Monday, May 24, 2010
Meet Captain Hook
This is Captain Hook, also known as T40. He's part of a transient whale pod in the San Juan Islands near Anacortes, Washington. And, yes, that's the corner of our whale tour boat in the photo. Absolutely the most amazing day of whale watching EVER! More photos to come.
Friday, April 30, 2010
Wakey wakey
Small snow berms hide in the shade covered with dirt, insulated from the sun. Road dust clings to trees, inhibiting their bloom. Brown grass lazes around, too tired to be green. Alaska sleeps then awakens only to hit the snooze button, not quite ready to come out from undercover. Perhaps a dowsing of water will end this slumber.
Freshly fallen rain. Splitter-splatter, kerplop and kadoink! It falls from the sky to wash the Earth clean. Gently at first but Winter's drudgery needs a stern scrubbing and soon a deluge pours down to scour the sleeping beauty of the North.
Wind whooshes through the corridors between buildings. Flags whip around high on posts. Trees sway with the ebb and flow of the unseen force, bending in hopes of not breaking. The lonesome howl of the wind careens past like otherworldly spirits on an express train to the next town.
Nature unleashes a minor tantrum then subsides. Satisfied to have been heard. Gleeful that Winter has been sent to its room to allow Spring and Summer to come out and play. Nature has said her piece and is now at peace as night arrives.
The warmth of day still radiates from the ground and is met by the cool, damp air of night. Over the field and marsh, a fog hovers silently. Its delicate tendrils extend out with a life of their own and swirl with the slightest disturbance in air current.
The air. Oh, how fresh the aroma that permeates the air after a rain! Breathe it in deeply! Let it fill your lungs. You are at once relaxed and rejuvenated by the crisp, clean air. Life giving.
It's midnight and there are no other cars around during the drive home. Tiny water droplets spin off the tires creating the only real noise, almost soothing in its monotony. A few stars twinkle in half the night sky. Enough light comes over the horizon to keep the other half of the sky illuminated in a deep, azure blue. A small reminder that in the Land of the Midnight Sun nightfall will soon be non-existent.
The North is washed clean. Fresh. Ready to start anew when the sun next rises. In the blink of an eye, the Earth will wake up and green leaves will appear seemingly overnight. The cold, harsh Alaska that has survived another winter will find a reprieve in the upcoming months. A beautiful sight to behold.
Freshly fallen rain. Splitter-splatter, kerplop and kadoink! It falls from the sky to wash the Earth clean. Gently at first but Winter's drudgery needs a stern scrubbing and soon a deluge pours down to scour the sleeping beauty of the North.
Wind whooshes through the corridors between buildings. Flags whip around high on posts. Trees sway with the ebb and flow of the unseen force, bending in hopes of not breaking. The lonesome howl of the wind careens past like otherworldly spirits on an express train to the next town.
Nature unleashes a minor tantrum then subsides. Satisfied to have been heard. Gleeful that Winter has been sent to its room to allow Spring and Summer to come out and play. Nature has said her piece and is now at peace as night arrives.
The warmth of day still radiates from the ground and is met by the cool, damp air of night. Over the field and marsh, a fog hovers silently. Its delicate tendrils extend out with a life of their own and swirl with the slightest disturbance in air current.
The air. Oh, how fresh the aroma that permeates the air after a rain! Breathe it in deeply! Let it fill your lungs. You are at once relaxed and rejuvenated by the crisp, clean air. Life giving.
It's midnight and there are no other cars around during the drive home. Tiny water droplets spin off the tires creating the only real noise, almost soothing in its monotony. A few stars twinkle in half the night sky. Enough light comes over the horizon to keep the other half of the sky illuminated in a deep, azure blue. A small reminder that in the Land of the Midnight Sun nightfall will soon be non-existent.
The North is washed clean. Fresh. Ready to start anew when the sun next rises. In the blink of an eye, the Earth will wake up and green leaves will appear seemingly overnight. The cold, harsh Alaska that has survived another winter will find a reprieve in the upcoming months. A beautiful sight to behold.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
No red-nosed reindeer here
Lightning and her newborn calf (only a couple hours old)
Born April 22, 2010 @ UAF Reindeer Research Project
On the day before my own birthday, I witnessed the birth of a reindeer. If that's not one of the best presents ever then I don't know what is. The opportunity came along quite by accident. After spending the early afternoon photographing migrating birds at Creamers Field in town and driving around the back roads, I soon found myself on UAF Campus. Driving alongside the enclosures at the Reindeer Research Project, a female reindeer plopped onto the ground on her left side. She swayed her head back and forth several times and was moving her right leg around. She certainly looked uncomfortable enough to be in labor but I really had no idea if this was calving season or not. Sure enough the contractions came on strong and about half an hour later voila a baby reindeer entered the world right before my eyes!
The Mom's name is Lightning and the baby as of yet is unnamed though I did find out it's a boy. This year UAF participated in an Artificial Insemination program for reindeer using frozen/thawed sperm. The donor sperm traveled frozen from Canada to UAF where it was thawed then injected into seven reindeer. Lightning was the only one to carry to full term. This was the first documented birth of a reindeer using this insemination process. A birth that made world agricultural history!
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