I spent 10 days on a river trip in Alaska’s arctic, beginning on the Nigu river, which means “rainbow” in Inupiaq. The Nigu flows north out of the Brooks Range, with its headwaters located in the Gates of the Arctic National Park. It then flows through the National Petroleum Reserve, where it joins the Etivluk…
The Columbia glacier in Prince William Sound has been receeding rapidly for many years, and all the chunks of ice in this photo are trapped in a tidal lake by an old glacial morraine. Its truly a wild place to explore and walk around. I took this picutre after climbing on top of another large…
Harlequin ducks inhabit Prince William sound in large numbers, often in flocks exceeding a hundred birds. Since the Exxon Oil spill of 1989, studies have sought to determine the long term damage of oil contaminants to this species. They are know to return to the same feeding grounds each year, thus increasing their risk should…
Surprisingly, sea otters are larger than they may appear. Most often one sees their cute, whiskered faces peering from the water as they playfully groom or feed on shellfish. But when they are viewed completely out of the water, as in this photo of otters on a floating iceberg, their size is considerable. A mature…
While flying over the Copper River Delta in south central, Alaska, I grabbed a few frames of Harbor seals hauled out on a sand shoal along the river delta. They were pretty densely packed together and I was curious as to how many were present in the picture. Field biologists have methods for counting and…
I’ve owned a Canon 5d Mark II for a few months now and have had some time to test it out under different shooting conditions. The digital files created by the camera are excellent, and this topic has been well discussed on the web already. What I’d like to share are a few comments specifically…
If you are a bird, the condition of your feathers means everything. And so the process of preening is a continual one. It is also at this stage that a bird can ingest oil and other contaminants that may adhere to their feathers in polluted waters. This Surfbird (Aphriza virgata), was one of thousands along…
I’ve spent the last two weeks photographing in the Prince William Sound region with a primary focus on the birds migrating through the area at this time of year. Eight days were spent on the MV Discovery, owned by Dean Rand of Discovery Voyages. I met Dean while working on the Exxon Valdez Oil spill…
In the late 1700’s, the first recorded European to set foot on Alaska was George Steller, a naturalist on the Russian expedition led by Vitus Bering. Steller landed on a rugged prominence called Kayak Island, a 23 mile island directly exposed to the violent waters of the Gulf of Alaska. A great book on details…
The Copper River Delta in eastern Prince William Sound, serves as an important refueling stop for the shorebirds that migrate along the western coast of the US. Hundreds of thousands of birds congregate here in early May and spend a few days on average feeding on the rich inter tidal shores before journeying on to…