Tag: Alaska

Salmon Buffet…by Brad Marks

Welcome to May everyone…or using our standard measurement for time .. a mere 5 months before the annual Haunted Trail event. Time is closing in on us in the haunt department. Fortunately, after this weekend’s agility dog show in Wisconsin we will be home for a good period of time that I can devote to all things that go bump in the night. In the midst of that, I also need to hit the ankle rehab hard(er) if I’m going to be ready to race a couple of weeks after that event. Going to be a busy summer. Having subjected you to a rather drab member of the birding world in my last post, I was searching for something to spice it up a bit. Took a scan through Brad’s queue and he had the perfect “NAB” to feature. Identify the person who is slowest in your group and let Brad take you on a northwestern adventure.

Take it away Brad…

Late last summer, Jan and I were on a great Alaskan Adventure.  Our 17-day tour involved several days on land, and then several more days on a very large cruise ship (more stability = less queasiness for Brad).  We booked every possible excursion available so we could see as much of the Alaskan wilderness as possible.  I also felt pressure from Intrigued HQ to book some birding adventures.  One of our trips was a guided Wildlife Tour at Icy Strait Point near Hoonah, Alaska.  We did see birds, but they weren’t the highlight of this excursion.

After disembarking from the cruise ship and walking through the gift shops, we arrived where the tour would start.  Thankfully, Jan and I were not there during peak season.  It seemed the vast majority of the passengers from the two cruise ships docked there were headed to either the zip-lines, gift shops, or the bars (as if the cruise boats ran out).  Our tour was designed for up to 18 people, but only 8 signed up for the trip.  We’ve learned from the past that fewer people in tour groups usually means we can make more tour stops, or spend more time in the various places on the tour.

Once we were checked at the tour office, the group climbed into the mini-bus, and our guide, Amy, started the tour.  Amy told the group that she grew up on the island, fifth generation in fact, and was a wealth of knowledge for being as young as she was.  After making a stop to see eagles (link to Under Construction) she took us to a remote location on the Island.

After we all got out of the minibus at the next stop, Amy gave a stern safety briefing.  She said that are usually bears in the area, but that human noises keep them away for the most part.  Amy also requested we stay behind her because she didn’t want to have to deter a bear with tourists in the way.  I didn’t fully comprehend what she was telling us until later in the tour.

We walked a few hundred yards along a two-track gravel road into the wilderness.  Amy was pointing our various flora and fauna and telling us stories all along the way.  Now, I wish I had recorded those stories to help write these stories.  After about 15 minutes, we came to a small bridge across a creek.

Brown Bear found by Brad and Jan Marks in Alaska

As we say at Intrigued … “It’s a Furry NAB” (Not a Bird). Hit the jump to learn more about this Alaskan creature.

Continue reading Salmon Buffet…by Brad Marks

Under Construction…by Brad Marks

Greetings from the west! Most of you know by now that Linda and I are still out in the field and will be for several more weeks. This trip is turning out to be far better than last year’s winter trip out here and I must say southeast Arizona is really growing on us. As far as birding goes, some descriptions come to mind, productive, educational, strenuous and did I already mention exhausting!?! Best part is my brother Ron had the opportunity to meet us out here recently and we had a couple of solid days looking for our feathered friends in the desert scrub. Ended up missing some target birds (mostly for Ron), but a day of birding is always a good day regardless of the haul…and speaking of hauling, Brad is going to take us on another journey, this time all the way to Alaska for some timber hauling. Take care everyone, I’ll continue to check in from time to time when I have time and more importantly – connectivity.

Take it away Brad…

There we were, unloading ourselves from a small tour bus in Alaska.  Jan and I signed up for a guided Wildlife Tour at Icy Strait Point near Hoonah, Alaska.  Our tour guide, Amy, was a local who loved nature.  We could tell because we could hardly keep up with her stories and sightings of wildlife, even after just leaving the pick-up point.  Her family had been on the island for five generations.  She was also a volunteer EMT which was helpful in case any tourists went down hard during the tour.

Our first stop was a parking lot on the other side of the small island at the ferry terminal near the village of Hoonah.  As the group exited the bus (I was sitting in the way-back), Amy had us stay to the side to avoid being run over by the other tourist mini-buses.  No desire to put those EMT skills to use so early in the day.

Jan, of course, was more interested in the wildlife across the road from the parking lot and walked into the middle of the lot by a large light pole.

I had wandered to the edge of the water looking for seabirds that we might not find at home.  Then I heard a familiar sound and looked around to see where it was coming from.  The sound was of a DSLR at a high frame rate grabbing photos as fast as the shutter could recycle and release.  It was a Nikon camera, one of mine, but not the one I was holding.  The noise was coming from the camera Jan was using.  I quickly tried to see what she had spotted and was taking photos of.  Then I saw it.

Bald Eagle found by Brad and Jan in Alaska

…and now you have seen it! Hit the jump to read more about this Alaskan resident.

Continue reading Under Construction…by Brad Marks

Pfffffft…by Brad Marks

We are officially on our winter migration south… by way of north. We had Linda’s family Christmas gathering in Des Moines, IA and decided to simply start our trek to Texas directly from there. We had a great time with family, but I keep forgetting what a pain winterized RVing is. Mr. Freeze decided to give us a final reminder of what we were going to miss as the temps dove back down into the teens while there (link here). We looked like the kid from A Christmas Story all layered up in half our packed Texas wardrobe ha! Finally made it below freezeline today, completely de-winterized and life is good beyond this stupid boot I’m lugging around. While we continue defrosting our toes, Brad is going to take the controls and bring you something completely new to Intrigued. I am sure you are going to enjoy it to the very “fin”.

Take it away Brad…

It’s early morning during the second half of our Alaska photo assignment.  The first week was a land tour of the vast wilderness.  The second week was on a giant cruise ship heading south (I can get seasick if not chewing Dramamine like Smarties).  By this time in our journey south Jan and I are used to running to the cabin door to listen to the Captain’s general and wildlife announcements.  On this particular ship, we weren’t able to hear through the cabin door very well.  We heard the usual mellifluous ascending tones bing-bing-bing-bing (please use your musical imagination here), but an a rather unusual time.  Ship’s time was just past 8am and the Captain didn’t usually make announcements until later in the morning.   Jan ran to the door to try to catch the message.

“ . . . has been spotted . . . “    

We both looked at each other wide eyed.

“ . . . off the starboard  . . . “ 

Jan and I grabbed both cameras and headed for the door.

“ . . . about 100 yards ahead of the ship . . . ” 

We are now running down the hall, trying to strap on the 9-pound cameras to keep them from bouncing too much.  The elevators were backed up, we again looked at each other and ran down three flights of stairs. 

“ . . . it is swimming about 50 yards to starboard . . . “

Jan and I end up on the 7th deck and quickly figured out which way was starboard. 

As we stepped outside . . . nothing. 

During a presentation the night before in the main theatre aboard ship, The Ship Naturalist Robert Raincock (find him here or here) aboard the ship said to listen for the Pfffffft.  This is what the noise sounds like when Orca, or whales in general, expel warm moist air from their lungs as they break the surface of the water.  Remember kids, whales are mammals, not fish.  Not having a whale to watch, we listened. 

Then we heard it . . . “Pfffffft!  Both of our cameras ran at the maximum frames per second they could muster.

Orca found by Brad Marks in Alaska

Whoa, that ain’t no Dolphin, hit the jump to reveal the source of that sound!

Continue reading Pfffffft…by Brad Marks

“Chicken”…by Brad Marks

Well hi there! Brad has a special treat for you today and comes courtesy of a trip he and Jan took to the upper northwest of the US – as in very north, very west and definitely very upper! I had been holding on to this out of jealousy…I mean as a safety net, yeah, that’s it (almost ended that with a reference to Morgan Fairchild, but that would have dated me big time ha). With the travels coming up I wanted to make sure I had at least one story ready in case there was a gap in connectivity. Great news as we just received Brad’s latest batch of adventures, so we are absolutely good to go. Now, I may not have been kidding on the jealousy front. I do have a list of nemesis birds that haunt me daily. For some reason I either failed to get them in the tin or worse, never managed to get eyes on one. These are all affectionately called “Effin” birds. I’ve had the distinct pleasure of going after this particular Effin family over 5 times now, which have all consisted of long hikes above 10,000 feet. Have not even seen one of them for my efforts! Whenever our staff goes out in the field I tell them to bring back one of the Effins off my list. Going to cut Brad and Jan some slack as they are still relatively new around here, but when I tell them to “bring one back” I literally mean to bring a live specimen back for me!

Time for me to shed a few shades of green hue and get you to Brad’s adventure. Take it away Brad…

As Brian noted in previous posts, Jan and I survived our August photo assignment to the wilds of Alaska.  This was one of those places we’ve always wanted to visit, but didn’t want to do half-way.  I think our 17-day Alaska trip (land and sea) gave us a good intro to this truly wondrous and wild place.  We both recommend a trip to Alaska.  Go ahead and book it, I’ll let you catch up later.

Only about 2% of the state is accessible by roads.  The rest must be visited by some other mode of transportation including:  boat, plane, horse, dog sled, four-wheeler, SUV/Truck, tour bus, or on foot.  Thankfully for Jan and I, most of the places we visited were by road, only a few were on foot.  We did see and hold a very cute sled dog puppy (maybe a future post).

Thirty-five years ago, when Jan’s dad retired from a major manufacturer based in Illinois (BTW, he just celebrated the same thirty-five years of retirement and is still going strong), her parents took a 6-week driving trip to Alaska.  Yes, that’s right.  They chose to drive to Alaska from Illinois.  As Jan’s dad is fond of telling us, “When you’ve driven from Illinois to Seattle, you are about halfway to Alaska.”  (Now to be completely fair on the length of the driving trip, Jan’s dad did have to order and replace the hydraulic lifters in the car’s V-8 engine somewhere inside Alaska, but that only added 2-3 days to the whole adventure.  Yes, he had tools in the trunk of the car.)  We experienced similar travel times.  No, not six weeks, but it did take us nearly 9 hours of flying, via fairly circuitous route, to reach Fairbanks from Illinois.  Fairbanks is only about 100 miles from the Arctic Circle, or 64 degrees, 56 minutes north latitude.  That means the sun sets for only a couple of hours each night during summer months, leaving us with a twilight-y sort of sky for sleeping.  For those keeping score at home, I think this is a latitude record for Wildlife Intrigued.

As Jan’s parents discovered on their trip, there are many colorful people and stories along the way.  One of those stories is about the town called Chicken in Alaska.  The good people of the town wanted to name it after a local bird from the tundra, but no one could spell the bird’s name.   They ended up calling the town “Chicken.”  Stay tuned for the real bird’s name in just a bit.

Willow Ptarmigan by Brad Marks

If it looks like one, acts like one and easier to spell, then it must be one – hit the jump to read more about this Chicken!

Continue reading “Chicken”…by Brad Marks