Off to Kodiak NWR

Two weekends ago I went to Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge to do a presentation for International Migratory Bird Day. I hadn't been to Kodiak in over 20 years. I remembered rain and rain and rain and fish. To everyone's surprise, the weather was awesome the whole weekend. 

Claudia put me up for the weekend. I had a little time before she hosted a potluck with the Kodiak Audubon. She loaned me her car and off I went to one of her suggestions, Ft Abercrombie State Park.

What a great suggestion. It was a short distance away and what gorgeous scenery. I was sitting at the top of a bluff overlooking Millers Point when I got photo bombed by a mature bald eagle. It put on quite the show playing in the thermals.

 It flew by a few times and I guess figured it was time to move on. It was really cool. I see lots of eagles and get to do education presentations with them, help rehabilitate sick and injured ones and I never get bored at watching them in the wild.

 The rock formations in the bay are spectacular. The shapes, the colorization is indescribable. I can only imagine what it's like out there during foul weather.

 This guy picked this bluff as his office for a bit. He was talking business at a beautiful spot.

 Here's some of the driftwood washed up on the beach.

This playhouse was on private property right outside the entrance to the park.

So it was off to the potluck where I meet up with some awesome people with the Kodiak Audubon. There were all kinds of bird stories going on, even some about chickens.

The next day, Claudia took me on a hike around Millers Cove. The lighting was terrible, but what a great hike. These Harlequin were just hanging out. Such a beautiful duck. I wish I had taken my Sigma 150-600 with me on the hike.

Claudia was an awesome narrator. I guess with her years commercial fishing helps. She told me that only experienced captains would take there boats between the rocks and only when the water was clam.

The oystercatchers weren't cooperating. They also were between the sun and us.

They weren't happy with some gulls that were hanging out either.

 Just a reminder that we were in the most northern rainforest.

 Another shutter nut. Lisa works for USF&W, if you couldn't tell. But she's a very talented photographer. She took some photos of the birds I took with me that were down right awesome.

While we were talking with Lisa, Robin at Claudia's house, this young brown bear, maybe 2 years old, was walking along the banks of the water maybe 25 feet away from us. He had no concerns with us. We took a lot of photos but were also ready to run in the house.

 The Russian Orthodox Religion is very popular in Alaska. It might have something to do with Alaska being a Russian territory at one time. They sure have some beautiful churches.

This young lady I've known about 6 or 7 years, just by phone. Robin is one of the wildlife biologist at Kodiak NWR, but she specializes in birds. She would call me at night and on weekends to arrange to send in injured birds, mainly eagles, to Bird TLC after hours. She would also arrange with Ravn Alaska to fly the birds to Anchorage and I would pick them up at the airport. BTW, Ravn Alaska never charges us. There is no telling how many birds she's saved.

Oh, she's also a great tour guide. She made sure I got to see as much as possible while I was there. I had a great time.

I got more photos I'll be sharing here soon.