Tag Archives: wildlife

Reykjavik

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I previously visited Reykjavik while on a two week visit to Iceland. I’m back for a short visit in hopes of seeing the aurora borealis. Thus far the weather and solar activity has not cooperated for that. Today I walked around a bit and took a few more photos.

In the middle of Reykjavik is a large pond, but in winter it is completely frozen over, except for a small corner. All the waterfowl are congregated in that area waiting on people to bring them bread. (On my Reykjavik post from 2014, there are photos of Tjörnin and the area in front of City Hall in May to compare how they look in winter and summer.)

Tjörnin (a pond or lake), which is almost completely frozen over

Birds congregating when people with food arrive

Swans came to determine if the reason I came to the water’s edge was to feed them

Monument to the Unknown Bureaucrat

The water in front of City Hall is completely frozen

Entrance to the Icelandic Punk Museum, which is located in a former public restroom

Denali National Park Hiking

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One day in Denali was completely full with the bus tour and with rafting. We planned another day for hiking, and the hiking in Denali, just around the visitor’s center is wonderful. We didn’t have time to do much hiking, but based on the maps, you could spend a couple of days hiking just on the trails. Then of course, you could spend lots more time doing off trail hiking. Right now, so many wild flowers are in bloom that the trails are full of color. The trees are green, and it is just wonderful.

Bike Path back to visitor’s center

Trees lining the trail

Hines Creek

Arctic Ground Squirrel in the parking lot

Spruce Grouse (hen with two chicks in the front)

Hedysarum alpinum (Alpine Sweetvetch)

Chamerion angustifolium (Fireweed)

Denali National Park Bus Tour

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From Anchorage, we took the train to Denali for the next leg of our Alaskan vacation. We took a bus tour of Denali Tundra Wilderness Tour, which takes goes about 60 miles into the park from the visitor’s center. The bus driver was pretty good about stopping whenever wildlife was spotted. Unfortunately, most of the wildlife is pretty far away or hidden behind trees. Good for the wildlife, but bad for taking photographs of the the wildlife. I took numerous out of focus photos of caribou, several moose behind a tree photos, and an impressive number of photos of far away bear sides or butts where you can barely identify them as bears. The tour also stops at several gorgeous overlooks including the last stop of Stony Hill, which provides impressive views of Denali.

Teklanika River

Toklat River

Denali from Stoney Hill Overlook

Polychrome Overlook

Bears

Caribou

Hedysarum boreale (boreal sweetvetch)

Castilleja elegans (elegant Indian paintbrush)

Anemone parviflora (Small-Flowered Anemone)

Kenai Fjords Cruise

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From our train trip to Seward, we then took a cruise from Seward around Resurrection Bay and Aialik Bay in Kenai Fjords National Park. It was an amazing six hour cruise around gorgeous scenery. There was beautiful tree-lined rocky shores and numerous glaciers. We also saw several humpback whales, harbor seals, a sea otter, and numerous birds, including puffins (one of my favorite birds).

Thumb Cove

Puffin

Humpback whale, mother and calf

Sea otter

Near entrance to Aialik Bay

Aialik Glacier

Aialik Glacier

Harbor seals in front of Aialik Glacier

Harbor seals in front of Aialik Glacier

Humpback whale

Skee Glacier

Mendenhall Glacier Recreation Area

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We spent the say at Mendenhall Glacier Recreation Area, which has lots of hiking trails to see the area. Some of the trails are to provide good views of the glacier, some are for hiking in the woods, and some are few viewing the salmon and the bears when the salmon are spawning. There salmon were not here yet, but we got really lucky and saw a momma bear and her two cubs. The visitor’s center has photos and a film that shows just how much the glacier has retreated. One of the trails we hiked on also has markers showing where the ice used to be, and the retreat of the ice is incredible. The area is lovely, and one thing I liked was how basically anything that was not moving was covered in lichen and moss.

View of the Mendenhall Glacier and Nugget Falls

Mendenhall Glacier

Nugget Falls

Steep Creek. Streams from mountain runoff are everywhere

Steep Creek flowing into glacial lake

Black bear and one of her cubs

Second black bear cub was originally sleeping in the tree before joining mom and sibling

Lichen and moss on a boulder

Lupines

Lupines

Small waterfall on Trail of Time trail

Small creek

Tracy Arm Fjord

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During my first full day in Juneau, I took a day cruise to Tracy Arm to see the fjord and glaciers. We saw two glaciers, Sawyer Glacier and South Sawyer Glacier, which really used to be the same glacier. Along the way to see the glaciers, we traveled through the beautiful Tracy Arm Fjord. The fjord has numerous former glacier valleys, river valleys, and water falls. The fjord has numerous icebergs, generally rather small icebergs, that have broken off the glaciers. Many of the larger icebergs serve as resting places for harbor seals. We also were lucky enough to see a black bear eating mollusks or something on the shore. Later, while headed back to Juneau, there were Steller sea lions and more harbor seals on the Midway Islands.

Iceberg

Tracy Arm fjord

Sawyer Glacier

Up close view of Sawyer Glacier

South Sawyer Glacier

South Sawyer Glacier

Up close view of South Sawyer Glacier

Harbor seal

Harbor seals

Black bear

Steller sea lions

Snorkeling in Alaska

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While planning for my vacation in Alaska, I learned that there is a company, appropriately named Snorkel Alaska, that leads snorkeling tours near Ketchikan. If there is a way for me to get into the water, especially if it means seeing some cool wildlife, I am there. This morning I went on my guided tour. They supplied all the equipment including a wetsuit, hood, gloves, etc. Perhaps maybe my toes got cold, but that was it. The wetsuit did its job. I got to snorkel around for over an hour seeing sea urchins, sea stars, fish, sea cucumbers, sea weed, and so much more. It was one of the best snorkeling tours I have taken. I love snorkeling in warm water and seeing coral, but this cold water provided so much to see.

Lots of sea grass and kelp

Crab

Sea urchins and sea cucumbers

Sea urchin

Completely out of focus photo of a nudibranch. I was so excited to see a nudibranch I am sharing the out of focus photo anyway.

Sea star

Sea urchins

Sea star

Sea star and tube worms

Sea stars

Chiton

Sea of Cortez Cetaceans

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First off, the reason why I am titling this post cetaceans, is that I can’t remember if they naturalists on the ship decided these were whales or dolphins. While on my ill-fated trip to Baja California, the ship passed cetaceans several times, and several times the cetaceans came to ride our bow wave. It was so fun to see them. I decided to post some of the better photos that I took. If anyone can identify which specific cetaceans these are, I will happily update my post. Also, in some of the up-close photos of them riding the ship’s bow wave, remora fish stuck onto the cetaceans are visible.

Pod of cetaceans

Pod of cetaceans

Pod of cetaceans

Pod of cetaceans

Pod of cetaceans

Cetaceans riding the bow wave

Cetaceans riding the bow wave

Cetaceans riding the bow wave with visible remora fish

Cetaceans riding the bow wave with visible remora fish

Cetaceans riding the bow wave

Snorkeling with Sea Lions

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One of the things I was able to do while on my short cruise in the Sea of Cortez was to go snorkeling with sea lions. There is a small island, which is more of a large rock outcropping, were birds and sea lions live. The water beneath is filled with fish, otherwise why would the birds and sea lions be there. People are allowed to snorkel in the area, but they are not allowed to dive there. We were even required to wear a slightly inflated flotation vest to prevent us from diving. We were also warned that the sea lions are quite playful. They are known to like to gnaw on people, like a puppy might when playing. I got gnawed on at my wrist. Then either the same sea lion of another gnawed on my ankle and kept going right up to my thigh.

The sea lions are amazing to watch. They are so swift and fast. They are extremely hydrodynamic. They are cute and playful. Although the gnawing didn’t break the surface of my skin and didn’t hurt too much, I could have done without the gnawing.

These are not the best photos I have ever taken, but GoPros are only point and shoot. Still I though I would present some of the better ones.

Sea lion gnawing on someone’s elbow

Sea lion

Sea lion swims right in front of my face

Sea lion

Sea lions

Sea lion

Sea lion cuddling (?) with someone

Sea lion gnawing on someone’s fin

Sea lions

Sea lion

Sea lion

Sea lions

Sea lion

Sea lion

Sea lion

Tomato Hornworm

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Where there are tomato plants, there will be tomato hornworms. This one was found on my relatives tomato plant. This is one of those life forms that you don’t want on a plant, but it is really neat to look at and photograph.

Tomato Hornworm

Tomato Hornworm

Tomato Hornworm