Pacific Ocean Birds, Adventures off and on in Oregon and Alaska

On June 6, I set out on an adventure that I had long looked forward to.  I ultimately hooked up with a group for bird photography up on the tundra of the Seward Pennisula out of Nome, Alaska, but before that I spent a few days on my own in Anchorage and Seward.  On the first weekend after my return, I went out with David Phillips, a lawyer with the firm and a couple of his buddies who were fishing for Halibut off the Oregon Coast out of Garibaldi.  Here are some shots from these two experiences.

Down on the south end of the Kenai Peninsula is the Seward boat harbor.  Seward is the place where the Iditarod  dog race originally started, and even today has many dog teams and dog team trainers.  It is a beautiful harbor surrounded by snow covered peaks, and out of which many of the most interesting birds in the world can be seen.  My first stop was the aquarium in town where there is a special bird display with live birds from the area.  Knowing that photographing these birds out on the open water would be difficult, I spent several hours capturing them up close. 

The Rhinoceros Auklet

 

 The Harlequin Duck

 A cute pair of Long-Tailed Ducks

 The King Eider, (which I unfortunately didn't see outside the aquarium).

And the female.

Great scenery just outside the aquarium.

 The Red-Legged Kittiwake, (which I also didn't see in the wild).

 And the Common Murre

A pair of mating Horned Puffins.

And the Tufted Puffin

 Just up the road, a pair of Red-Necked Grebe's shared a glacial lake with a nesting pair of Trumpeter Swans.

 Greater Scaup

 If someone can tell me what the Native peoples were fishing for here I would really appreciate it.  They were out with nets and throwing the fish back to their families on the bank. 

Out on a 40 foot boat operated by the Kenai Charter folks, a woman captain showed us some amazing scenery, birds and other wildlife.

Parakeet Auklet

And a raft of Rhinoceros Auklets

Thousands of Murres

 A young mountain goat

 Black Legged Kittiwakes by the thousands.

And even a Thick-Billed Murre

 A very cute family of River Otters

And several comical Sea Otters

Puffins flying all over.

 A family of Sea Lions

 And some very playful whales.

 Way back in a cave was a rare Red-Billed Cormorant

 And nearby was a Barrow's Goldeneye

A real thrill was a pair of Kittlitz Murelet.  This critically endangered species lives primarily around calving glaciers.  This pair was seen near Aialik Glacier. 

Even the Song Sparrow's look different up here. 

But the Wilson's Warbler's are just as cute as anywhere.

Just outside of  Anchorage is a wildlife area that had a great looking Bull Moose.

 Not far out of town was a slough where we saw Mew Gull (above), Artic Tern

 And our now well known friend the Red-Necked Grebe.

All of the above shots of the Terns, Gull and Grebe were taken after 11 pm.  It was the best light of the day until about 2 am as the "sunset" just lasted and lasted.  When we got up to Nome, it really got tricky to figure out when to sleep.

 So more on the Nome part of the trip later, but first a few photo's from the Pelagic adventure out of Garibaldi.

Dave and the Crew



 And a big Halibut!



 Black Footed Albatross



 

 

 Sooty Shearwater



 

 

Pink Footed Shearwater

 

 

 And even a few Buller's Shearwater



 

 Some Common Murre's



 

 A beautiful day off the Oregon coast and some great birds. 

I am a lucky guy to have done birds off both the coast of Alaska and Oregon inside a week.