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Duncan Murrell - A Whale of a Time

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Duncan Murrell - A Whale of a Time

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  • During the autumn the cotton tufts of cottongrass are dispersed by the wind and cover the surrounding vegetation like a shaggy dog shedding its fur on furniture.<br />
<br />
Wet meadow with common cottongrass (Eriophorum angustifolium) blowing in the wind in autumn, Port Houghton, Southeast Alaska, USA.
    Alaska-vegetation19.jpg
  • Sphagnum moss changing colour in autumn with dwarf blueberry, Port Houghton, Southeast Alaska, USA.<br />
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The lush, thick, spongy sphagnum bogs became a colourful delight of edible colour during the autumn; I never expected to see moss change to such vivid shades of red and pink, like a soft, spongy dessert beneath my feet.
    vegetation-5.tif
  • Sphagnum moss changing colour in autumn with dwarf blueberry, Port Houghton, Southeast Alaska, USA.<br />
<br />
The lush, thick, spongy sphagnum bogs became a colourful delight of edible colour during the autumn; I never expected to see moss change to such vivid shades of red and pink, like a soft, spongy dessert beneath my feet. The miniature forest beneath my feet was also resplendent with the vivid colours of other plants, like the burning red stems of this bog blueberry plant.
    vegetation-4.tif
  • Waterfall and large Alaska cottonwood tree in the autumn, Stikine River, the mainland, Southeast Alaska, USA.<br />
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If I wasn’t kayaking at sea looking for humpback whales then the Stikine River was my favourite place to be. What an amazing, breathtaking river that is, that provides a valuable natural highway for wild animals from the interior and opens out onto  a spectacular river delta. When I remember Alaska, it is somewhere that I always return to in my dreams, to feel the vastness of open vistas that Alaska provides.
    vegetation-15.tif
  • Alaska cotton grass blowing in the wind, Port Houghton, Southeast Alaska, USA.<br />
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During the autumn, the cotton grass would start to shed its wispy hairs, and they would scatter and disperse in the wind, and coat the surrounding vegetation with a temporary coat like an animal moulting.
    vegetation-7.tif
  • Kayak-Madagascar-invertebrateNew-Mad...jpg
  • Kayak-Madagascar-invertebrateNew-Mad...jpg
  • Although much of the Tongass national Forest is made up of conifers like western hemlock, Sitka spruce, red and yellow cedar, there are plenty of deciduous trees, particularly in wide open river valleys.
    Alaska-deciduous-trees-autumn1.jpg
  • Alaska-vegetation29.jpg
  • Black and brown bears congregate at the salmon spawning streams during salmon to gorge themselves on the bounty of fish choking the rivers. They always squeeze out the eggs with their jaws to extract the protein-rich eggs. I found black bears to be much more of a problem than brown bears because they were much bolder, and certainly very persistent trying to get to my food. On one occasion I climbed a tree and hung some dry bags out along a branch over the river as far as I could reach, but a black bear managed to climb up the tree, and reach out far enough to use its powerful paw and sharp claws to rip the dry bag away from the heavy-duty nylon webbing sealing the bag. Black bears (Ursus americanus) are the most abundant and widely distributed of the three species of North American bears. An estimated 100,000 black bears inhabit Alaska. The black bear is the smallest of the North American bears. Adults stand about 29 inches at the shoulders and are about 60 inches from nose to tail. Males are larger than females, and weigh about 180-200 pounds in the spring. They are considerably lighter when they emerge from winter hibernation and may be about 20 percent heavier in the fall when they’re fat. Black bears can vary in color from jet black to white. Black is the color encountered most frequently across the state, but brown or cinnamon-colored black bears are sometimes seen in Southcentral Alaska and on the southeastern mainland. Cinnamon-colored black bears are also common in Alaska’s Interior. Some bluish-colored bears called glacier bears may be found in the Yakutat area and in other parts of Southeast Alaska. Black bears often have brown muzzles and some also have a patch of white hair on their chest.<br />
Black bears are most easily distinguished from brown bears by their straight facial profile and their claws, which rarely grow more than 1 ½ inches in length. Black bears have adequate sense of sight and hearing, but have an outstanding sense of smell.
    Alaska-wildlife-bearAlaska-wildlifeA...jpg
  • Dying trees around a pond created by beaver, Mitkof Island, Southeast Alaska, USA.<br />
Beaver can completely transform a forested landscape. They can create new habitats that can be exploited by other animals.
    vegetation-17.tif
  • Birch and other deciduous trees near Haines, Southeast Alaska, USA.<br />
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Although much of the Tongass national Forest is made up of conifers like western hemlock, Sitka spruce, red and yellow cedar, there are plenty of deciduous trees, particularly in wide open river valleys.
    vegetation-14.tif
  • Alaska-vegetation30.jpg
  • The sphagnum moss is so thick in places in the muskeg, and often beautiful shades of red and pink. Walking on it is like walking on snow because you leave such deep footprints as it springs beneath your feet. I didn't like to leave too many ugly footprints in such a pristine miniaturised environment of dwarf plants. The muskeg always invites closer inspection to discover the variety of berry-producing plants at ground level.
    Alaska-vegetation18.jpg
  • When it comes to food, black bears are creatures of opportunity. There are certain patterns of food-seeking which they follow. Upon emerging in the spring, freshly sprouted green vegetation is their main food item, but they will eat nearly anything they encounter. Winter-killed animals are readily eaten, and in some areas black bears have been found to be effective predators on new-born moose calves. As summer progresses, feeding shifts to salmon if they are available, but in areas without salmon, bears rely on vegetation throughout the year. Berries, especially blueberries, ants, grubs, and other insects help to round out the black bear’s diet.<br />
For most of the year, black bears are solitary creatures, except from June through July when mating takes place. The cubs are born in their dens following a gestation period of about seven months. The cubs are born blind and nearly hairless, weighing in under a pound. One to four cubs may be born, but two is most common. Cubs remain with their mothers through the first winter following birth.As with brown bears, black bears spend the winter months in a state of hibernation. Their body temperatures drop, their metabolic rate is reduced, and they sleep for long periods. Bears enter this dormancy period in the fall, after most food items become hard to find. They emerge in the spring when food is again available. Occasionally, in the more southern ranges, bears will emerge from their dens during winter. In the northern part of their range, bears may be dormant for as long as seven to eight months. Females with cubs usually emerge later than lone bears. Dens may be found from sea level to alpine areas. They may be located in rock cavities, hollow trees, self-made excavations, even on the ground. In Southeast Alaska, black bears occupy most islands with the exceptions of Admiralty, Baranof, Chichagof, and Kruzof; these are inhabited by brown bears. Both bear species occur on the southeastern mainland.
    Alaska-wildlife-bearAlaska-wildlifeA...jpg
  • Wet meadow with rusty menzesia and moss and lichen festooned dwarf trees, Port Houghton, Southeast Alaska, USA.<br />
<br />
I loved taking photos during the extended periods of Alaskan twilight when the colours deepened, and the lighter, pastel shades of green of the moss, lichens and the rusty menzesia shrub visible in this photo, seemed to be left hanging in the encroaching darkness like ethereal wraiths. The stunted trees appeared to be animated by their clothing of lichens and moss dripping from their trunks and branches. They were magical places that seemed to come alive as the light faded.
    vegetation-12.tif
  • “Muskeg” pond, pond in sphagnum bog, Port Houghton, Southeast Alaska.<br />
<br />
The “muskeg” or sphagnum bogs were interspersed with black ponds with many water plants. The surrounding sphagnum bogs were are a Lilliputian world of miniaturized plants, like the vivid red of the nagoon berry visible in this photo, that only bears one berry; but it as big, sweet and succulent as a perfect raspberry and was always one of my favourite berries to search for.
    vegetation-8.tif
  • Western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla) growing beside beaver pond, on the mainland just north of Petersburg, Southeast Alaska, USA.
    Alaska-vegetation31.jpg
  • The sphagnum moss is so thick in places in the muskeg, and often beautiful shades of red and pink. Walking on it is like walking on snow because you leave such deep footprints as it springs beneath your feet. I didn't like to leave too many ugly footprints in such a pristine miniaturised environment of dwarf plants. The muskeg always invites closer inspection to discover the variety of berry-producing plants at ground level.
    Alaska-vegetation19.jpg
  • Reproductively mature male sea lions aggregate on traditional rookeries in May, usually on beaches on isolated islands. A week or so later, adult females arrive, accompanied occasionally by sexually immature offspring, and form fluid aggregations throughout the rookery. Steller sea lions are polygamous but they do not coerce individual females into harems but control spatial territories among which females freely move about. Pregnant females give birth soon after arriving on a rookery, and copulation generally occurs one to two weeks after giving birth, but the fertilized egg does not become implanted in the uterus until the autumn. After about a week of nursing, females start taking increasingly longer foraging trips, leaving the pups behind until in late summer when they both leave the rookery. Males fast until August, often without returning to the water, after which time the rookeries break up and most animals leave for the open seas and disperse throughout their range.<br />
Steller sea lions are predated upon by orcas and I actually witnessed the death of one bull that had become quite attached to me. It had been showing so much interest in me and it even raised its head out of the water right in front of me to have a good look with its bulging eyes. A short while later I heard a commotion in the distance and saw that a pod of transient orcas had arrived on the scene and were systematically charging the sea lion and thrashing it with their flukes. It was a difficult event to witness, especially whenever the big bull re-appeared on the surface gasping for breath. It took the orcas about 15 minutes to finally kill it and not long after that they were attacking some humpback whales that had strayed onto the scene. It was an exhilarating experience to be paddling my kayak so close to a pod of orcas engaged in a hunt, but they showed no interest in me. It was one of those occasions when I wished that I’d had someone else with me to witness such an amazing spectacle.
    Alaska-Steller-sealion1.jpg
  • Reproductively mature male sea lions aggregate on traditional rookeries in May, usually on beaches on isolated islands. A week or so later, adult females arrive, accompanied occasionally by sexually immature offspring, and form fluid aggregations throughout the rookery. Steller sea lions are polygamous but they do not coerce individual females into harems but control spatial territories among which females freely move about. Pregnant females give birth soon after arriving on a rookery, and copulation generally occurs one to two weeks after giving birth, but the fertilized egg does not become implanted in the uterus until the autumn. After about a week of nursing, females start taking increasingly longer foraging trips, leaving the pups behind until in late summer when they both leave the rookery. Males fast until August, often without returning to the water, after which time the rookeries break up and most animals leave for the open seas and disperse throughout their range.<br />
Steller sea lions are predated upon by orcas and I actually witnessed the death of one bull that had become quite attached to me. It had been showing so much interest in me and it even raised its head out of the water right in front of me to have a good look with its bulging eyes. A short while later I heard a commotion in the distance and saw that a pod of transient orcas had arrived on the scene and were systematically charging the sea lion and thrashing it with their flukes. It was a difficult event to witness, especially whenever the big bull re-appeared on the surface gasping for breath. It took the orcas about 15 minutes to finally kill it and not long after that they were attacking some humpback whales that had strayed onto the scene. It was an exhilarating experience to be paddling my kayak so close to a pod of orcas engaged in a hunt, but they showed no interest in me. It was one of those occasions when I wished that I’d had someone else with me to witness such an amazing spectacle.
    wildlife-3.tif
  • Reproductively mature male sea lions aggregate on traditional rookeries in May, usually on beaches on isolated islands. A week or so later, adult females arrive, accompanied occasionally by sexually immature offspring, and form fluid aggregations throughout the rookery. Steller sea lions are polygamous but they do not coerce individual females into harems but control spatial territories among which females freely move about. Pregnant females give birth soon after arriving on a rookery, and copulation generally occurs one to two weeks after giving birth, but the fertilized egg does not become implanted in the uterus until the autumn. After about a week of nursing, females start taking increasingly longer foraging trips, leaving the pups behind until in late summer when they both leave the rookery. Males fast until August, often without returning to the water, after which time the rookeries break up and most animals leave for the open seas and disperse throughout their range.<br />
Steller sea lions are predated upon by orcas and I actually witnessed the death of one bull that had become quite attached to me. It had been showing so much interest in me and it even raised its head out of the water right in front of me to have a good look with its bulging eyes. A short while later I heard a commotion in the distance and saw that a pod of transient orcas had arrived on the scene and were systematically charging the sea lion and thrashing it with their flukes. It was a difficult event to witness, especially whenever the big bull re-appeared on the surface gasping for breath. It took the orcas about 15 minutes to finally kill it and not long after that they were attacking some humpback whales that had strayed onto the scene. It was an exhilarating experience to be paddling my kayak so close to a pod of orcas engaged in a hunt, but they showed no interest in me. It was one of those occasions when I wished that I’d had someone else with me to witness such an amazing spectacle.
    Alaska-Steller-sealion2.jpg
  • Colourful grass and false lily-of-the-valley in wet meadow bordering the forest, Port Houghton, Southeast Alaska, USA.<br />
I was particularly fascinated by all of the different species of wild grasses in Southeast Alaska because in my own country, England, so many of the native wild grasses have been displaced by the all-consuming modern agricultural practices.<br />
This was one of my favourite species because the pink colour change in autumn perfectly complimented the colour transformation of the surrounding sphagnum bogs. I always called this “the Party Photo”, because the colourful grass seems to be erupting from the ground like party poppers.
    vegetation-6.tif
  • Although the temperate rain forest of Southeast Alaska is evergreen there is never any shortage of beautiful autumnal colours in the understory vegetation such as the blueberry bushes and the sphagnum moss and miniature plants of the muskeg.
    Alaska-vegetation13.jpg