooded mergansers. Here are a few pictures we took on one glorious sunny day in January:
American Widgeons:
Yesterday was the 150th anniversary of the sale of Alaska from Russia to the United States – the famous “Seward’s Folly” of purchasing Alaska for 7.2 million dollars, about 15 billion today. There have been lots of articles out there on this event, so those of you who’d like to know more here are some interesting links:
To mark 150 years, here are 15 of our favorite photos that we’ve taken of The Last Frontier:
This fall we’ve been “stuck” on the Olympic Peninsula while repairing Celeste, but it’s been a great place to be stuck. Not only have we made some wonderful friends, but we’ve gotten to explore the peninsula quite a bit. It’s the northwesternmost part of the contiguous United States and the mountains that form its spine are the second largest range in Washington State. The highest peak is the glaciated Mt Olympus, at nearly 8,000 feet. Rainforests and lakes surround it, draining to the dramatic Pacific coastline of beaches, breakers, and rock formations. Much of it is national park land, so is beautifully wild and undeveloped and full of animals. It’s been a wonderful area to hike and explore on our days off from boat projects and work. Here are a few photos:Continue reading “Hiking the Olympic Peninsula”
Gone Floatabout