Sea Lion Haulout

Hey everyone! The other day we went to Little Island in Stephen's Passage. There were SO many Steller Sea Lions at the haulout that we couldn't believe it. When we counted them, we found about 581 of them! Here's a panoramic image of the haulout.

Here's a closeup of some of the shenanigans.

You can see here that one of these sea lions is branded with a W on its side. There are several islands where these sea lions reside. Researchers have tried to keep track of some of them by branding.

If you would like to see the sea lions roaming around the haulout, click HERE!!

Hope you enjoyed it!

Nicky the Bear

Hi everyone!

I did a whales and trails tour today that went quite well! We were all standing at the Steep Creek bridge, ready to leave when we saw Nicky, also known as "the little mom" stroll into view with her two cubs in tow. Nicky is about 14 and is on her fifth litter. She's been fitted with a radio collar by the Forest Service so that they can track her whereabouts to make sure that she's not getting into trouble. Data collected includes feeding locations, hunting grounds, dens, and residential wanderings. She's one of a few bears that have been tracked with radio collars by the Forest Service, and the information they receive from Nicky will help them to understand more about black bear populations in the area around the Mendenhall Glacier. She's a beautiful cinnamon-colored black bear.

Here's Nicky!

And here are her two newest cubs.

If you'd like to see Nicky and her cubs crossing the trail underneath the bridge, just click HERE!

Giant Ice Cave

Jonny found an amazing ice cave about a month ago, so we thought we'd share our discovery with you all!

The caves are found at the leftmost side of the Mendenhall.

Here's what it looks like from the outside.

And here's the interior! You can see Jonny near the mouth of the cave at the back of the photo.The cave actually curves to the left for a bit behind him and that's where the opening is.

Ice caves are one of my most favorite things. We were both so happy that we paused to share a romantic moment.

Having a great time!

The circular mouth of this cave forms a perfect archway!

And the ice is so blue, everything inside glows.

Jonny poses for a picture in front of the ice.

I'm next!

A stream that constantly flows underneath the glacier formed this cave. You can see the water flowing towards the camera through the rocks at the bottom.

 If you'd like to see a walk-through of this cave, just click HERE!

See you next time!

Bears in Steep Creek

Hey everyone!

I thought I would show you all what kinds of bears we see frequently around Steep Creek. There are about 17 bears around the Steep Creek area. The area acts like a nursery ground for the black bears because of all the public that come to the Visitor's Center. Male black bears are frightened off by people, so the females bring their cubs under the public's watchful eye for protection. Male bears will kill cubs, but as long as people are around, the cubs will be safe.

This year there are two different females that have two cubs each. They are seen frequently teaching their young how to fish for salmon from the streams. If you would like to see a mother bear and her cubs, just click HERE!

Hope you enjoyed it!

Blueberries

Hey everybody! I know that it's been quite a while since I posted. The season is wrapping up in almost two weeks, and there's been a lot of work to do! But even though we've been so busy working, Jonny and I still find the time to go on some adventures. What did we do this time?

Berry-picking!!

Here's Lena Point Trail. It's out the road.

Everywhere you looked, you could see bushes dotted with bright red berries. These are red huckleberries.

And even more bushes were weighed down by large, juicy blueberries!

This is how our hands looked by the end of it. The berry juice stains your hands as you pluck them from the bushes.

After we had enough berries, Jonny and I sat out on Lena Point to watch the sun set. We even saw a whale breach two times from the cliff!

After we got home, we organized our haul. Three bags of blueberries and one bag of huckleberries.

Washing the berries.

I put them into a tupperware in the fridge so they would last longer. Any time I felt that a recipe could benefit from adding some blueberries, I pulled them out and tossed them in!

Blueberry pancakes!

Blueberry coffeecake.

Lemon and blueberry scones.

And blueberry muffins!

These berries are just bursting with flavor!

Needless to say, we sure have a lot of baked goods around the house lately! These berry-filled desserts are a sweet way to say goodbye to summer.

That's all for now!

Sparkling Forest and Happy Whales

Today was a beautiful day in Juneau! It rained pretty well yesterday, so after the storm cleared and the fog lifted this morning, there were raindrops still clinging to all the plants in the forest. When the sun came out, it appeared as though someone had thrown handfuls of glitter everywhere!

Water droplets weigh down this stalk of grass.

These droplets line a stem of Goat's Beard.

Beautiful raindrops resting on a blade of grass.

Fresh, glittering spruce tips.

Dew drops on lupine leaves.

Water clings to this hanging lichen in the trees.

Beautiful hemlock needles decorated with water.

As I walked back through the trail alone, it was so peaceful and quiet that I lingered for a moment and saw something amazing. In the mornings when the moss is still cool and moist and the sun is out, water will quickly evaporate out of the moss. You can actually see steam rising up out of the ground! If you'd like to see it, click  HERE!

After my hike, I got out on the water and saw some phenomenal whales! This whale's name is Barnacles. We identified her from her fluke in the Juneau Humpback Whale Catalog. She is number 2070.  

She had a calf with her this year, and this little guy sure loved to jump!

This whale was having so much fun that he almost squashed a nearby fishing boat!

It didn't land on them, but boy was that a big splash! I'm sure they got a little wet after this!

If you want to see the calf breaching, just click HERE!

It sure was a wonderful day in Juneau, Alaska! Hope you enjoyed it!

Shrew!

I've been working a whole lot lately, so I haven't had time to post much. However, I hope this cute little video will hold you over.

Click HERE to see the video!

I've actually run into this little shrew on a few occasions. But he's usually too quick for me to get a good look at him. With the type of camera I have, there is no way I can capture a still photo of him, so I decided to take this video instead. He's so tiny, you can see the raindrops falling on the sand all around him. I think he's digging for insects.

Hope this holds you over!