I’m back but not up to speed yet. Catching up. Very glad for the super updates the staff wrote while I was gone. That might be the start of something good.
Moose in pond
Alaska was beautiful. The weather was unusually good, they said, but Donna and I were inside for most of it. My talks were well received with good attendance. It was good to see old friends. After the conference, Donna and I spent some good nature time together.
An exciting time was at Potter Marsh near Anchorage. Suddenly, all the ducks took off. An eagle from a nearby nest focused on a single duck, powered past us in pursuit (photo) and made a sharp turn by some trees (photo) where the duck dodged and escaped. The eagle perched to pant, and tree swallows resumed their usual ways.
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| Harlequin duck male | Bald eagle on the chase | Eagle banking by trees |
At a marina in Seward, sea otters foraged and played with no fear of people or a dog that was fascinated by them.
We saw a lot on a 7 ½ hour cruise. Black-legged kittiwakes flocked around a hump-backed whale that surfaced (photo). A seabird colony held many nesting puffins, common murres, and other seabirds.
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| Tufted puffin skimming | Humped-back whale with kittiwakes | Horned puffin flapping |
We saw some of those birds close-up at the Alaska Sealife Center in Seward.
I wanted Donna to see it all after having taken the same cruise in 1996 with Hermann Sϋlberg of German Geo magazine http://www.geo.de. I still don’t know what Hermann’s article said. Titled “Der alte Mann und der Bär” (pages 84-98 in the May 1997 issue), it has a picture of me having him smell a brown bear scat in Katmai National Park.
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| Sea otters playing | Sea otter | Tree swallow |
Donna and I had a great time. We saw a lot of wildlife, and it was nice to be able to spend time relaxing and seeing so much together. It’s also good to be back home finding good things happening behind the scenes. More about that as they move toward fruition.
Looking forward to the LilyPad Picnic (www.lilypadpicnic.com) coming up in a month (July 22-24).
Thank you for all you do.
Lynn Rogers, Biologist, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center