Walking Along Potter Marsh

Are you annoyed yet? I know this is a lot of photo dumps lately. I should have done this throughout the summer, but I was too busy adventuring to blog, so I apologize. Today's featured adventure was the visit to Potter Marsh just outside of Anchorage Alaska along the Seward Highway. This is a "free" spot for tourists and locals alike to view the local wildlife and landscape. I say "free" because they do ask for a donation, you can place check or cash in a box at the head of the boardwalk. 

There is a boardwalk that takes out out over the Marsh. There are several different "paths" that bring you over waterways where spawning salmon make their way to the spawn beds. Water fowl of every type can be seen all throughout the marsh. Big game like moose and bear frequent the area (moose more than bruin, and normally early morning or late night visits). Several "step outs" have a type of public binocular you can use to see some of the further away wildlife (or look into the homes on the hillside... I joke... kinda.) This is a popular attraction for everyone so be prepared to see a lot of bird watchers, tourists, etc.

On our visit we spotted spawning pink salmon, ducks and other water fowl, and a curious little ermine (also known as a stoat). You can view photos of our visit below.

Year of the Bear

As stated in my other road trip blog posts, 2020 has offered a unique ability to do a little bit of tourism within my home state. Just about all of my summer adventures happened with my best friend and her daughter (who was 10 at the beginning of summer but turned 11 on the first day of the new school year, poor kid). Many of those trips included a quick trip down Skilak Lake Road just about an hour north of where we live. Adds quite a bit of time because we go slow hoping to see some wildlife, and this year has not disappointed. We've seen birds (including a horrible collision between a pick up and a Spruce Hen), squirrels, rabbits... and BEARS. There is a lot of bear activity in that area, both brown and black. We've seen both over the years, but not as often as we've seen them this year (to be fair we don't normally drive that road as much as we have this year). 

One night we were able to catch some photos of a black bear cub (no mommy in sight!) and then a few weeks later we spotted a sow brown bear and her three cubs close by floating on the Russian River. I've included both here just because.

Bear Sighting

A few weekends ago my bestie Kassy and I went on a short road trip to Anchorage. Just an overnighter so I could get my car fixed and she signed us up to help with an Operation Christmas Child information booth at a Christian Women's Conference. It was fun, but it was a quick up and back and I was tired (I dealt with migraines all weekend). On our way home (much later than I'd originally planned but we were at the mercy of the mechanics) we were stopped just outside of Sterling. I originally thought it was due to an accident until we looked to the side of the road and saw a sow brown bear and her two yearling cubs! We spent over a half hour taking pictures and watching idiot drivers/people. This is only the 3rd time I've seen a Brownie in the wild (and so close to the road!) and the very first time I've seen cubs in the wild! So awesome!

Favorite photos from 2015

There were so many beautiful moments this year, it's hard for me to pare it down as much as I have for the photos. I was going to go month by month, but that seems like too much work at this juncture, so it's in no real order, just however blogger decided to download them. There are more under the cut, as always, and if you would like to order a print please contact me via the comments section and I can work with you.

Here's hoping 2016 sees even more beauty!

I am in this photo, but I set it up so it counts. This was taken the last night
Dean and Mary Nichols were here for a revival. I hadn't seen Dean since
2010, and he hadn't preached at First Baptist Kenai since 2006! It
was good having them "home" for a little while. I miss them!
This group is just a small representation of the youth group my dad led
while Dean was our pastor.

As I said in yesterday's post, my dad helped Kassy
coach TBall... as you can see, it wen't well.

Sushi was very happy to wear his 49ers Jersey
and pose with an "official" NFL Network Football.

Caribou on the Kenai

I had a busy afternoon yesterday. Went and helped Kassy take down the VBS stuff (which normally we DON'T have to do, that's not in our job description!), then went over to the Animal Shelter for what I thought was just going to be a volunteer interview but I ended up taking photos (yay!). Get home, set up the camera gear to get ready for the Tri-the-Kenai this Sunday and my facebook gets flooded with "There are caribou with big antlers on the Flats right on the road!"

So after going back and forth trying to decide if I was going to make the trek over there (it's a 10 minute drive during the 5 o'clock hour) I headed out and snapped a few beauties before they went into the bushes.

The Kenai lowland herd of Caribou are a protected herd. They cannot be hunted as their numbers are small and a few years ago they were nearly all gone. They are steadily increasing in number, and visit many hot spots in Kenai all year long (they love to hang out at the high school). During Christmas last year they were over by Soldotna Animal Hospital and they made a lot of comments about Santa stopping in and getting his team checked out before the big flight. ;)

It was a beautiful night for photos!

June visitors!

Well, I survived May and I'm starting to recoop from the first week of June (which is also my church's VBS week each year). I am pooped. I have done NOTHING today and other than a tball game tonight I will continue to do nothing until I go back to work on Wednesday! Ha!

But I did want to share photos I took on Friday, we had a mother moose and her new twin babies in our yard when I got home from VBS and I found enough energy to take a couple hundred pictures. Don't worry, I didn't edit or share all of them.

Hopefully I get the inspiration to start blogging again, but until then...

Mature bald eagle photos

We've had that Juvenile Bald Eagle visit the bone pile all week. It's been pretty neat to see, though he was getting annoyed with the attention and flying off more and more. Last night we were surprised to find a mature eagle on the bones. Looks like Jr. decided he needed his parental unit to keep us from bugging him.

Joke was on him, though, because we brought out the cameras again to get some captures of the beautiful mature bald eagle. Here are just a few (I may have taken over 100. Yeah, not sorry.) of the photos I took while he ripped into the carrion.

Juvenile Bald Eagle photos

Here in Alaska when a moose gets hit by a car (or hits a car) and dies or has to be put down, the Alaska State Troopers have a list of people to call offering the meat. All the person on the list has to do is butcher and package the moose.

My dad gets the call for their church so that people who are unable to do the butchering can still get the meat. He got a call on Saturday night (during his and mom's Valentine's Day Date) that a moose had been hit and killed and that they'd be dropping it off at our house.

So all this weekend was about blood and meat and bones... and the bones are now sitting out in the backyard to let the birds pick them clean. Normally that means magpies and ravens but yesterday....

 But instead this guy showed up. He is an immature (juvenille) bald Eagle. I don't think I've ever seen one in our backyard munching on moose bones before. They normally perch in a tree or just fly over (did that a lot when Yuka and Lulu were puppies...) but this guy spent all afternoon ripping left over flesh off of a moose's backbone.

Alaskan Visitors

We had a Moose Cow and Calf visit our backyard this morning. I was on my way out the door when I noticed them so I grabbed the camera and the 100-400mm lens and stood on the deck to take their photos. I try very hard not to get too close/bother the moose when they make it into the yard. Safety first! So that means short little baby moose remain pretty hidden from the camera's view, but I managed to get a few.

I also managed to get a couple of pics of a Robin. All in the rain. It was worth it.

Real Big Wild Life

While a sight like this would have Anchorage Alaska media and "newer Alaskans" (and I use Alaskan soooooooooooooooooooooooo sarcastically here) would freak out and scream for these animals to be moved to "the woods" so they can't "hurt us", here in Kenai we welcome and embrace the wildlife. Such a bizarre notion, I know.

I took 100 pictures today, went to upload them and realized that photos I downloaded to the computer earlier today were corrupted. So I'm in a very gloomy mood. Not sure I'll be sleeping tonight or not. UGH!