Birds
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Brought down
Those who know the online me, know that I've adopted the Gyrfalcon, KIggavik in Inuktitut, as an online identity (if you will). Our Bed and Breakfast and other business names were called Kiggavik. A quick glance to this blog's URL will show you that it contains "Kiggavik", and pretty much anywhere I've needed a screen
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Stand, watch
There was a fish derby today, down by the water lake. The whole family went down, as did a good many town's folk. As is usual in these things, I spent most of my time being distracted, rather than fishing. Once again Travis has shown is remarkable ability to detect birds. While we were standing
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How to tell you’re a bird photographer in the Arctic
When you can snap a photo of a flock of about one hundred King Eider, while sitting in your truck waiting at the store for your family, and you can catch your house in the background.
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Loony tunes
There are five species of Loon in the world, all of which nest in North America (not exclusively). One of them, the Arctic Loon, has a fairly restricted range here, pretty much restricted to a small part of Alaska. As for the others, Common Loon, Red-throated Loon, Pacific Loon, and Yellow-billed Loon, only one would
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The Short list
A short while back I received an email from Canadian Geographic advising of a special wildlife issue coming out. This issue would use photos from selected photographers who had entered their photo contests and were short listed. The problem was the email (actually there were two) were sufficiently vague that it was difficult to tell
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Weaseling out
While you can't always get what you want, some times you get what is pretty darn interesting in its own right. Two nights ago, we headed over to Victor Bay to see if we could get another look at the bears, but there was none to be found. They are still around though, and we
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Knock me over with a feather.
One of the goals of this year was to make it down to the southern reaches of Admiralty Inlet. It is something I've long wanted to do. The topography is different down there, and although I've been nearby in the spring, I've wanted to see the land in the summer. For one thing it is
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More than one way to skin an inuksuk
I do think that inuksuit are way overdone, as in over exposed. I mean, hell, even Hay River (that most arctic of locales) has one. But, they are photogenic. There is just something about stones placed by people that is visually appealing. Witness Stonehenge, and other henges. Old tent rings can be found scattered over
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Puzzled
I've been watching the pair of Pacific Loons at the outflow, ever since we first saw them in early July. It has become a part of our daily ritual to drive out and see what has been happening out there. And not just the Pacific Loons, but they are so accessible and slightly exotic for
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Northern Fulmar. Now without the vomit
There were Narwhal in both Victor Bay three nights ago, and Arctic Bay in the early morning two days ago. We saw neither, but the last couple of evenings we have headed over to Victor Bay, checking just in case. Last night it was already midnight when we returned, and after we dropped off Leah's