The last 10 days have been one big whirlwind. Our daughter, Kimberly, and niece, Lindsy, flew to Anchorage for the wedding of a close college friend. They managed to get a week to travel, which meant that the four of us took off right after the wedding and tried to see as much as possible in six days. After the young women caught red-eye flights home at midnight Saturday night, Helen and I also started for home, but with a long road trip ahead of us.
One of the highlights of the week was the bus trip into Denali. Although Helen and I had done this trip several weeks earlier, this time we saw more wildlife, including seven Grizzly Bears, a lynx, and a wolf. However, the highlight for me was finally getting to see Willow Ptarmigan. Our very considerate driver stopped for us to get good looks at a group of seven of them right beside the road. Later I saw three more along the road.
The boat trip to see glaciers that we had reserved turned out to also be an excellent birding trip, plus sightings of Orca and Humpbacked Whales, Dall Porpoises, Sea Otters and Stellers Sea Lions. Hundreds of puffins were seen throughout the day, but new birds for me included Ancient Murrelets and Rhinoceros Auklets. The glaciers were awe-inspiring - I never get tired of seeing glaciers. I did get tired the day we hiked eight miles, gaining 3,000 feet of altitude, in order to get close-up looks at the Harding Icefield and the Exit Glacier.
Later, as Helen and I headed south through the Yukon Territory and into British Columbia, we saw what looked like a grouse standing very close to the highway. With almost no traffic on the highway we were able to pull over and I walked back to within 10 feet of the fearless bird. It turned out to be a Spruce Grouse. While we looked at each other at close range the bird made quiet clucks before finally walking off the berm and flying up into a tree (it was a spruce tree).
That same evening we saw Black Bears along the roadside – eight different sightings in three hours. It was a beautiful, sunny evening and we drove slowly so as to not hit any of the wildlife. At one point a Red Fox crossed the road. Again we stopped and watched as the fox walked slowly for about 50 yards and then sat down and watched us.
From here we head back through British Columbia to Alberta, stopping at Jasper and Banff National Parks, and then on home to Ohio. Good birding!
