Alaskan Wildlife

If visiting Denali National Park was the primary objective of our Alaska trip (and it was!) then getting a quality look at a ton of wildlife both at Denali and elsewhere in the state was one of our primary secondary goals. Alaska has a collection of wild animals that is probably unrivalled by any other state in the union and we were determined to see as much as we could see in our time both on land and on the water while there.

To that end, we made two decisions prior to embarking on this trip. First, we made sure our focus at every stop we made on our trip up the coast from Vancouver, British Columbia to Seward, Alaska was to make animals the number one priority. So before we made landfall at Ketchikan, Icy Strait Point, Juneau and Skagway (in that order), we made sure we had some kind of wildlife viewing excursion planned and booked.

The second decision we made wasn't related to the destination, but how we might get better looks at, and photographs of, the animals we hoped we'd see. Quite simply here, we bought a new camera.

Two harbor seals along the Lynn Canal near Skagway, including one doing his best rock impression.

Since I started this blog in 2013, I've been photographing pretty much everything everywhere I've gone with an iTouch, iPad, iPhone or the old Blackberry Torch that I clung to for far too long like some really weird security blanket (it's still to this day my alarm clock at home). In other words, I've been working for the last four plus years with some pretty low horsepower cameras. For most posts I've written on this blog, this hasn't mattered. These portable devices are good enough in most circumstances for me to get by.

But I really felt the deficiency in the camera department when we visited Africa in August of 2015. The kinds of details I wanted to get in photographing the gorgeous wild animals we saw on that trip just wasn't possible with the hardware I brought along. We also saw briefly the power of using a real camera to get closeup views at animals a long way away when a family we were on safari with us showed us just how good their camera's zoom was. They got some incredible shots of a lion yawning that we could barely see with our naked eyes.

So with a second safari trip on the horizon (so excited!!!) and our Alaska trip immediately in front of us where we hoped to get great views of bear, moose, wolves, whales and all sorts of other stuff, we decided to spend a little money on a new camera. What we ended up with was the Nikon COOLPIX P900. I don't usually promote products through this blog but we think the results are pretty incredible. It made our experience in Alaska so much better by allowing us to see and photograph details of animals at a distance that we couldn't possibly make out without the camera. To that end, all the shots on this post were taken with our new camera. Enough about that for now.

The best look we got at a coastal brown bear in the Spasski Valley. Thanks to our driver, Buddy, for the spot.

If you thought you could see all the wildlife in Alaska in Denali National Park, you'd be wrong. In fact, we didn't see any significant wildlife (magpies don't count) outside of Denali that we saw inside Denali except for a single moose by the side of the road. And that was on the drive south from the Park to the Anchorage airport. There are two main reasons for this: (1) there's no ocean near Denali and there are some creatures that just can't live away from the sea and (2) Denali has no salmon, and there are some animals that rely on those fish returning to their spawning ground to survive.

If there was a quality wildlife sighting we got in profusion all the way up the Alaskan coast, it was the bald eagle. There are an estimated 70,000 of these birds in all of North America with 30,000 of them being in Alaska. Consider that these birds need to be near places well stocked with fish like the sea, rivers or lakes, and it's no surprise there are a ton of them along the Alaska coast. We saw so many, in fact, that by the time we got to our last port of Skagway we were almost ready to ignore them, move on and see something else. Spoiled, I know.

If there's one thing we were taught early and often about bald eagles on this trip by our wildlife guides, it was how to spot them. The universal instruction at each stop was look for "golf balls" in the trees. Remarkably, this worked. Find a small white speck in the tree that makes up the Alaskan rainforests and nine out of ten times it will be a bald eagle. Do the zoom thing on the camera on a white spot and it usually ended up being one of these birds.

Bald eagle in the Alaskan Rainforest Sanctuary in Ketchikan.

Bald eagles are territorial, meaning you will only see a pair in about every mile or so of coast, although based on what we saw a bit inland, territories either overlap or are just plain ignored when it comes to scavenging for salmon heading upstream somewhere. Eagle pairs mate for life and keep returning to the same nest year after year. They also manage to supplement the materials used to build those nests every time they come back. We were told by our guide that picked us up in Icy Strait Point that after a while these homes can get to weigh a lot, like over 1,500 pounds, and can even collapse from their own weight. We saw a few pretty large ones on our way up the coast and I'd believe they can get to be pretty heavy.

In addition to bald eagles all along the length of the coast, our two best wildlife spotting days were on a whale watching trip just outside of Juneau and a stroll in the Tongass National Forest just south of Ketchikan, although we did manage to see one coastal brown bear very quickly in the Spasski Valley and got a great look at a number of harbor seals in the Lynn Canal (which is not a canal at all; it's a fjord) near Skagway.

Our trip to watch whales near Juneau was not my first whale watching trip. I've done that as recently as last year in Hawaii and before that off the coasts of Iceland, California, Seattle and Boston. Whale watching is above all an exercise in patience. Be prepared most trips to see very little and wait a long time between sightings that can ultimately be disappointing. Every once in a while you may get lucky and see some splashing or a full body breach or a feeding frenzy (which quite honestly is awesome!) but if you are humpback watching, you will likely have to settle for some back arching and then some flukes every once in a while before a deep dive. If you are unlucky (like we were in Iceland), your whale watch will ultimately end up just being a ride on a boat.

Two whales coming up for air near Juneau.

We were not unlucky in our whale watching off of Juneau. In fact, we saw a ton of humpback whales in the couple of hours we were at sea. The humpbacks come to Alaskan waters in the summer to feed on the enormous schools of krill and herring that populate the ocean just off the coast during the summer months. They arrive from, of all places, Hawaii, having spent the winter months mating, giving birth and beginning to nurse their young calves.

The problem with Hawaii? There's absolutely nothing for these whales to eat. So they just can't stay down there for very long. As soon as their newborn kids are ready to make the 3,000 mile journey to the feeding grounds they set out for the long trip north. And yes, they do it without any food. Well, not the newborns; they suckle on their mother's milk during the trip. But the adults go without and simply live off their fat reserves that are built up during the prior summer's feeding off Alaska. Must be awful and nice at the same time. As much as I love food, I'd love to be able to live off my personal fat reserves some days instead of bothering to eat. And rest assured, I have fat reserves.

Most of the whale sightings we got in our couple of hours at sea were fairly typical humpback sightings. That is keeping an eye out for spray emanating from the water then watching around that spot for some more spray and maybe the tiny dorsal fins that the humpbacks sport (see the photograph above for the typical look). There were clearly a lot of whales in the waters along with our boat which was exciting. We got some great looks at some flukes when they decided to dive, like the picture below and saw groups of up to three whales together, which was pretty cool. Although as usual, you don't get to see much of the whale at all.

Humpbacks can get up to 50 feet in length, which on a cold rainy day at a good distance is difficult to perceive. Whales are the largest mammals (or animals for that matter) on the planet. See one of these creatures up close and you really get a sense for how huge these things really are. At the distance we were at that day, we didn't get a chance to appreciate that.

A great look at the top side of a humpback whale's fluke. These are the signature looks on most whale watches.

Most whale watching trips usually get you a look at some other species of marine fish or mammal and our excursion that day was no exception. When we were heading back to port we got an awesome look at some Steller sea lions lounging on a buoy. These sea lions are the largest variety in the world (apparently walrus do not qualify as sea lions) and got their name (which is not misspelled) from, Georg Wilhelm Steller, who was the first (white man) to describe them in 1741.

I'm guessing the seven animals crowed onto the buoy below are likely younger males who are not full sized. Either that or they are further away than I realized or on a much larger buoy than I perceived because they don't look larger than some of the sea lions I've seen in other parts of the world. Sea lions are a great bonus animal on a whale watching trip. I've seen other species on other trips but never the Stellers, which are apparently in near threatened status, which is troubling but probably not alarming since sea lions all look similar but also appear to be all over the place.

Steller sea lions crowded onto a buoy in the waters off Juneau.

As exciting as our looks at whales, coastal brown bears and eagles (I think the picture of the eagle along the Lynn Canal near Skagway at the top of this post is my favorite; I love the eye) were in our last three stops in Alaska, I think our favorite day was the few hours we spent at the Alaska Rainforest Sanctuary just south of Ketchikan on our first day ashore. The rainforest's signature residents are their black bears, which would be the only black bears we would see on this trip. We got some fantastic looks at these creatures on that day, along with some other mammals and birds (and of course more bald eagles).

The Sanctuary is privately owned and just 10 acres in size but running through their property is a river which is a salmon spawning run. That means the land attracts both bears and birds looking for some food during the time of the year that the salmon are heading upstream to their birthplaces. The property had an existing sawmill which is still in place (although no longer used for that purpose) and the folks that bought the property have installed some elevated wooden walkways to allow humans to wander (with an escort) around the place while keeping them separated from the bears, which is good. As cuddly as black bears look, I'm in no hurry to surprise one of them in the woods. 

Other than the couple of new walkways, the place has been left as to allow the wildlife to have freedom to roam wherever they please, including off property if they so desire. It's not a zoo and it is not fenced.

Black bear siting up after a feed on some fresh salmon. 

The Sanctuary offers two tours. We signed up for the Bear Country & Wildlife Expedition which totaled about a little more than two hours on site with about a 30 minute bus ride from downtown Ketchikan on each end. It was one of the best things we did on our Alaska vacation, including being in Denali National Park.

I think it's always good to keep your expectations low on wildlife viewing excursions, especially when dealing with solitary animals rather than herd animals. Bears are for sure solitary; you will not find a pack of bears roaming around the woods together unless it's a mother and a couple of cubs and even then three probably doesn't constitute a pack. It's difficult to say whether we got lucky on this tour or whether the kind of sightings we got occur every day but the bear viewing was fantastic. As soon as we showed up we caught a glimpse of a female bear catching a fish before retreating purposefully but quickly out of sight. Without a chance for even a quick picture.

Turns out there would be plenty more opportunities that morning. This bear was obviously hungry, because we watched her come back for two more salmon later in the day. The last of the three provided us probably the greatest pictures. Not only did she walk right below the edge of the elevated walkway (you can see the claws in pretty good detail in the photograph below), we also got to watch her pick up a salmon and take it into the woods and eat it about ten feet from us. That feast didn't yield a great picture because the trees were in the way, but it was an opportunity to watch a bear feeding in a way that you don't encounter every day. At least I don't.

Close up look at the first bear we saw at the Alaskan Rainforest Sanctuary...

and walking with a salmon in her mouth. Yes, the salmon is huge!

That bear was the first of two we would see in our time at the Sanctuary. The other was a little larger and spent her time walking along the side and middle of an inland forest stream before retreating into the woods with a fish she just caught. We did get some pictures of that bear also but the best bear pictures we got were clearly of the first bear so I have not posted any here. 

As excited as we were about the bears, we were equally thrilled to see three or four bald eagles and a family of river otters. It was our first look at bald eagles on our vacation and we probably got some of our signature looks at these birds at this location, including the one below of one of these birds standing on a rock in the rain.

The great thing about the bald eagles we saw at the Sanctuary was that they were doing something fundamentally different than we observed at other locations. Instead of nesting, sitting in trees and flying over the open water, the eagles near Ketchikan were scavenging in relative comfort, meaning they felt at ease on the ground feeding on half eaten salmon, some of which were possible bear kills. It was the only time we ever saw them on the ground so we got to see how they moved on their feet rather than by using their wings.

Bald eagle in the rain. I love how the rain is captured on camera.

So about that camera again...

Our visit to the Alaska Rainforest Sanctuary and all the other stops all the way up the coast were just amazing opportunities to spot wildlife up close or from afar but I wouldn't have the memories I have now without our new camera. I've decided to show the best few on this post but we for sure have tons more of eagles, bears, whale tails and the same river otter family in addition to the animals and birds we saw in Denali later on in the week.

Just a couple of more plugs for this camera before closing. Obviously we are thrilled with the performance. It was cold and rainy some days we were out looking for wildlife and it stood up to these conditions well. It is also super light and super easy to use after a bit of practice. This for sure is going to serve us well on our early 2018 safari in East Africa.

But sometimes it's the small things that put you over the top in situations like this and one of the best features of the camera is that it has its own wifi, meaning we can (and did) download pictures from the camera to our phones and iPads on the fly, allowing us in the case of the iPad downloads to check out how good the pictures we were taking turned out in an instant. I'm definitely looking forward to getting a lot more use out of this thing in the future. It's going to make blogging a whole lot more fun too knowing I can get some really great images to go along with my writing. I'll stop endorsing now. I hope you like these pictures as much as we do. Many more to come.

River otters. Check another species off my "never seen" list.