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Duncan Murrell - A Whale of a Time

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Duncan Murrell - A Whale of a Time

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  • During the autumn the cotton tufts of cottongrass are dispersed by the wind and cover the surrounding vegetation like a shaggy dog shedding its fur on furniture.<br />
<br />
Wet meadow with common cottongrass (Eriophorum angustifolium) blowing in the wind in autumn, Port Houghton, Southeast Alaska, USA.
    Alaska-vegetation19.jpg
  • They originated in Asia and crossed into North America shortly before the Bering Land Bridge between Asia and America flooded about 11,000 years ago, and then dispersed throughout Beringia ( prehistoric Interior Alaska and northwest Canada). About 10,000 years ago an ice-free corridor opened up between the huge continental glaciers that covered Canada, allowing animals like moose, grizzly bears and bison to move south from Berangia to the Pacific Northwest into the continental United States.<br />
Moose subsequently evolved into four North American subspecies (and other sub-species found in Scandinavia and Russia). Alaska is home to the world’s largest, Alces alces gigas, as well as a smaller sub-species, Alces alces andersoni. Gigas, also known as Alaska moose or tundra moose, is found in Alaska, the Yukon and northwest British Columbia; andersoni, or anderson’s moose, is found in Southeast Alaska, the eastern Yukon, and central B.C east to Michigan.<br />
Impeded by mountain ranges, icefields and glaciers, moose did not colonize Southeast Alaska until the 20th century. They are far more recent arrivals than Sitka black-tailed deer and wolves, which moved up the coast from the south about 8,000 years ago as the glaciers melted and land was exposed. Moose from British Columbia accressed Southeast via the river corridors and arrived in the Taku River valley south of Juneau and the Stikine River basin near Petersburg about 1910.<br />
I had a memorable encounter with a large herd of moose in Adam’s Inlet in Glacier Bay in the middle of winter. I was standing on the mudflats at low tide and set up my tripod to photograph the moose on the shore. Gradually they started to walk towards me until eventually I was surrounded by at least 20 moose who were more curious about me than afraid; apparently their protected status in the National Park had made them fearless of humans.
    Alaska-wildlife-moose1.jpg
  • It was always good to have Fred Sharpe and his fellow whale researchers around in their Alaska Whale Foundation boat, “the Evolution”. We both had a lot of mutual respect for each other, and very importantly to me he shared the same respect for the whales, and always operated in a very non-intrusive manner. I was so used to being out there camping alone, but it was always nice to enjoy their company, and catch up on some jovial socializing and fine dining onboard his boat.<br />
Dr. Fred Sharpe started studying the behaviour of humpback whales in Southeast Alaska from a small skiff around about the same time that I started photographing them from a kayak. While I became quite obsessed with photographing the incredible cooperative bubble net feeding strategy of the whales, Fred conducted ground-breaking research into that behaviour and established such things as the task specialisation of individual members within a feeding group, whereby the same whale blows the bubbles and the same one makes the piercing feeding call. he is now stationed at the Five Finger Lighthouse, armed with a wireless hydrophone that AWF hopes will allow them to record and broadcast live, the diverse vocalizations made by humpback whales in Southeast Alaska.
    Alaska-humpback-whale-sounding22.jpg
  • Two subspecies of wolves are currently recognized in Alaska; wolves in Southeast Alaska tend to be darker and somewhat smaller than those in northern parts of the state. Wolves are social animals and usually live in packs that include parents and pups of the year. The average pack size is six or seven animals, and pack members often include some yearlings and other adults. Packs of 20 to 30 wolves sometimes occur, and these larger packs may have two or three litters of pups from more than one female.<br />
The social order in the pack is characterized by a separate dominance hierarchy among females and males. In most areas wolf packs tend to remain within a territory used almost exclusively by pack members, with only occasional overlap in the ranges of neighboring packs.<br />
This was my first close encounter with a pack of wolves in Southeast Alaska. They are generally hard to see because most of their range is densely forested but the landscape is much more open in Glacier Bay. I was paddling around this island in the middle of winter when I heard some wolves howling. Around the next bend I encountered a pair of cow moose out in the water protecting themselves from a frustrated pack of wolves howling on the shore. I just sat motionless in my kayak and eventually one of the wolves trotted down the frozen beach and stood right in front of me for a few seconds before returning to the rest of the pack. It was a thrilling experience to look a wolf in the eyes at such close quarters.
    Alaska-wildlife-wolf3.jpg
  • My Klepper Aerius 1 kayak on a beach on one of the Brothers Islands, Frederick Sound, Southeast Alaska, USA.<br />
This was a truly idyllic location that I loved visiting. I can tell this was taken in my early years kayaking in Southeast Alaska because I was still using the heavy wooden Klepper paddle. It made so much difference to paddling when I started using a very lightweight fibre-glass paddle. It made a big difference to reducing arm fatigue when I was paddling for long periods. But arm fatigue was a minor problem compared to my bottom and back aching, and I experimented for years to try to find the perfect seating and back support. I ended up with several layers of foam until I finally bought a special  inflatable kayak seat and back-rest.
    Alaska-camping-kayaking6.jpg
  • Black and brown bears congregate at the salmon spawning streams during salmon to gorge themselves on the bounty of fish choking the rivers. They always squeeze out the eggs with their jaws to extract the protein-rich eggs. I found black bears to be much more of a problem than brown bears because they were much bolder, and certainly very persistent trying to get to my food. On one occasion I climbed a tree and hung some dry bags out along a branch over the river as far as I could reach, but a black bear managed to climb up the tree, and reach out far enough to use its powerful paw and sharp claws to rip the dry bag away from the heavy-duty nylon webbing sealing the bag. Black bears (Ursus americanus) are the most abundant and widely distributed of the three species of North American bears. An estimated 100,000 black bears inhabit Alaska. The black bear is the smallest of the North American bears. Adults stand about 29 inches at the shoulders and are about 60 inches from nose to tail. Males are larger than females, and weigh about 180-200 pounds in the spring. They are considerably lighter when they emerge from winter hibernation and may be about 20 percent heavier in the fall when they’re fat. Black bears can vary in color from jet black to white. Black is the color encountered most frequently across the state, but brown or cinnamon-colored black bears are sometimes seen in Southcentral Alaska and on the southeastern mainland. Cinnamon-colored black bears are also common in Alaska’s Interior. Some bluish-colored bears called glacier bears may be found in the Yakutat area and in other parts of Southeast Alaska. Black bears often have brown muzzles and some also have a patch of white hair on their chest.<br />
Black bears are most easily distinguished from brown bears by their straight facial profile and their claws, which rarely grow more than 1 ½ inches in length. Black bears have adequate sense of sight and hearing, but have an outstanding sense of smell.
    Alaska-wildlife-bearAlaska-wildlifeA...jpg
  • I became very familiar with this small local ferry because I usually used it to get to one of the small native communities like Kake, Angoon and Hoonah, from where I started my kayaking trips that often ended up at Tenakee Springs, where I boarded it to return back to Petersburg. It became like a trusted old friend that I enjoyed seeing cruising past my various campsites, and looked forward to being reunited with at the end of my arduous trips, and then relaxing in relative comfort on my way home to Petersburg.<br />
MV LeConte is a feeder vessel for the Alaska Marine Highway System, built in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin in 1973 and commissioned in 1974 by Alaska's ferry system. LeConte is the older sister ship to M/V Aurora, and both serve as feeder vessels that pick up passengers in small communities such as Hoonah and take them to larger regional communities (this process is colloquially known as the "milk run").<br />
In the case of the LeConte, it primarily serves in the northern portion of the Alaskan Panhandle in between Sitka and Juneau, but it also occasionally ventures all through Southeast Alaska as well, LeConte and the M/V Aurora are the only AMHS vessels able to serve the communities of Angoon, Pelican, Tenakee Springs, and two of the three vessels (the M/V Taku also is able to access these ports) to serve Hoonah and Kake. This quality is due because of these vessels' small sizes thus making them both vital assets for the ferry system and the residents of these rural villages.
    Alaska-Ferry97.jpg
  • This photo was taken near the Tlingit village of Kake on Kupreanof Island and illustrates the problems of the practice of clear-cut logging that persisted during the 1980s and 90s when I was based in Southeast Alaska. The extent of clear-cutting was much worse around native communities because the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971 (ANCSA) awarded approximately 148,500,000 acres (601,000 km2) of Federal land in Alaska to private native corporations which were created under ANCSA. Transference of public National Forest land to a privately owned corporation removes it from protection by Federal law and allows the owners to use the land in whatever way they see fit without regard to the effects of the use on surrounding lands and ecosystems. This fact has caused much controversy involving the business interests of Native Regional Corporations and the personal interests of local Natives and non-Native residents of Southeastern Alaska, such as subsistence hunting and tourism.
    Alaska-humpbackwhale-bubblenet6.jpg
  • Two of the three Alaska brown bear (Ursos arctos) siblings wrestling in muddy water in a roadside ditch near the Angoon garbage dump, Admiralty Island, Southeast Alaska, USA.<br />
Whenever I was in Angoon, usually at the beginning of a kayaking trip after I had caught the ferry from Petersburg with my kayak, and my gear and food, I always visited the city dump, which was a 20 minute walk from the beach. Sometimes they were having a bath in the ditch alongside the road, and I was able to observe their playful behaviour in the water, although with a little trepidation, because they always seemed to have one eye on me. They seemed to be OK with my presence as long as I just stood in one spot and didn't move around too much.
    Alaska-wildlife-bearAlaska-wildlifeA...jpg
  • There is a greater density of brown bears on Admiralty Island in Southeast Alaska than anywhere else in North America. Brown and grizzly bears are classified as the same species even though there are notable differences between them. ‘Brown bears” typically live along the southern coast of Alaska where they have access to seasonally abundant spawning salmon. The coastal areas also provide a rich array of vegetation they can use as food as well as a milder climate. This allows them to grow larger and live in higher densities than their “grizzly” cousins in the northern and interior parts of the state. Brown bears are also larger than black bears, have a more prominent shoulder hump, less prominent ears, and longer, straighter claws. Long claws are useful in digging for roots or excavating small mammals, but are not efficient for climbing trees.<br />
I used to visit this area frequently because there was a well-known man called Stan Price who lived in harmony with the bears in nearby Pack Creek for many years; I enjoyed listening to his bear stories. On this particular occasion I received a wake-up call not to approach the bears too closely. This bear was chasing salmon in the shallow streams and I wandered too close while my eyes were confined to the viewfinder of my camera. It suddenly turned its attention from catching salmon to me and started to walk towards me. When the walk became a canter I realized that I was in trouble so I stopped taking photos and lowered my camera. I froze to the spot and as the pace of the bear increased my first instinct was to point at and shout in a very loud, commanding voice “ Go back!” My voice echoed around the steep walls of the valley and fortunately for me the bear obeyed my order; it slammed on the brakes, snarled at me one last time and then ran away through the tall grass.<br />
Like many other animals, particularly immature males, bears will often make a bluff charge to protect their territory but I wasn’t sure of that at the time!
    Alaska-wildlife-bearAlaska-wildlifeA...jpg
  • Anthropomorphic iceberg, LeConte Inlet, Southeast Alaska, USA<br />
.<br />
Ice calving off from the tidewater glaciers of Southeast Alaska can assume just about any shape or form, that gradually metamorphoses as they melt. This was one of the most anthropomorphic icebergs that I ever came across washed up on the shore of the Le Conte inlet where the Le Conte Glacier is situated, the southernmost tidewater glacier in North America.
    Alaska-glaciation20.tif
  • If I wasn’t kayaking at sea looking for humpback whales then the Stikine River was one of my favourite place to be. What an amazing, breathtaking river that is, which provides a valuable natural highway for wild animals from the interior and opens out onto a spectacular river delta. When I remember Alaska, it is somewhere that I always return to in my dreams, to feel the vastness of open vistas that Alaska provides.<br />
The Stikine River is a river, historically also the Stickeen River, approximately 610 km (379 mi) long,[1] in northwestern British Columbia in Canada and in southeast Alaska in the United States. Considered one of the last truly wild major rivers in British Columbia, it drains a rugged, largely pristine, area east of the Coast Mountains, cutting a fast-flowing course through the mountains in deep glacier-lined gorges to empty into Eastern Passage, just north of the city of Wrangell, which is situated at the north end of Wrangell Island in the Alexander Archipelago.
    Alaska-trees-waterfall1.jpg
  • The most controversial logging in the Tongass has involved the roadless areas. Southeast Alaska is an extensive landscape, with communities scattered across the archipelago on different islands, isolated from each other and the mainland road system. The road system that exists in the region is in place because of the resource extraction history in the region, primarily established by the Forest Service to enable timber harvest. Once in place, these roads serve to connect local communities and visitors to recreation, hunting, fishing, and subsistence opportunities long into the future. However, installing roads in the vast wilderness areas of the Tongass is also a point of controversy for many in the American public, as reflected in the roadless area conservation movement, which has opposed further road construction on the grounds that it would promote habitat fragmentation, diminish wildlife populations and damage salmon spawning streams; they argue that existing roads are sufficient. <br />
Native Corporation Lands were designated by the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971 (ANCSA). This Act conveyed approximately 44,000,000 acres (180,000 km2) of Federal land in Alaska to private native corporations which were created under the ANCSA. 632,000 acres (2,560 km2) of those lands were hand-picked old growth areas of the Tongass and are still surrounded by public National Forest land. These lands are now private and under the management of Sealaska, one of the native regional corporations created under the ANCSA. <br />
Transference of public National Forest land to a privately owned corporation removes it from protection by Federal law and allows the owners to use the land in whatever way they see fit without regard to the effects of the use on surrounding lands and ecosystems. This fact has caused much controversy involving the business interests of Native Regional Corporations and the personal interests of local Native and non-Native residents of Southeastern Alaska.
    Alaska-Tongass-National-Forest2.jpg
  • I became involved with the campaign to stop the excessive and heavily-subsidised logging, clearcutting and roadbuilding in Southeast Alaska in the 1980s. The Tongass Timber Reform Act, enacted in 1990, significantly reshaped the logging industry's relationship with the Tongass National Forest. The law's provisions cancelled a $40 million annual subsidy for timber harvest; established several new wilderness areas and closed others to logging; and required that future cutting under the 50-year pulp contracts be subject to environmental review and limitations on old-growth harvest. Alaska Pulp Corporation and Ketchikan Pulp Corporation claimed that the new restrictions made them uncompetitive and closed down their mills in 1993 and 1997, respectively, and the Forest Service then cancelled the remainders of the two 50-year timber contracts<br />
Unfortunately it is under threat once again. The Forest Service is currently preparing its largest auction of the Tongass in a decade to logging companies. In nearly six decades, loggers have cleared more than 700 square miles of the Tongass. Furthermore, the Forest Service has bulldozed more than 4,500 miles of roads through the forest for the logging companies to use.<br />
Legislation working its way through Congress could allow a single corporation, Sealaska, to log some of the best, oldest, most biologically-rich areas left in the Tongass. Sealaska Corporation, which has a history of clearcutting its lands, is seeking ownership of some of the most ecologically and biologically diverse parts of the Tongass National Forest. In fact, the lands targeted by Sealaska have more than ten times the habitat value of other Tongass forest land. Ketchikan lumber mill applied and was granted access to clear-cut 381 acres in one of the Tongass’ pristine roadless areas.
    Alaska-Tongass-National-Forest1.jpg
  • When it comes to food, black bears are creatures of opportunity. There are certain patterns of food-seeking which they follow. Upon emerging in the spring, freshly sprouted green vegetation is their main food item, but they will eat nearly anything they encounter. Winter-killed animals are readily eaten, and in some areas black bears have been found to be effective predators on new-born moose calves. As summer progresses, feeding shifts to salmon if they are available, but in areas without salmon, bears rely on vegetation throughout the year. Berries, especially blueberries, ants, grubs, and other insects help to round out the black bear’s diet.<br />
For most of the year, black bears are solitary creatures, except from June through July when mating takes place. The cubs are born in their dens following a gestation period of about seven months. The cubs are born blind and nearly hairless, weighing in under a pound. One to four cubs may be born, but two is most common. Cubs remain with their mothers through the first winter following birth.As with brown bears, black bears spend the winter months in a state of hibernation. Their body temperatures drop, their metabolic rate is reduced, and they sleep for long periods. Bears enter this dormancy period in the fall, after most food items become hard to find. They emerge in the spring when food is again available. Occasionally, in the more southern ranges, bears will emerge from their dens during winter. In the northern part of their range, bears may be dormant for as long as seven to eight months. Females with cubs usually emerge later than lone bears. Dens may be found from sea level to alpine areas. They may be located in rock cavities, hollow trees, self-made excavations, even on the ground. In Southeast Alaska, black bears occupy most islands with the exceptions of Admiralty, Baranof, Chichagof, and Kruzof; these are inhabited by brown bears. Both bear species occur on the southeastern mainland.
    Alaska-wildlife-bearAlaska-wildlifeA...jpg
  • I became very familiar with the individual whales that made up the cooperative bubblenet feeding groups. I could identify them by their flukes, markings on their throats, barnacles and even sometimes by the sounds they made.<br />
I had known Dr Fred Sharpe of the Alaska Whale Foundation for many years during his research into the cooperative bubble net feeding strategies employed by the humpback whales of Southeast Alaska. He was particularly interested in the genetic relatedness of individual whales within and between cooperative pods, in addition to the local genetic sub-structuring of the population. He discovered that social foraging humpback whale pods possess a social complexity that is rarely observed in baleen whales. For example, individuals within these groups may develop long-term associations that may last for many years. There also appears to be a division of labour, with particular whales constantly leading the group, deploying the bubble nets, and producing the feeding calls. Furthermore, on each lunge, each whale in the group maintains the same position, indicating that this is an intrinsically choreographed feeding maneuver. My own personal observations with the same feeding groups over the course of the summer also bore this out. I observed how there were always core members of a group but other individual whales appeared to join them on a much more ad hoc basis before moving off again.<br />
He ascertained that it is only the more elusive, shoaling prey, such as Pacific herring, that require the same level of cooperative cohesiveness; easier prey such as krill do not require the same sophisticated feeding strategies as do shoaling fish.
    Alaska-humpbackwhale-bubblenet15.jpg
  • Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) lobtailing, Frederick Sound, Southeast Alaska, USA.<br />
Humpback whales are the most acrobatic and playful whales on the surface, making them the perfect whale for whale watching, with additional bonus of their spectacular cooperative bubble net feeding behavior. They engage in a lot of breaching (jumping) and lobtailing, which is when they raise their flukes out of the water and slap the surface repeatedly as this individual is doing. It creates a thunderclap noise that can be heard miles away. Actually on this occasion it was a cow and a calf lobtailing together, and the calf is often the instigator for play: they kept this up for about half an hour. There are many possible reasons for this behavior including trying to dislodge barnacles and other parasites, communicating with other whales, herding prey and as a threat display to boats that approach too closely. It could also be just for recreation.
    Alaska-humpback-whale-lobtail2.jpg
  • Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) cooperative feeding using a bubble net, I You Seen Cove, Chatham Strait, Southeast Alaska, USA.
    Alaska-humpbackwhale-bubblenet30.jpg
  • The unusual and dramatic lighting was created by a forest fire hundreds of miles away in the Yukon Territory. The smoky haze drifted across Southeast Alaska during a rare period of clear weather, intensified the lighting and created a luminous band of light along the horizon.
    Alaska-humpback-whale-sounding8.jpg
  • Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) cooperative feeding using a bubble net, Morris Reef, Point Hayes, Chatham Strait, Southeast Alaska, USA.
    Alaska-humpbackwhale-bubblenet26.jpg
  • This was one of the very rare occasions when a humpback whale ever showed any aggression towards me. I always tried to avoid obstructing the passage of whales but with so many encounters it was inevitable that sometimes I didn’t have enough time to get out of their way, especially if they surfaced in front of me without any warning. Even then I was often amazed at how they would just roll beneath me like a gigantic ball caressing the soft hull of my kayak with barely a ripple. But on this occasion I encountered a slightly more irritable whale and as it was sounding (diving), instead of just lifting its flukes up before sliding gracefully out of view, it rolled its flukes sideways, creating a large wave that surged towards me, over the bow of my kayak and onto my lap. The icy water of Southeast Alaska was always cold enough to give me a sharp intake of breath, and some degree of punishment for not giving way to a much larger vessel fast enough!
    Alaska-camping-kayaking23.jpg
  • Indian paintbrush is a common plant in coastal areas of Southeast Alaska, and it illuminates a frequently overcast monochrome landscape with its flaming red bracts that surround the flowers. There are many different species that are difficult to identify, and colour variations from red to orange to yellow in Alaska. They are hemiparasitic on grass roots. The plant evokes the Native American legend of a young brave who tried to paint the sunset with his warpaints. Frustrated that he could not match the brilliance of nature, he asked for guidance from the Great Spirit. The Great Spirit gave him paintbrushes laden with the colors he so desired. With these, he painted his masterpiece and left the spent brushes in fields across the landscape.
    Alaska-vegetation12.jpg
  • Humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) on the surface at sunset just after blowing, Frederick Sound, Southeast Alaska, USA.
    Alaska-humpback-whale-blowing3.jpg
  • Western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla) trees festooned with moss and usnea or old man’s beard (Usnea longissima), Tongass National Forest, Southeast Alaska, USA.
    Alaska-Tongass-National-Forest5.jpg
  • One of the best features of this campsite is that not far back inside the forest was the biggest red huckleberry (Vaccinium parvifolium) patch that I ever found anywhere in Southeast Alaska, and they were unquestionably my favourite berries, especially when they were cooked into a sauce to have with delicious multigrain pancakes. There were also plenty of blueberry (Vaccinium ovalifolium) and some thimbleberry (Rubus parviflorus) bushes, which was also one of my favourite berries. I started every morning collecting firewood and berry picking. There was also a nice cool mountain stream not too far away for collecting drinking water, washing my clothes and having icy cold baths.<br />
I quite often baked bread either in a reflector oven or one in the ground next to the campfire. It very rarely emerged without getting burnt. This campsite was also particularly good for two of my favourite wild plants that I used regularly: wild spinach, also known as lamb's-quarters, white goosefoot, fat hen (Chenopodium album) and sea asparagus or perennial glasswort (Sarcocornia ambigua). Wild spinach is commonly found along the border of beaches and sea asparagus grows in low mats in flat areas flooded by the sea at high tide. Sea asparagus has a salty taste that reminds me of black olives.
    Alaska-camping-kayaking13.jpg
  • This photo was taken by one of the leading humpback whale researchers in Southeast Alaska at the time, Cynthia D’Vincent. She was actually working with a film crew at the time who were making an IMAX film. We had a lot of encounters during the filming and she pointed out that I was getting into "rather too many" of their shots, and politely asked me if I could try to avoid doing that. I was getting fed up with having to breathe in the exhaust fumes from their fast boats, whilst I was left rocking in their wake. I continued to work in my usual low impact fashion, but eventually they got all of the shots that they needed and I was thanked for obliging with her request, and I was rewarded with a bottle of wine. <br />
The unusual lighting, and atmospheric conditions at sunset, was a result of an extensive forest fire in the Yukon Territory hundreds of miles away to the northeast.
    Alaska-camping-kayaking26.jpg
  • Port Houghton is a deep inlet on the mainland just to the north of Petersburg. It was one of my favourite peaceful retreats to find solitude in Southeast Alaska, and to enjoy and photograph the beautiful vegetation. It was my favourite place for vegetation because it has such an array of consummate displays of all the lowland, coastal vegetation habitats: flower meadows bursting with blooms and colours: muskeg resplendent with colour and minute detail, especially in the fall, dotted with inky ponds, and lichen and moss festooned dwarf trees: before the surrounding primary old growth temperate rain forest extends up the flanks of the surrounding mountains. Foraging bears frequent the meadows in the summer or dine on salmon in the rivers in the fall. At the head of the inlet there is a salt chuck  with a rock where harbour seals haul out.
    Alaska-vegetation2.jpg
  • Port Houghton is a deep inlet on the mainland just to the north of Petersburg. It was one of my favourite peaceful retreats to find solitude in Southeast Alaska, and to enjoy and photograph the beautiful vegetation. It was my favourite place for vegetation because it has such an array of consummate displays of all the lowland, coastal vegetation habitats: flower meadows bursting with blooms and colours: muskeg resplendent with colour and minute detail, especially in the fall, dotted with inky ponds, and lichen and moss festooned dwarf trees: before the surrounding primary old growth temperate rain forest extends up the flanks of the surrounding mountains. Foraging bears frequent the meadows in the summer or dine on salmon in the rivers in the fall. At the head of the inlet there is a salt chuck  with a rock where harbour seals haul out.
    Alaska-vegetation1.jpg
  • Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) sounding near the entrance to Pleasant Bay, Admiralty Island, Seymour Canal, Southeast Alaska, USA.<br />
The weather conditions were frequently overcast and gloomy for days on end, but if the sunlight ever pierced through the all pervading gloom, the whales seemed to attract it; their graceful motion, water shed from their flukes and diaphanous breath became brilliantly highlighted by a spotlight in their murky world.
    Alaska-humpback-whale-sounding15.jpg
  • Chicken of the Woods or sulfur shelf (Laetiporus sulphureus) shelf fungus growing on decaying tree in temperate rain forest, Southeast Alaska, USA.Striking even from a distance, this mushroom usually grows in large clusters of overlapping bright orange and yellow shelves on conifers. Shelves can exceed 12 inches in width, and a cluster can extend over several feet. When fresh, the fruitbodies are soft and somewhat fleshy to fibrous, but later they become tougher, and, eventually, fade and become soft and crumbly. Shelf margins are rounded and plump when young, becoming wavy and lobed with age. The pores are bright yellow when fresh and fade in age. Considered choice by many, but usually only the soft young outer portions of the shelf are worth eating.<br />
This fungi was one of my regular wild foods that I foraged for to supplement the food I carried with me. It was also one of my favourites because it is so tasty and versatile for cooking. As a lifelong vegetarian it was like a meat substitute for me because it has a meaty texture like chicken, and a similar flavour. It's difficult to overcook and it absorbs flavours; I particularly enjoyed cooking it in pasta sauces with plenty of herbs. It is an ideal wild food for many reasons, including that it's bright orange colour makes it easy to locate in the forest and it has low perishability so I could carry it with me inside my kayak with my other less-perishable vegetables. The other fungus I commonly foraged for was Pacific Golden Chanterelle (Cantharellus formosus), but that is much more perishable.
    Alaska-chicken-of-the-woods1.jpg
  • This was definitely one of my favourite camps in Southeast Alaska because Point Gardiner is such a spectacular location with tremendous views across Frederick Sound and Chatham Strait down to the Pacific Ocean, and Baranof Island with its spine of lofty mountains and glaciers. It wasn't the easiest camp to get to after arriving because of the extensive wave-cut platform at Point Gardiner, and if i was exhausted, which I usually was because the crossing from Kupreanof Island to the south was the longest of the crossings I had to do, having to carry all of my gear to the camp in the dark used up the very last of my energy reserves. There was always so much wildlife off the point. The strong currents of Chatham Strait and Frederick Sound converge there creating upwellings and challenging sea conditions, which attracts a lot of life there, from seabirds to whales. There are extensive kelp beds around the point as well. Just offshore from the point is Yasha Island, which was my favourite sea lion haulout for observing Steller's sea lions at close quarters.
    Alaska-camping-kayaking9.jpg
  • This was one of the very rare occasions when a humpback whale ever showed any aggression towards me. I always tried to avoid obstructing the passage of whales but with so many encounters it was inevitable that sometimes I didn’t have enough time to get out of their way, especially if they surfaced in front of me without any warning. Even then I was often amazed at how they would just roll beneath me like a gigantic ball caressing the soft hull of my kayak with barely a ripple. But on this occasion I encountered a slightly more irritable whale and as it was sounding (diving), instead of just lifting its flukes up before sliding gracefully out of view, it rolled its flukes sideways, creating a large wave that surged towards me, over the bow of my kayak and onto my lap. The icy water of Southeast Alaska was always cold enough to give me a sharp intake of breath, and some degree of punishment for not giving way to a much larger vessel fast enough!
    Alaska-camping-kayaking24.jpg
  • This is one of my favourite photos because it captures the serenity and hypnotic bliss that I felt when I was kayaking in Southeast Alaska. It wasn’t easy at times, and sometimes the distances seemed interminable, especially when I was tired and hungry, but at the end of another rewarding day with the whales I felt like I was imbued with their power and resilience, and could glide across the surface effortlessly for eternity.
    Alaska-camping-kayaking27.jpg
  • This is the only reptile or amphibian that I ever encountered in Southeast Alaska. Where there are roads many newly transformed baby toads can be seen hopping across, especially during wet weather.
    Alaska-boreal-toad1.jpg
  • In Southeast Alaska, Sitka black-tailed deer, mountain goats, and beaver are the most important sources of food. Research indicates that salmon are important seasonally where they are available, especially to young wolves. During summer, small mammals including voles, lemmings and ground squirrels are taken. Wolves will also scavenge, and coastal wolves will beach comb.
    Alaska-wildlife-wolf1.jpg
  • This was taken just off the entrance to Pleasant Harbour where I either used to anchor my boat or camp on the little islet at the entrance that is on the right of this photo. This was my regular base in my early years with the whales in Southeast Alaska. It was always a thrill to emerge from the beautiful cosy little safe anchorage in the morning and be greeted by volleys of whale blows illuminated by the rising sun against the shaded Glass Peninsula.
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  • The frequently dramatic skies, clouds and lighting of Southeast Alaska enhances the dramatic setting of the stage upon which the humpback whales perform every summer.
    Alaska-humpback-whale-sounding14.jpg
  • The unusual and dramatic lighting was created by a forest fire hundreds of miles away in the Yukon Territory. The smoky haze drifted across Southeast Alaska during a rare period of clear weather, intensified the lighting and created a glowing band of light along the horizon.
    Alaska-humpback-whale-sounding21.jpg
  • Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) sounding near the entrance to Pleasant Bay, Admiralty Island, Seymour Canal, Southeast Alaska, USA.<br />
The weather conditions were frequently overcast and gloomy for days on end, but if the sunlight ever pierced through the all pervading gloom, the whales seemed to attract it; their graceful motion, water shed from their flukes and diaphanous breath became brilliantly highlighted by a spotlight in their murky world.
    Alaska-humpback-whale-sounding17.jpg
  • The unusual and dramatic lighting was created by a forest fire hundreds of miles away in the Yukon Territory. The smoky haze drifted across Southeast Alaska during a rare period of clear weather, intensified the lighting and created a luminous band of light along the horizon.
    Alaska-humpback-whale-sounding9.jpg
  • My partner and I eventually separated and I had one last fantastic summer alone cruising around Southeast Alaska with “Avalon” and my Klepper folding kayak. After that I just used my kayak and took everything that I needed to travel around with the humpback whales and camp out for many weeks alone in the Alaskan wilderness. It became a big challenge to be able to pack so much food and equipment in drybags into and onto my small folding kayak; everything had its place in the intricate jigsaw puzzle. Packing the kayak was always a chore but a necessary one to enable me to have so much freedom all summer. I developed a good system for taking the right dried food along with a certain amount of fresh food that could be hung up in the trees and eaten in the right order. That was supplemented with a growing knowledge of wild food that could be harvested from the beaches and the forest.
    Alaska-camping-kayaking4.jpg
  • Seymour Canal, which almost bisects Admiralty Island was one of my regular boating and kayaking haunts in my early years in Southeast Alaska. I always used to anchor Avalon in a beautiful little anchorage called Pleasant Bay, on the east side of Seymour Canal, but this camp was on the opposite side on the Glass Peninsula. This is where I was camped when I had one of my most amazing experiences when I witnessed a pod of orcas killing a big bull Steller's sea lion and attacking humpback whales in the middle of Seymour Canal.
    Alaska-camping-kayaking7.jpg
  • In the early 90s I bought a new kayak; a small double kayak that would enable me to carry more supplies and take anybody out with me if I ever wanted to. The French Nautiraid Raid double kayak is designed to have the versatility of being paddled well as a large capacity single kayak as well as a double. I ordered it from my regular supplier of kayak gear in Sitka, Baidarka Boats, and it was delivered to Tenakee Springs. At that time I was also using an old pilot boat, “Selena”, that I had bought with the help of a natural history filming company that I was going to do some work for, but it never really worked out, and my filming career was very short-lived. Although I had progressed to using a larger kayak it was still a challenge to get everything in, including myself. The two clear containers strapped above the blue dry bag on the bow are my mobile “garden” in which I grew bean sprouts. The wheels strapped to the deck are for a kayak cart that didn’t survive very long. I had always used two polystyrene crab-pot floats strung on rope as rollers to haul my kayak up and down the rocky beaches. I discovered very few sandy unobstructed beaches in Southeast Alaska to make launching and landing any easier. Packing and launching, and then beaching and unloading was always time-consuming especially when I was either impatient to get underway, or tired from a hard day’s paddling and just wanting to make camp, a fire, cook dinner and sleep.
    Alaska-camping-kayaking16.jpg
  • The Steller sea lions of Alaska have entertained me many times and provided company during bad weather when there were no other animals around. They were always inquisitive, if not a bit wary of me, and would often swim beneath my kayak and look up at me with their big bulging eyes. Sometimes they would even engage me in a race to show off their speed on the surface where they can leap like dolphins.<br />
Among pinnipeds, it is only inferior in size to the walrus and elephant seals. The males are bigger than the females and grow to a length of about 2.82-3.25 metres long, with an average of 3m. The males have much wider chests, necks and general body structure and weigh 450-1.120 kg with an average of 544 kg. Males are further distinguished from females by broader, higher foreheads, flatter snouts, and darker, slightly tuftier hair around their large necks, giving them a maned appearance. Indeed, their Latin name translates roughly as “maned one with the broad forehead”.<br />
The range of the Steller sea lion extends from the Kuril Islands and the Sea of Okhotsk in Russia to the Gulf of Alaska in the north, and south to Ano Nuevo Island off central California. The global Steller sea lion population has traditionally been divided into an eastern and western stock roughly through the Gulf of Alaska. They have attracted considerable attention in recent decades due to significant, unexplained declines in their numbers over a large portion of their range in Alaska. While the population of the eastern and Asian stocks appear stable, the population of the western stock, particularly along the Aleutian Islands, was estimated to have fallen by 70-80% since the 1970s. One suspected cause of their precipitous decline is overfishing of Alaska Pollock, herring and other fish stocks in the Gulf of Alaska. In 1997 the western stock was listed as threatened but in 2013 they were removed from the U.S Endangered Species List after a major population recovery.
    Alaska-Steller-sealion7.jpg
  • Skunk cabbage is the definitive plant of the damp Southeast Alaskan terrain. It's large leaves and thick stems can be found anywhere where the ground is saturated enough both inside the forest and outside. Apart from its prominent appearance its distinctive musky smell is a prevalent feature in and around the forest. The distinctive odor attracts its pollinators, scavenging flies and beetles. The plant grows from rhizomes that measure 30 cm or longer, and 2.5 to 5 cm in diameter. The leaves are the largest of any native plant in the region, 50–135 cm long and 30–80 cm wide when mature. Its flowers are produced in a spadix contained within a large, bright yellow or yellowish green spathe 30–40 cm tall; it is among the first flowers to appear in spring.While some consider the plant to be a weed, its roots are food for bears, who eat it after hibernating as a laxative or cathartic. The plant was used by indigenous people as medicine for burns and injuries, and for food in times of famine, when almost all parts were eaten.
    Alaska-vegetation23.jpg
  • Skunk cabbage is the definitive plant of the damp Southeast Alaskan terrain. It's large leaves and thick stems can be found anywhere where the ground is saturated enough both inside the forest and outside. Apart from its prominent appearance its distinctive musky smell is a prevalent feature in and around the forest. The distinctive odor attracts its pollinators, scavenging flies and beetles. The plant grows from rhizomes that measure 30 cm or longer, and 2.5 to 5 cm in diameter. The leaves are the largest of any native plant in the region, 50–135 cm long and 30–80 cm wide when mature. Its flowers are produced in a spadix contained within a large, bright yellow or yellowish green spathe 30–40 cm tall; it is among the first flowers to appear in spring.While some consider the plant to be a weed, its roots are food for bears, who eat it after hibernating as a laxative or cathartic. The plant was used by indigenous people as medicine for burns and injuries, and for food in times of famine, when almost all parts were eaten.
    Alaska-vegetation24.jpg
  • The most common predator of harbor seals is the killer whale. Other predators include sharks, sea lions, and land predators such as wolves, bears and coyotes. Since implementation of the Marine Mammal Protection Act in 1972, hunting has been restricted to Alaska Natives. Harbor seals play a crucial role in the culture and diet of Alaska Natives; the annual subsistence harvest of harbor seals in Alaska is about1,800 to 2,900 animals, with fewer seals harvested in recent years. The harbor seal's ability to damage or remove salmon from gillnets has caused conflicts between seals and commercial fishers in Alaska. This behavior creates economic losses for fishers and often fosters an antagonistic attitude toward seals. The Copper River Delta, the mouths of the Stikine and Taku rivers, and portions of Bristol Bay are areas with notable harbor seal-fishery conflicts. Sometimes seals are caught and killed or injured in fishing gear, primarily in gillnets and occasionally in crab pots.
    Alaska-harbour-seal4.jpg
  • Dramatic declines in harbor seal numbers have been documented in Alaska, including a decline from approximately 11,000 seals to 1,000 seals during 1976-1988 on Tugidak Island near Kodiak – a site previously considered to host one of the largest concentrations of harbor seals in the world. That decline resulted in the listing of Alaskan harbor seals as a species of special concern by the Marine Mammal Commission. A 63% decline in harbor seal numbers also occurred in Prince William Sound during 1984-1997. Although seal numbers in the Kodiak area have been steadily increasing since the early 1990s and seal numbers in PWS began to stabilize and show signs of increase in 2002, both populations remain severely depressed compared to pre-decline population levels. Similarly, a greater than 65% decline in seal numbers has been documented in Glacier Bay since the early 1990s. Seals in Glacier Bay continue to decline at a precipitous rate despite conservation measures in place to control vessel traffic, commercial fishing, and subsistence harvest. The declines and lack of substantial recovery of some harbor seal populations in Alaska contrasts sharply with other parts of the world, where the species has proven to be resilient and capable of fairly rapid recovery from perturbations. There is no evidence that movements of seals between areas can explain these declines; the cause is unknown, but multiple factors are likely involved. Harbor seals appear to have responded severely to changes in carrying capacity and therefore may be particularly sensitive indicators of future change, such as ocean warming.
    Alaska-harbour-seal5.jpg
  • The total Alaska harbor seal population is estimated at approximately 141,000 in non-glacial sites and approximately 15,000 in glacial fjords. Harbor seals are difficult to census because they can only be accurately counted when they are hauled out. They haul out at different times of the day at thousands of locations in Alaska; both at terrestrial sites and on glacial ice calved from tidewater glaciers. During any survey, some seals are in the water and not available to be counted while others are hauled out, but the proportion of the total population hauled out at any given time is unknown and must be estimated. One way to arrive at this estimate is to radio tag seals in the area, prior to conducting a survey. When the survey is conducted, the proportion of radio-tagged seals that are not hauled out provides a correction factor to estimate the total seal population (e.g., if 3 of 10 tagged seals were not hauled out, an additional 30% would be added to the count of seals hauled out to estimate the total population).
    Alaska-harbour-seal6.jpg
  • Although the temperate rain forest of Southeast Alaska is evergreen there is never any shortage of beautiful autumnal colours in the understory vegetation such as the blueberry bushes and the sphagnum moss and miniature plants of the muskeg.
    Alaska-vegetation13.jpg
  • The harbor seal (Phoca vitulina), a widespread species in both the north Atlantic and Pacific oceans, is found in Alaska along the coast extending from Dixon Entrance north to Kuskokwim Bay and west throughout the Aleutian Islands. Harbor seals, and other phocid (true) seals, also are called “hair” seals, which helps distinguish true seals from fur seals. Harbor seals haul out of the water periodically to rest, give birth, and nurse their pups. In winter seals spend up to 80% of their time in the water. In spring and summer they spend more time hauled out during pupping and moult season. Reefs, sand and gravel beaches, sand and mud bars, and glacial, pan ice, and sea ice are commonly used for haul-out sites. The moulting lines on these seals are clearly visible.
    Alaska-harbour-seal1.jpg
  • This was my first really memorable day kayaking with humpback whales in my Klepper kayak in the early 1980s. It was a beautiful sunny day and the sea was flat calm. There was a pod of humpback whales feeding in the area all afternoon. I managed to capture a lot of good photos on this day with my Olympus OM1 because the conditions were so perfect and the whales remained in the same area for a long time. This was my first photo that I ever saw published in a book on whales. I stumbled across it in a book shop in Juneau, Alaska, which was a great thrill and gave me a lot of encouragement to continue photographing the whales. But the most rewarding encouragement for me was when most of the main conservation organisations, like the WWF, Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth started using my whale photos for their Save the Whale campaigns.
    Alaska-humpback-whale-sounding2.jpg
  • Tenakee Inlet and the small community of Tenakee Springs became my regular haunt for a few years. The feeding whales would regularly appear here late in the summer and September to feed. The small Alaska Marine Highway ferry that travels between the smaller communities stops here, and this is where I often finished my trips and returned to Petersburg. The local inhabitants of Tenakee Springs became very familiar with my arrival in late summer. There is an enclosed natural hot spring at the end of the ferry dock, and I would often take a long relaxing soak there after a hard day paddling with the whales. If I wasn’t out on the inlet with the whales then I would often go looking for brown bears to photograph along the beautiful Kadashan River on the other side of the inlet. There is an old native Tlingit cemetery on the small island in view.
    Alaska-camping-kayaking15.jpg
  • Skunk cabbage is the definitive plant of the damp Southeast Alaskan terrain. It's large leaves and thick stems can be found anywhere where the ground is saturated enough both inside the forest and outside. Apart from its prominent appearance its distinctive musky smell is a prevalent feature in and around the forest. The distinctive odor attracts its pollinators, scavenging flies and beetles. The plant grows from rhizomes that measure 30 cm or longer, and 2.5 to 5 cm in diameter. The leaves are the largest of any native plant in the region, 50–135 cm long and 30–80 cm wide when mature. Its flowers are produced in a spadix contained within a large, bright yellow or yellowish green spathe 30–40 cm tall; it is among the first flowers to appear in spring.While some consider the plant to be a weed, its roots are food for bears, who eat it after hibernating as a laxative or cathartic. The plant was used by indigenous people as medicine for burns and injuries, and for food in times of famine, when almost all parts were eaten.Streptopus amplexifolius was used as a food plant by Native Americans in Eastern North America and as a medicine. The plant was referred to by early settlers of Eastern and Western North America as "wild cucumber" and as "scoot berries" for the mildly laxative effects of the berries if they are eaten in excessive quantities.<br />
Twisted stalk or wild cucumber is one of my favourite plants in Southeast. It is a very elegant plant with its ornately arranged lanceolate leaves attached to each kink in the stem. It has delicate little ivory flowers that hang down like fairy's hats.The tender young shoots of this plant were eaten by some aboriginal peoples as a salad green, but most considered the plant and berries poisonous.The shoots are sweet with a cucumber-like flavor. The berries are juicy and sweet, with a watermelon-like flavour. The juice of the berries was used as a soothing treatment for burns by American Indians.
    Alaska-vegetation25.jpg
  • Harbor seals show variable movement patterns depending on their sex and age class, with some exhibiting considerable localized travel but noseasonalpatterns,whileothersshowmoreextendedmovements,particularlyduringthewinter. Seasonaluseofglacialfjords,wheremanyfemalesaggregateto give birth on icebergs in the summer, is common. Satellite tagging studies have shown that pups may range up to 232 miles (374 km) from their birth site, although most movements are less than 62 miles (100km) away. Juvenile seals can make more extensive movements of up to 186-310 miles (300-500 km) away from their tagging location; however, most remain within 100km. Adult seals typically make shorter movements and on average are within 37 miles (60km) of their tagging site. More recent tagging of seals that occupy glacial fiords has revealed movements of seals from one glacial fiord to another as well as one extensive movement of a juvenile female seal from Glacier Bay in southeastern Alaska to Prince William Sound, an estimated straight-line distance of ~ 520 miles (830 km). As more seals are being satellite-tagged, much more information is becoming available about winter and summer movements.
    Alaska-harbour-seal2.jpg
  • I often caught the Alaska Marine Highway local ferry to the native town of Angoon on Admiralty Island before paddling across to my camp at Point Hayes on Chichagof Island. I had to walk past the city dump to get to the town to buy provisions, and there were usually brown bears foraging there, and particularly three young siblings who had apparently lost their mother. They became quite familiar with me and recognized me as someone who didn’t provide them with any food; most people who drove to the dump were providing them with reject salmon. <br />
But one of the three young siblings was more aggressive than the other two and on one occasion it kept advancing towards me expecting me to provide it with something to eat. I decided to teach it a lesson, that people are dangerous, as indeed they are, particularly to dump bears because once they lose their fear of humans they are easy targets for hunters. I was carrying a red pepper bear deterrent spray but when I tried to fire it at the bear I discovered that there was no pressure left in the canister and the contents just trickled down my arm; it was out of pressure when I was under pressure! So I threw the useless canister towards the bear so that it would stop to investigate it and then I climbed on top of an old car. Bears are inquisitive like dogs and I usually carried a few stones in my pocket to distract any bears that might try to be too friendly.
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  • Muskeg is an acidic soil type common in Arctic and boreal areas, although it is found in other northern climates as well. Muskeg is approximately synonymous with bogland, but "muskeg" is the standard term in Western Canada and Alaska, while 'bog' is common elsewhere. The term became common in these areas because it is of Cree origin; maskek meaning low-lying marsh.<br />
Muskeg consists of dead plants in various states of decomposition (as peat), ranging from fairly intact sphagnum moss, to sedge peat, to highly decomposed humus. Pieces of wood can make up five to 15 percent of the peat soil. Muskeg tends to have a water table near the surface. The sphagnum moss forming it can hold 15 to 30 times its own weight in water, allowing the spongy wet muskeg to form on sloping ground.Muskeg forms because permafrost, clay or bedrock prevents water drainage. The water from rain and snow collects, forming permanently waterlogged vegetation and stagnant pools. Muskeg is wet, acidic, and relatively infertile, which prevents large trees from growing, although stunted lodgepole pine, cottonwood, some species of willow, and Black Spruce are typically found in these habitats. It needs two conditions to develop: abundant rain and cool summers. A dead plant that falls on dry soil is normally attacked by bacteria and fungi and quickly rots. If the same plant lands in water or on saturated soil, it decomposes differently. Less oxygen is available under water, so aerobic bacteria and fungi fail to colonize the submerged debris effectively. In addition, cool temperatures retard bacterial and fungal growth. This causes slow decomposition, and thus the plant debris gradually accumulates to form peat and eventually muskeg. Depending on the underlying topography of the land, muskeg can reach depths greater than 30 metres (100 ft).
    Alaska-vegetation17.jpg
  • In Alaska, single pups are born between May and mid-July. Young pups are able to swim almost immediately after birth. They normally remain with their mothers about one month, after which they are weaned and separate from their mother. At that time over half their body weight may consist of fat, providing them a head start on self-sufficiency.While harbor seals will often voluntarily swim close to humans on beaches or in small boats, seals resting on land or ice are wary of people and will rush into the water if approached too closely. If disturbed too often, seals have been known to abandon favorite haul-out sites or their pups. I was able to approach this sleeping seal pup close enough to touch it. They are usually much more alert than sea lions because there is less distracting noise and commotion. I have always been extremely careful not to disturb any of the animals that I have stalked.
    Alaska-harbour-seal3.jpg
  • Many parts of Port Houghton were like a magical fairyland, where only the smallest and lightest of footprints would be permissible to preserve the delicate beauty. It is quite clear from the vegetation that it a particularly wet place that receives maximum amounts of localised rainfall. The trees were the mossiest that I saw anywhere in Southeast Alaska. This was my most successful plant entry into the BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year Competition, reaching the final stage of judging.
    Alaska-vegetation9.jpg
  • Many parts of Port Houghton were like a magical fairyland, where only the smallest and lightest of footprints would be permissible to preserve the delicate beauty. It is quite clear from the vegetation that it a particularly wet place that receives maximum amounts of localised rainfall. The trees were the mossiest that I saw anywhere in Southeast Alaska.<br />
Wet meadow with common cottongrass (Eriophorum angustifolium), western hemlock trees (Tsuga heterophylla) festooned with moss and usnea (Usnea longissima), and false azalea (Menziesia ferruginea) and western skunk cabbage (Lysichiton americanus).
    Alaska-vegetation19-2.jpg
  • Bull moose (Alces alces andersoni), Adam’s Inlet, Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve, Southeast Alaska, USA.<br />
<br />
They originated in Asia and crossed into North America shortly before the Bering Land Bridge between Asia and America flooded about 11,000 years ago, and then dispersed throughout Beringia ( prehistoric Interior Alaska and northwest Canada). About 10,000 years ago an ice-free corridor opened up between the huge continental glaciers that covered Canada, allowing animals like moose, grizzly bears and bison to move south from Berangia to the Pacific Northwest into the continental United States.<br />
Moose subsequently evolved into four North American subspecies (and other sub-species found in Scandinavia and Russia). Alaska is home to the world’s largest, Alces alces gigas, as well as a smaller sub-species, Alces alces andersoni. Gigas, also known as Alaska moose or tundra moose, is found in Alaska, the Yukon and northwest British Columbia; andersoni, or anderson’s moose, is found in Southeast Alaska, the eastern Yukon, and central B.C east to Michigan.<br />
Impeded by mountain ranges, icefields and glaciers, moose did not colonize Southeast Alaska until the 20th century. They are far more recent arrivals than Sitka black-tailed deer and wolves, which moved up the coast from the south about 8,000 years ago as the glaciers melted and land was exposed. Moose from British Columbia accressed Southeast via the river corridors and arrived in the Taku River valley south of Juneau and the Stikine River basin near Petersburg about 1910.<br />
I had a memorable encounter with a large herd of moose in Adam’s Inlet in Glacier Bay in the middle of winter. I was standing on the mudflats at low tide and set up my tripod to photograph the moose on the shore. Gradually they started to walk towards me until eventually I was surrounded by at least 20 moose who were more curious about me than afraid; apparently their protected status in the National Park had made them not fear humans.
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  • A pack of wolves (Canis lupis) on an island in Adam’s Inlet, Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve, Southeast Alaska, USA.<br />
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Two subspecies of wolves are currently recognized in Alaska; wolves in Southeast Alaska tend to be darker and somewhat smaller than those in northern parts of the state. Wolves are social animals and usually live in packs that include parents and pups of the year. The average pack size is six or seven animals, and pack members often include some yearlings and other adults. Packs of 20 to 30 wolves sometimes occur, and these larger packs may have two or three litters of pups from more than one female.<br />
The social order in the pack is characterized by a separate dominance hierarchy among females and males. In most areas wolf packs tend to remain within a territory used almost exclusively by pack members, with only occasional overlap in the ranges of neighboring packs.<br />
This was my first close encounter with a pack of wolves in Southeast Alaska. They are generally hard to see because most of their range is densely forested but the landscape is much more open in Glacier Bay. I was paddling around this island in the middle of winter when I heard some wolves howling. Around the next bend I encountered a pair of cow moose out in the water protecting themselves from a frustrated pack of wolves howling on the shore. I just sat motionless in my kayak and eventually one of the wolves trotted down the frozen beach and stood right in front of me for a few seconds before returning to the rest of the pack. It was a thrilling experience to look a wolf in the eyes at such close quarters.
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  • In my Klepper folding kayak, with sailboat Avalon moored at the Brothers Islands, with Admiralty Island in the background,  Stephen’s Passage, Southeast Alaska, Alaska, USA. <br />
<br />
My Alaskan partner and I worked together at a salmon cannery in the fishing town, Petersburg on Mitkof Island. We bought a 26 ft gaff cutter from an English boat builder who sailed it to Alaska from Oregon. My partner Anne, named it “Avalon”, because of a special interest in Arthurian legends. I then bought a Klepper Aerius 1 folding kayak from a local high-school teacher who did kayaking trips to the Arctic every summer with her fellow high-school teacher husband. I was now fully equipped to explore Southeast Alaska with my partner. The Brothers Islands is a pair of small islands in Stephen’s Passage a short distance from Admiralty Island. It is a beautiful, safe anchorage, with a commanding view of Stephen’s Passage and humpback whales commonly frequent the area. There is a Steller sea lion haul-out a short distance from the islands, where I saw many entertaining performances by those most endearing of sea creatures.
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  • Tongass National Forest, temperate rain forest, Chichagof Island, Southeast Alaska, USA.<br />
<br />
This is a definitive view of the Southeastern Alaska temperate rain forest; you can almost hear the ravens calling from high up on a massy branch. Southeast Alaska is a place that is defined by rain, lots of it, and at any time of the year. Sometimes it doesn’t stop raining for weeks and you can count the days of summer on one hand. If the sun breaks through the pervading clouds then the warmth releases misty serpents that weave their way across the branches and evaporate into the sunshine. It can be a dark and shadowed land but the mercurial interplay between light and water is always there, if you are prepared to wait…..
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  • Lunge-feeding humpback whale (Megaptera novaeanglia), Chatham Strait, Southeast Alaska, USA.<br />
<br />
I became very familiar with the individual whales that made up the cooperative bubblenet feeding groups. I could identify them by their flukes, markings on their throats, barnacles and even sometimes by the sounds they made.<br />
I had known Dr Fred Sharpe of the Alaska Whale Foundation for many years during his research into the cooperative bubble net feeding strategies employed by the humpback whales of Southeast Alaska. He was particularly interested in the genetic relatedness of individual whales within and between cooperative pods, in addition to the local genetic sub-structuring of the population. He discovered that social foraging humpback whale pods possess a social complexity that is rarely observed in baleen whales. For example, individuals within these groups may develop long-term associations that may last for many years. There also appears to be a division of labour, with particular whales constantly leading the group, deploying the bubble nets, and producing the feeding calls. Furthermore, on each lunge, each whale in the group maintains the same position, indicating that this is an intrinsically choreographed feeding maneuver. My own personal observations with the same feeding groups over the course of the summer also bore this out. I observed how there were always core members of a group but other individual whales appeared to join them on a much more ad hoc basis before moving off again.<br />
He ascertained that it is only the more elusive, shoaling prey, such as Pacific herring, that require the same level of cooperative cohesiveness; easier prey such as krill do not require the same sophisticated feeding strategies as do shoaling fish.
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  • Waterfall and large Alaska cottonwood tree in the autumn, Stikine River, the mainland, Southeast Alaska, USA.<br />
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If I wasn’t kayaking at sea looking for humpback whales then the Stikine River was my favourite place to be. What an amazing, breathtaking river that is, that provides a valuable natural highway for wild animals from the interior and opens out onto  a spectacular river delta. When I remember Alaska, it is somewhere that I always return to in my dreams, to feel the vastness of open vistas that Alaska provides.
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  • Duncan Murrell kayaking with humpback whales in his Klepper Aerius 1 folding kayak, near the Brother’s Islands, with Admiralty Island and Baranof Island in the distance, Stephen’s Passage, Southeast Alaska, USA.<br />
<br />
This was my first ever memorable day kayaking with humpback whales in Southeast Alaska in about 1983; an amazing day that set the tone for another 20 years of involvement there with the whales. It was a beautifully flat calm day out on the water and there was a large pod of humpback whales feeding in the vicinity of the Brothers Islands where we were moored with “Avalon”. It was the day when I realized that a kayak was the only way that I could really appreciate being around the whales without disturbing them or interrupting their natural feeding behaviour. I discovered that they are completely safe to be around and that I could manoeuvre the kayak more than adequately to stay out of their way. It was such an adrenaline-rush to be so close to them, and to be able to feel their power and energy transmitted through the water.
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  • A pack of wolves (Canis lupis) on an island in Adam’s Inlet, Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve, Southeast Alaska, USA.<br />
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In Southeast Alaska, Sitka black-tailed deer, mountain goats, and beaver are the most important sources of food. Research indicates that salmon are important seasonally where they are available, especially to young wolves. During summer, small mammals including voles, lemmings and ground squirrels are taken. Wolves will also scavenge, and coastal wolves will beach comb.
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  • Flower meadow, Port Houghton inlet on the mainland, Southeast Alaska, USA.<br />
<br />
There were extensive grassy meadows in Port Houghton and amongst the lush greenery there were oases of colour like this, brimming with different colour variations of Indian paint brush, northern white orchid, silverweed, Indian rice and northern lupins. It was a resplendent sight that always lifted the generally pervasive gloom of Southeast Alaska.
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  • Pod of orcas (Orcinus orca) cruising in Chatham Strait, Southeast Alaska, USA.<br />
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Encountering orcas was a much rarer event than being with the whales in Southeast Alaska so I always viewed it a special treat and a bonus for the summer. I always felt like I had to shift up into a much higher gear with the faster swimming orcas, and I usually knew that something out of the ordinary was going to happen. Most of pods of orcas I encountered were small transient pods specializing in hunting for marine mammals. On this occasion I was able to paddle many miles with a very large pod of at least 30 individuals that spanned the width of Chatham Strait. It was a beautiful, sunny day and the sea was calm without a puff of wind, which always makes it a bit easier to keep up with them. They appeared to be hunting for salmon by corralling them judging from the way their speed and direction changed periodically. It’s fascinating listening to the extensive chatter of orcas; they are much more vocal than the humpbacks and can produce a great range of sounds from clicks, squeals and whistles to what sounds like someone knocking on a door. The most memorable thing that happened on this day involved some young calves, which like the humpback calves were very inquisitive about me. I had just stopped for a rest and was observing the behavior of some of the orcas swimming past. Suddenly two calves popped their shiny black heads out of the water right next to the cockpit of my kayak! They were chattering away at me with their squealing and whistling, and after greeting them with a very surprised “hello’, my next instinct was to pat them on the head like puppies, but they disappeared before I had the chance to do that. <br />
I never ever felt threatened by orcas, even when the big bulls would sometimes swim straight towards me, and they would twist sharply at the last minute just before their tall dorsal fins could slice into me. I’m quite sure that they were only ever inquisitive about me.
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  • A humpback whale sounds dramatically and forcefully in front of the Nautiraid kayak of Duncan Murrell, Peril Strait, near Chatham Strait, Southeast Alaska, USA.<br />
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This was one of the very rare occasions when a humpack whale ever showed any aggression towards me. I always tried to avoid obstructing the passage of whales but with so many encounters it was inevitable that sometimes I didn’t have enough time to get out of their way, especially if they surfaced in front of me without any warning. Even then I was often amazed at how they would just roll beneath me like a gigantic ball caressing the soft hull of my kayak with barely a ripple. But on this occasion I encountered a slightly more irritable whale and as it was sounding (diving), instead of just lifting its flukes up before sliding gracefully out of view, it rolled its flukes sideways, creating a large wave that surged towards me, over the bow of my kayak and onto my lap. The icy water of Southeast Alaska was always cold enough to give me a sharp intake of breath, and some degree of punishment for not giving way to a much larger vessel fast enough!
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  • Duncan Murrell’s Klepper Aerius 1 folding kayak and gear at the start of a kayaking trip, Angoon, Admiralty Island, Southeast Alaska, USA.<br />
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My partner and I eventually separated and I had one last fantastic summer alone cruising around Southeast Alaska with “Avalon” and my Klepper folding kayak. After that I just used my kayak and took everything that I needed to travel around with the humpback whales and camp out for many weeks alone in the Alaskan wilderness. It became a big challenge to be able to pack so much food and equipment in drybags into and onto my small folding kayak; everything had its place in the intricate jigsaw puzzle. Packing the kayak was always a chore but a necessary one to enable me to have so much freedom all summer. I developed a good system for taking the right dried food along with a certain amount of fresh food that could be hung up in the trees and eaten in the right order. That was supplemented with a growing knowledge of wild food that could be harvested from the beaches and the forest.
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  • Flower meadow, Port Houghton inlet on the mainland, Southeast Alaska, USA.<br />
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There were extensive grassy meadows in Port Houghton and amongst the lush greenery there were oases of colour like this, brimming with different colour variations of Indian paint brush, northern white orchid, silverweed, Indian rice and northern lupins. It was a resplendent sight that always lifted the generally pervasive gloom of Southeast Alaska.
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  • Three humpback whales (Megaptera novaeanglia) blowing simultaneously, Tenakee Inlet, Southeast Alaska, USA.<br />
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The lighting for photographing humpback whales in Southeast Alaska was exceptional, as was the backdrop of forested mountains. There was commonly extensive cloud cover but any chinks of light that were able to break through the gloom seemed to highlight the outline of the whales and illuminate their plumes of transitory breath. The effect was even more pronounced when they were set against a backdrop of dark, forested mountains.<br />
This photo was Highly Commended in the Endangered Species category of the BBC Wildlife Photographer Competition in 2002, the same year that I won the Mammal Behavior category with a photo of a lunge-feeding whale, also taken in Tenakee Inlet.
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  • Colourful grass and false lily-of-the-valley in wet meadow bordering the forest, Port Houghton, Southeast Alaska, USA.<br />
I was particularly fascinated by all of the different species of wild grasses in Southeast Alaska because in my own country, England, so many of the native wild grasses have been displaced by the all-consuming modern agricultural practices.<br />
This was one of my favourite species because the pink colour change in autumn perfectly complimented the colour transformation of the surrounding sphagnum bogs. I always called this “the Party Photo”, because the colourful grass seems to be erupting from the ground like party poppers.
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  • Humpback whale (Megaptera novaeanglia) sounding, Stephen’s Passage, Southeast Alaska, USA.<br />
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The unusual and dramatic lighting was created by a forest fire hundreds of miles away in the Yukon Territory. The smoky haze drifted across Southeast Alaska during a rare period of clear weather, intensified the lighting and created a glowing band of light along the horizon.
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  • Wet meadow with Alaska cotton grass and dwarf trees, Port Houghton, Southeast Alaska, USA.<br />
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I loved the wet meadows and “muskeg”, sphagnum bogs, at Port Houghton. I was almost afraid to walk across them because they seemed so fragile underfoot. This was a magical place to me where only the soft, gentle, footsteps of fairies could be permissible.
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  • Skunk cabbage, Port Houghton, Southeast Alaska, USA.<br />
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The skunk cabbage is probably the definitive understory plant of the Southeast Alaskan rain forest along with devil’s club. Its musky smell permeates the darkest, wettest corners of the forest and its giant shiny leaves seem to belong to prehistoric times.
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  • Alaska cotton grass blowing in the wind, Port Houghton, Southeast Alaska, USA.<br />
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During the autumn, the cotton grass would start to shed its wispy hairs, and they would scatter and disperse in the wind, and coat the surrounding vegetation with a temporary coat like an animal moulting.
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  • Three brown bear (Ursos arctos) siblings at a dump, Angoon, Admiralty Island, Southeast Alaska, USA.<br />
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I often caught the Alaska Marine Highway local ferry to the native town of Angoon on Admiralty Island before paddling across to my camp at Point Hayes on Chichagof Island. I had to walk past the city dump to get to the town to buy provisions, and there were usually brown bears foraging there, and particularly three young siblings who had apparently lost their mother. They became quite familiar with me and recognized me as someone who didn’t provide them with any food; most people who drove to the dump were providing them with reject salmon. <br />
But one of the three young siblings was more aggressive than the other two and on one occasion it kept advancing towards me expecting me to provide it with something to eat. I decided to teach it a lesson, that people are dangerous, as indeed they are, particularly to dump bears because once they lose their fear of humans they are easy targets for hunters. I was carrying a red pepper bear deterrent spray but when I tried to fire it at the bear I discovered that there was no pressure left in the canister and the contents just trickled down my arm; it was out of pressure when I was under pressure! So I threw the useless canister towards the bear so that it would stop to investigate it and then I climbed on top of an old car. Bears are inquisitive like dogs and I usually carried a few stones in my pocket to distract any bears that might try to be too friendly.
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  • Humpback whale (Megaptera novaeanglia) sounding near some whale researchers in their inflatable boat, Chatham Strait, Southeast Alaska, USA.<br />
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It was always good to have Fred Sharpe and his fellow whale researchers around in their Alaska Whale Foundation boat, “the Evolution”. We both had a lot of mutual respect for each other, and very importantly to me he shared the same respect for the whales, and always operated in a very non-intrusive manner. I was so used to being out there camping alone, but it was always nice to enjoy their company, and catch up on some jovial socializing and fine dining onboard his boat.
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  • Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeanglia) cooperative feeding using a bubble net, the Morris Reef, Chatham Strait, Southeast Alaska, USA.<br />
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I remember this group of bubblenet feeders very distinctly because I had many close encounters with them on the Morris Reef. There was a core group of the usual 5 or 6 individual whales and they were creating a lot of bubble nets. On this occasion they were so close to me that I had to remove my headphones because the sound of their feeding call was so loud and piercing. It was a sound that became so familiar to me, and was so ingrained in my mind that it constantly haunted my thoughts. I would imagine that it has the same effect on their prey. <br />
The baleen plates of one of the whales are clearly visible, and the means by which the water is filtered through them retaining any prey in its mouth.
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  • Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeanglia) cooperative feeding using a bubble net, Tenakee Inlet, Southeast Alaska, USA.<br />
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This feeding group clearly illustrates a typical formation with one lead whale ascending vertically out of the water and the rest arranged laterally around it. Sometimes there was more than one lead whale, but quite often it was just one.
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  • Meltwater stream emerging from the base of a tidewater glacier in Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve at low tide, Southeast Alaska, USA.
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  • Large fluted iceberg in Le Conte Inlet, Southeast Alaska, USA.<br />
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I think that this was the only time that I ever saw a glacier that had melted like this, into very symmetrical fluted ridges. I haven’t found an explanation for this peculiar phenomenon.
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  • The Steller sea lions of Alaska have entertained me many times and provided company during bad weather when there were no other animals around. They were always inquisitive, if not a bit wary of me, and would often swim beneath my kayak and look up at me with their big bulging eyes. Sometimes they would even engage me in a race to show off their speed on the surface where they can leap like dolphins.<br />
Among pinnipeds, it is only inferior in size to the walrus and elephant seals. The males are bigger than the females and grow to a length of about 2.82-3.25 metres long, with an average of 3m. The males have much wider chests, necks and general body structure and weigh 450-1.120 kg with an average of 544 kg. Males are further distinguished from females by broader, higher foreheads, flatter snouts, and darker, slightly tuftier hair around their large necks, giving them a maned appearance. Indeed, their Latin name translates roughly as “maned one with the broad forehead”.<br />
The range of the Steller sea lion extends from the Kuril Islands and the Sea of Okhotsk in Russia to the Gulf of Alaska in the north, and south to Ano Nuevo Island off central California. The global Steller sea lion population has traditionally been divided into an eastern and western stock roughly through the Gulf of Alaska. They have attracted considerable attention in recent decades due to significant, unexplained declines in their numbers over a large portion of their range in Alaska. While the population of the eastern and Asian stocks appear stable, the population of the western stock, particularly along the Aleutian Islands, was estimated to have fallen by 70-80% since the 1970s. One suspected cause of their precipitous decline is overfishing of Alaska Pollock, herring and other fish stocks in the Gulf of Alaska. In 1997 the western stock was listed as threatened but in 2013 they were removed from the U.S Endangered Species List after a major population recovery.
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  • Duncan Murrell’s fully loaded Nautiraid folding kayak, Hoonah, Admiralty Island, Southeast Alaska, USA.<br />
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Although I had progressed to using a larger kayak it was still a challenge to get everything in, including myself. The wheels are for a kayak cart that didn’t survive very long. I usually used two inverted polystyrene crab-pot floats as rollers to haul my kayak up the rocky beaches. There were very few, clear flat beaches available anywhere to make it any easier to move my kayak up and down. Packing and launching, and then beaching and unloading was always a major work-out, done the hard way of course.
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  • Humpback whale (Megaptera novaeanglia) lunging during cooperative feeding using a bubble net, the Morris Reef, Chatham Strait, Southeast Alaska, USA.<br />
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The tightly packed baleen plates are clearly visible. They are smooth on the outside, and coarse and bristly on the inside.
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  • Duncan Murrell paddling his fully laden Klepper Aerius 1 folding kayak, the Brothers Islands, Stephen’s Passage, Southeast Alaska, USA.<br />
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It was always a relief to get everything packed into and onto my kayak. I broke all of the conventional rules regarding how much could be loaded onto the decks, but I was carrying such a heavy load with all of my camping and photographic equipment as well that my kayak was still very stable, if not a little heavy to paddle, but after paddling so many miles like that and keeping up with the whales day after day I developed a strong paddling style all of my own.
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  • Ancient “blue” iceberg, Le Conte Inlet, Southeast Alaska, USA.
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  • Dying trees around a pond created by beaver, Mitkof Island, Southeast Alaska, USA.<br />
Beaver can completely transform a forested landscape. They can create new habitats that can be exploited by other animals.
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  • Birch and other deciduous trees near Haines, Southeast Alaska, USA.<br />
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Although much of the Tongass national Forest is made up of conifers like western hemlock, Sitka spruce, red and yellow cedar, there are plenty of deciduous trees, particularly in wide open river valleys.
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  • “Muskeg” pond, pond in sphagnum bog, Port Houghton, Southeast Alaska.<br />
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The “muskeg” or sphagnum bogs were interspersed with black ponds with many water plants. The surrounding sphagnum bogs were are a Lilliputian world of miniaturized plants, like the vivid red of the nagoon berry visible in this photo, that only bears one berry; but it as big, sweet and succulent as a perfect raspberry and was always one of my favourite berries to search for.
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  • The view of a pod of humpback whales sounding from the cockpit of Duncan Murrell’s Nautiraid folding kayak, Peril Strait, near Chatham Strait, Southeast Alaska, USA.<br />
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I always felt completely safe in my kayak with the whales. If anyone ever asked me if I was afraid to get as close to the whales as I did, the answer was always a resounding yes because I always trusted them not to be aggressive towards me because I always tried to ensure that I posed no threat towards them. I often stayed with a pod for an entire day from morning to night and they would often surface alongside me and accompany me as if I was one of them. I became a familiar and unthreatening shape and presence to them, with no potentially deadly slashing propeller to concern them; I was virtually no different from other marine creatures like sea lions that often accompany them.
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  • Duncan Murrell kayaking with humpback whales in his Nautiraid folding kayak, Point Hayes, Chatham Strait, Southeast Alaska, USA. Photo courtesy of Francois Gohier.<br />
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This was another photo taken by Francois Gohier when he was also photographing the bubble net feeding whales around the Morris Reef. After I won the Mammal Category of the BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year Competition in 2002 I was commissioned to write an article for the BBC Wildlife Magazine and this photo was used on the cover of the magazine, which was indeed an honour for me as I have been reading the magazine since I was a young boy.
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  • Duncan Murrell photographing bubblenet feeding humpback whales from his Nautiraid folding kayak, Morris Reef, Point Hayes, Chatham Strait, Southeast Alaska, USA. Photo courtesy of Francois Gohier.<br />
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This was another photo taken by Francois Gohier when we were both photographing bubblent feeding humpback whales on the Morris Reef, near Point Hayes. I was very familiar with the underwater topography around the Morris Reef and became very good at predicting the movement of the feeding whales along it as they herded the herring. The main problem there was the sea conditions because it is near the junction of Peril Strait and Chatham Strait, so there are usually very strong currents and any wind can exacerbate the conditions as well.
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  • Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeanglia) cooperative feeding using a bubble net), Morris Reef, Point Hayes, Chatham Strait, Southeast Alaska, USA.<br />
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This was my first successful entry in the BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year Competition. I was Highly Commended for this photo of a lunge-feeding whale in the Endangered Species category in about 1994.
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  • The McBride tidewater Glacier, Glacier Bay national Park and Preserve, Southeast Alaska, USA.<br />
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The Glacier Bay Basin is a myriad combination of tidewater glaciers, snow-capped mountain ranges, ocean coastlines, deep fjords, and freshwater rivers and lakes that provide widely varying land and seascapes, and hosts a mosaic of plant communities, and a great variety of marine and terrestrial wildlife. It has many branches, inlets, lagoons, islands, and channels that hold prospects for scientific exploration and a visual treat for the visitor.<br />
Glacier Bay, the body of water, covers an area 1.375 square miles (3,560 km2) of glaciers and accounts for 27% of the park area. It was a large single glacier of solid ice until early 18th century. It started retreating and evolved over the centuries into the largest protected water area park in the world. It was formerly known as the Grand Pacific Glacier about 4,000 feet (1200 m) thick and about 20 miles (32 km) in width, which has since then, over the last more than 200 years retreated by 65 miles (105 kms) to the head of the bay at Tarr Inlet, and in this process left separate 20 other glaciers, including this one, in its trail.<br />
Glaciers are very dynamic entities and there are seven “active” tidewater glaciers in Glacier bay, which are advancing into the sea and thus calve off large chunks of ice that fall into the sea with a thunderous noise, raising large waves.
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  • My friend standing under a stagnating glacier at Wolf Point, Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve, Southeast Alaska, USA.<br />
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My friend and I came across this “stagnating” glacier in Glacier Bay and because it was stagnating there were ice caves that had opened up beneath it. A stagnating glacier is a glacier that is neither advancing nor retreating, but melting in situ, in totality. It was amazing being able to walk beneath a glacier although somewhat precarions because stones were being dropped from the ice as it melted. The colour of the ice with the light shining through it from above was extraordinary; it was definitely one of the most “other-wordly” places that I have ever been to. If you looked closely into the ice you could see and hear all of the tiny capillaries of melt water that were gradually draining the life from the glacier. I wondered how long it had been “alive” for?<br />
Geologists believe that Glacier Bay existed during a minimum of four glacial periods ending with the Little Ice Age, which has a 4,000 years old record, as the latest period. All glaciers in the park today are said to be remnants of this glacial period.
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  • Ponds created by beaver in temperate rain forest, Kadashan River, Chichagof Island, Southeast Alaska, USA.<br />
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The Kadashan River on Chichagof Island, that flows into Tenakee Inlet, was my other favourite place for vegetation, particularly where there are many beaver dams, that serve to open up the forest and allow more light in.
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