Cruisin' - Juneau and Skagway (#174-177)

We boarded the Radiance of the Seas at night on the 26th...which felt a little unreal having planned this cruise nearly a year prior. Here's a little map of where we went (red and yellow dots)

The first day was spent entirely at sea, with a stop to admire Hubbard Glacier. There was word that an albatross had been cruising with the ship for a while in the morning; alas, I did not see it. I had a little hope in my heart for the odd pelagic, but didn't really spent a ton of time on my balcony with my eyes peeled on the skies...too much to do on the ship!

Day 2 we hit JUNEAU, the capital of Alaska and home of Mrs. Palin. In case you didn't know, there are NO roads that go to Juneau, so you must fly or boat in (unless you are in possession of a teleporter). It was a rainy day, so that was a bit of a downer, but didn't stop us from going at it full force anyway. I didn't take the camera out with me as our plans got a little switched around and once I decided I wanted it, we were off the boat already. We spent the morning climbing up Mount Roberts (elevation 3819 ft - there's a tram that goes up too, but that's just too easy isn't it?).

At the top there was a "Raptor Centre," which made always makes me anxious and conflicted, because I obviously love to see birds, but I don't really support keeping animals in captivity so I don't visit zoos, aquariums or any of the like. Well, at the top of the hill there was a little coop with a HUGE adult eagle. I spoke to her supervisor, who explained that she was rescued and that made me feel a little better: she had been shot through her beak (WTF?!) and lost her left eye, resulting in a crash that broke her wings. I asked how long she had been there and when she would be released; she had been there 5 years and would never be released because she would not regain her full flight capabilities or eyesight so she could not survive in the wild :( So I guess there is no option but to keep her in captivity, but that little coop was so small for such a magnificent bird. I dunno...maybe there is something I don't know.

In the afternoon we headed to Mendenhall Glacier. These falls are just beside it.

 Didn't see a ton in the line of birds, except these guys at the visitor centre:

mega-cuteness

But wouldn't you know what we did see!

BEARS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I may have mentioned once or twice how terrified I am of bears, but for some reason I wasn't scared at all seeing these guys. And yes I was as close as it looks.  There are 17 actively feeding bears in the area (we saw 2). But they were too busy stuffing their bellies with salmon to be interested in me. After my trip to Alaska, I determined that I'm not all that scared of black bears but I am that much more terrified of grizzlies.

so scary

In the town of Juneau outside the Red Dog Saloon, I got a great shot of a raven in the street. The ravens there are kind of like crows here; I've never really seen them this close, and they are absolutely stunning birds. Check out the blue on the back, and the schnoz on that thing!

Day 3 we got to SKAGWAY. We took the White Pass Railroad in the morning, which follows the route of the 1898 Klondike Gold Rush. Some pretty spectacular scenery.

After our ride we sort of wandered around. There was a little path that ran behind the houses away from the main drag where all the tourists were. We saw this beautiful little juvenile thrush. The spots around its head ans shoulders are just lovely.

Not far away we found a backyard where there seemed to be a lot of activity and a bunch of feeders. Well, it was a little weird peeking into a stranger's yard, but we determined "there's lifers in that thar yard" (oh haha I made an Alaska joke).
We see some chickadees..."hey now, that doesn't sound quite right...hey now, they don't look quite right."

#174: Chestnut-sided Chickadee; Skagway, AK; August 2011

And then a Steller's Jay (you know, Steller, also of Steller sea lion fame--no, I didn't either until I went to Alaska), gets in the frame too. Holy bigeeessis! Then, wouldn't you know, the resident opens her door, gets a peanut, and that jay hops ONTO HER HAND to eat it. Well, why the heck haven't I tried to hand train blue jays?

#175: Steller's Jay; Skagway, AK; August 2011

In the same area there were some little yellow birds. I had also seen them in Seward and thought immediately, black-throated green warblers, NBD. Woops, then I started seeing this "Townsend's Warblers" mentioned everywhere and wondering a) what the heck are they and b) why haven't I seen one? I look in the book--black-throated greens aren't even in Alaska, they have a similar looking counterpart in Alaska. The markings on the face are quite different once you get down to looking!

#176: Townsend's Warbler; Skagway, Alaska; August 2011

We're sort of moseying along (because when we we're birding we don't seem to get anywhere very fast) and hear a huge bunch of little birds, and we follow them. And by huge flock I mean HUGE. We find them in the tops of the trees and this is the first time we've got pics of Pine Siskins. Not great pics, but pics nonetheless!

#177: Pine Siskin; Skagway, AK; August 2011

We saw a few varied thrushes over the course of the trip. I remember well the first one that we saw, and had one of those really awesome moments that don't happen too often anymore..."Omg I have no idea what that is, and I don't even know where to look for it in the bird book."

There's never enough time at any of the ports, and certainly not enough to get birding in with all the other things you want to see.  Even though we could have stayed longer, that boat would leave without us. So back on we got, and  more big adventures the next day at a new destination!

island adventures (131-133) long weekend

Easter took us to Kingston, and of course I jump at any opportunity to bird the island these days.
I promised my dad I would catch the 8:30 boat, but the 7:30 alarm hit me like a sack of potatoes. I really just wanted to stay in that blissful state of lying in bed and dreaming of wonderful things (including but not limited to birds). I dunno, maybe I should rename this blog "the afternoon birder" or something because I just hate getting up early (the other option was "the naked birdwatcher," a la jamie oliver*). Well, I always keep my word, so off to the ferry it was. There was a common loon a ways out from the ferry docks, and a great blue heron cruising over the water along Bath Road on the way there.

*Side note: No lie, Jamie Oliver named his kids Poppy Honey Rosie Oliver, Daisy Boo Pamela Oliver, Petal Blossom Rainbow Oliver and Buddy Bear Maurice Oliver.*

So, right off the bat, we get off the boat and it's bird overload (joking! we all know bird overload isn't possible, unless we're talking starlings). I'm beginning to think maybe it really is worth getting up earlier because it did seem much more active than usual. But I would only get up early for the next little while because once the sun starts rising ridiculously early, you can fuhgetaboutit.

The intention was to head to dad's, but right on the 40-foot there was a little birdie singing away close to the road. I had my hopes up for an eastern meadowlark because I know there are lots on the island and I've somehow managed to miss them up until this point. Not a meadowlark, but a bird with some yellow...Savannah Sparrow. Saw lots of these throughout the day.

From there, we noticed across the field two osprey nesting at the school, so turned around to get to Front Road. How they are okay with a yard full of screaming kids is beyond me...!!!

There were also lots of swallows flitting about and I found these neat nests built into the school wall/roof.

AND THEN....dun dun dun dun....I saw something, something a little different, something with a flash of yellow....I followed it to where it went, but darn, it was so far off. Looked through the mini-bins that mom gave me for my birthday (thanks mom!) and YES! I caught sight of his yellow belly and black bib. But so far away....

So at this point I was really having a hard time with a birding dilemma...being that I hate to stop when the going is so good, but I knew that dad was missing out on this wonderful adventure and would be wondering how I managed to stretch a 10-minute drive into an hour on a 4 km-wide island. So we slowly tried to at least head in the right direction.

HOWEVER, next thing we know, there is this wicked fox running in the field, so of course Mr. Pursue The Animals At All Costs What Do You Mean It's Private Property Adventure Man in the driver's seat sets off to pursue it...while Ms. Leave the Poor Wildlife Alone yells in the passenger seat "Leave the poor thing alone!!" Well, this fox goes from the field to the road and is just running down the road--whether away from us or in pursuit of something I'm not sure. Then, there's a flash of white above it, and we realize there is a very interesting episode of Hey-that-fox-is-chasing-a-hawk-isn't-he-silly-wait-maybe-that-hawk-is-hunting-that-fox-but-actually-maybe-they-are-chasing-not-after-each-other-but-something-else-entirely-like-perhaps-a-juicy-mouse? Well, it was all very entertaining until finally Mr. Fox took off out of sight and we left him alone much to Ms. Leave the Poor Wildlife Alone's content.

Further up the forty footer (btw, where the heck they came up with that name is beyond me; the last time I checked 4km ≠ 40ft), a hawk was cruising along the road...Adventure Man just kept driving at the same speed as the raptor and it really felt like we were shooting an action movie...me hanging out the window trying to keep that sucker of a camera in focus and Mr. Stunt Driver trying to stay on the road. To be honest, I hate shooting in a moving vehicle and kept shouting STOP!!! But I can't say I'm not pleased with the results....and Mr. Hawk did his part to make the action film analogy work by catching a nice tasty something in the field as this all went down. No big deal...he likes an audience.

Finally we arrive at dad's and witnessed a brown creeper while eating breakfast. Funny, I've had such a hard time finding them but saw 4 this weekend: one at Mud Lake on Friday, one on the island and 2 (ok, the same one twice) at Mary's. And yet I didn't get a photo of any of them!

So, we decide to take the silver bullet (ford focus wagon) instead of dad's red dragon (chrysler minivan), despite the bullet being packed to the hilt with stuff, since going in the van means (for me) sitting on the floor with no seatbelt and barreling along with the doors open on both sides so I can get full views of everything. So we set to re-organizing the whole car and are finally on our way.

What do you know, not too far up the South Shore, a meadowlark is sitting on a wire.  I didn't expect this, but from a distance you could easily confuse it with a mourning dove (about that size, and the way it sits). So this is how I spent a good part of the day: Spot meadowlark, pull up as far as possible with caution, exit vehicle, approach, get just within a fair shooting distance and watch bird fly off before focusing/ensuring accurate height on monopod/pushing shutter button, REPEAT.

Let me take a moment now to tell you about a little thing that all islanders lament. Since plunging into the wild world of birding, dad has been much more observant of birds/birdwatchers on the island. He and the other islanders have expressed their frustration that visiting birdwatchers on Amherst

1. stop in the middle of the road
2. get out of their cars while their car is in the middle of the road
3. are nowhere to be found (are traipsing through fields) while their car is in the middle of the road and they have taken their keys with them.

On a more serious note, I should mention that I heard some rumours about the owl woods and they are not good...

Across from the farm at the bottom of the 40-foot, there is a little pond and I noticed some small ducks. Blue-winged teals! They are so beautiful. Oh, and that's a LIFER!

#131: Blue-winged Teal; Amherst Island, April 25, 2011.

Right beside that pond there was bird that looked kind of like a robin, so I tried to get a better look. It was very quiet, and being very sneaky, but I did get a good enough look to tell that it was a Hermit Thrush. Lifer!
#132: Hermit Thrush; Amherst Island, April 25, 2011.

Then, I finally got a meadowlark. Facing the wrong way. Hey, another lifer!
#133: Eastern Meadowlark; Amherst Island; April 25, 2011.

Ok, I'm a little peeved that blogger will only give me 200 characters in the tags. So, I'm going to split this entry in two to get them all in...meet me after the jump!