Kenai Fjords National Park--Birds
July 30, 2011
Captain Bob said that he knew that his passengers had varying degrees of interest in birds. Up in the fore cabin just behind the bow, we had a group of birders interested in everything. But Captain Bob wanted even those passengers who thought birds were uninteresting to know that they had seen some special birds on our trip, Thick-Billed Murres and a Rhinoceros Aulket, neither of which is often seen on these trips. It was an exciting trip for birding.
Before we even left the harbor, we saw a Bald Eagle. It's nice to see the great comeback our national symbol has made.
In another relatively unusual sighting, a Red-Faced Cormorant flew by.
Here are the Thick-Billed Murres, deep in a rock wall. We saw many Common Murres, but these are a different and more rare species.
These seagulls may not look like much, but here you can see some Black-Legged Kittiwake chicks.
The chicks are colored to be camouflaged against the rock. A couple of adults are nearby for comparison.
And here is that unusual Rhinoceros Auklet.
I finally got a picture of the Marbled Murrelet, a bird common in Alaska but unusual in the Lower 48, who eluded me in the Pacific Northwest last year. These remarkable birds nest near water, but will fly as much as 160 km (100 mi) in a day to forage for food.
You're waiting for puffins, right? Alaska has puffins, doesn't it? We saw puffins all day, again and again and again.
Here is a group of Horned Puffins. They were taking off one by one from the edge of the rock, lining up like airplanes on the tarmac. If you look closely, you can see the "horns" above their eyes.
We also saw Tufted Puffins, who have more black feathers on their faces than Horned Puffins. This one is flying with a fish in his mouth.
Puffins and other birds of the Alcid group have heavier bones than other birds. While they are excellent swimmers, they have a hard time getting airborne. Here is a Tufted Puffin lifting off of the water.
On to the amazing marine mammals we saw.