Aleutian Islands again

I'm back in Dutch Harbor!  On the way here I had a few nice foxes.  This one was in Kodiak, and she was sleeping on the shoreline during a kayak.  She had a look around and then went to visit her kits after.

We went to Kodiak after that and found tons of bears in Geographic Harbor

This one was chasing a salmon

Chasing...

Its getting away!

After chasing the salmon he went upstream and looked there for a while

waiting

and then found one!

Here's another on a beach

Later we went on a kayak up this small stream and in a canyon there was this mama bear with cubs looking down at us

and a close Merganser skimming along

Later on at Wide Bay I found some Sandhill Cranes

And then at Aniakchak an Arctic Ground Squirrel

Then we found some lunge feeding Fin Whales

You can see the ventral pleats and the pectoral fins

there are two working together

and they lunge and then slowly turn over

Now you can see the dorsal fin a little bit

and breathe 

then down for more!

Another lunge going away from me

Out in Unalaska Island (where dutch harbor is) I did a nice walk with some fluffy Northern Cottongrass

And some iris

Here's an eagle about to land

there's a lot of funny wind along the cliff

And the fog is flowing over the hills

I found an Ancient Murrelet

A look up the green valley 

with a rainbow

And an Arctic Ground Squirrel

with the pretty spots

There was also a great fox in the paintbrush

a closer look

 

Another Prince William Sound

Another trip in Prince William Sound!  It rained all the week, until the last day, but we went to a cool spot with a dead "ghost" forest.  And then to the ester Island hatchery, where we found some cool stellar Jays

And some bears

Eating chum salmon

Then looking around

With an eagle in a tree trying to dry off

We also found a sperm whale.  It was super cool.  I used the hydrophone to listen to it pinging its ecolocation as it dived

Here's the tail

I also found a fin whale and got a nice skiff tour with it

You can see its a fin

And a few humpbacks too

Here's one fluking

We found some bubblenetters, and they were lunging upwards, I got a few shots in quick succession

Jaws closing

And more closed

And the water leaks out

Then back down for more!

We also found some nice orcas, they came by to check out the boat.