Juneau and break

 This was the last week of my rotation, and we started in Sitka.  Since we had only about 43 people on board, we were able to get all of them on skiffs at the same time, so we had a few extra things this week.  Our first was a bonus skiff tour at the Magouns on the first day, where we drove out into Sitka Sound and found a phalarope!  After that we went up to Funter bay to try and find bubblenetter whales, and I did a bushwack and found a chestnut backed Chickadee, which was eager to show itself off to me and get close.

 I think it may have been nesting nearby.  Here's another shot.

 Then we had a gigantic thunderstorm in the afternoon and when it cleared we found the bubblenetters!  We dropped the skiffs and put everyone in them and went out to look.

 We had a digital rangefinder to make sure we were far enough away, and I must confess, I didn't really know what 100 yards looked like.  I was really quite surprised at how big these animals are and therefore how hard it is to tell distance.  We were 104 yards at closest approach and I would have thought it was much less.  I guess I tend to be about 150 or so away when I watch whales and that is the distance I estimate to be 100.

 They were really cool

 Ben, who organized this and made it happen, was really excited about it all, of course.

 We had a hydrophone, and put it in the water and listened to them as they were getting ready to feed, and they have a call that is really eerie before they come up, its called "the call of the bubble warrior"

 Here's one from pretty close

 Then we went to Hidden Falls hatchery and there are lots of bears there when the salmon are running, so we toured the hatchery and also looked at the bears.

 The Chum salmon are coming in and they are cool looking, and apparently tasty.

 The bears didn't pay us much mind.

 Poor salmon

 Then we went to Takatz and went up a river to look at birds, and I found these Mergansers

 Then we went out to Cross Sound, where the ocean waves meet the inland waters and I did a kayak that is my favorite one.  I found an oystercatcher.  There is some sea caves and I like to paddle in one and howl, and then also go through an arch.

 Then we went to the inian islands and got snuggly with some otters

 They were all tucked into the kelp

 And holding on to each other like teddy bears

 There are loads of sea lions at the inians and we found a few

 And got nice and close

 Also a few whales.  This one came really close

 And in this shot you can see the whale lice around the blowhole.

 It was a nice week, and a good one to end my rotation on. 

To sitka

 We had heard about some whales doing a special thing, so day one we went to look.  They were Bubble-net feeding!  Its very exciting and we watched for a while, good way to start the week.

I did a hike and found some Stellar Jays

 then we went back for some more whales in the evening.  It finally began to rain, so the land is going back to normal.

 The whales waved us goodbye.

 Then we went to the Inian Islands, and I love it there.  Loads of birds, here are some cormorants

 And Pigeon Gillemots

 And sea lions!  Tons of them!

 I also got a nice close look at an otter

 Who went to sleep

 There were whales there too, I had a nice kayak with one

 As well as puffins

 And baby otters

 And more sea lions, eating fish

 Both types of puffins, in fact.  this is a horned puffin

 In Glacier Bay we found some orcas

 And they followed us up into glacier country.  This is Lamplugh, and I hope to get a closer view of it in a few weeks. 

 We went to Pavlof harbor and found a bear

 then we cancelled the afternoon at iyoukeen and had to scramble for a new spot, and I found this river just across the bay from Tenakee Springs and it was really a nice skiff tour up the river as far as we could get.

 In the evening we did a little crew paddle and found some bears

 Who were curious

 And then we had to cancel the last day also and figure out a new spot, so we ended up in Sukoi inlet and found a deer!

Eastern Coves

Ok, this is going to be a big post.  I'd been trying to get it done for the last few weeks, but the internet always was slow.  The eastern coves trip is the one from Juneau to Ketchikan, and back, and it is one of my favorites, because we go along the coast mountains, and the glaciers that come down from them.  Also, there is the possibility of lots of different kinds of wildlife, though we don't tend to see it that often.  

I got to go to Anan Creek Bear Observatory, and that place is super cool, so I've got some nice shots of bears from that..

We started out going to Endicott Arm, and found the Dawes Glacier up there.  It was big and calving massive chunks and super cool, and lots of seals were up there too.

In the evening we went to North Dawes and found some Shovelers.

Another few shots from Anan, both Black and Brown bears live there.

This is a shot of Sumdum Glacier, and it has gotten much smaller since I first started coming up here, but I don't have an exact shot to compare with it, I'll have to look and see if I can find one. 

Ok, so here's Dawes.  Its retreated about 1 mile from where I can remember since I started here, but there was a Gigantic piece that fell off when we were looking, you can see the berg in the front, its about 700 ft long by 200 ft wide by 400 ft, and it made a big splash.

More seals looking happy

A closer look at some ice

And what happens when they fall down

Some more bears from Anan

We had these cute barn swallows try to nest on the boat at Thomas Bay, and they began to bring mud to make a nest.

I found some of this, which I think is a Spirerea...?

 And this eagle was sitting on the beach in boot sucking mud and walking around looking like a true alaskan

 When we were in Wrangell we did an all day paddle and it was a good time, we found some loons, and had a nice time around the Stikine river delta.  I'd like to spend more time exploring there.

 There were a few sandpipers looking around in the mud there too

 And some eagles

 Then, I found an Owl.  This is the first Barred Owl I've seen, and it was really nice and friendly. 

 It did ask me who, who goes there?

 At Leconte Ice gardens we found a nice seal that let us get real close

 And there are a bunch of shorebirds that are starting to come through, the Black Turnstones, they let us get a really nice look at them

 There is a dead boat on the beach at Robert and Crow Islands, I'd like to float it and take it away, but its going to be falling apart soon. 

 An oystercatcher.

 And some Surfbirds

 On my skiff tour at Robert and crow, I had some Orcas come and check me out.  It was really cool, they are great to see from a skiff.

 We watched them from the big boat as well

 And they looked at us too.

 And waved

 Waved again

 Then we went to Sawyer Glacier, which is my favorite.  Its the bluest there is.  In Tracy Arm.  I got a skiff tour where I got real close up to the glacier and it was fantastic

 The ice is unbelievable there

 And a snoozing pair of seals were in the perfect place

 A closer view

 It looks like frozen waves

 A storm even

 The seals were all over the ice, looking fat

 and one was kind of striped

 Then on our way out we found some bears, since it finally started raining.  This one was really skinny.  In fact there are two, I think the cub is the brown one.