Blond Porcupine

An evening walk in the Muskeg Meadows Nature Preserve (Wrangell's golf course) last night provided and encounter with an animal I have never seen - a blond porcupine.  This isn't some different species of porcupine, just a color that I have never seen on one.

This guy was just strolling down the cart path without a care in the world.  The golf course was nearly empty with only one pair of golfers somewhere on the course in the distance and Andrea and I walking around with cameras hoping to encounter something photoworthy.

We weren't particularly hidden from this porky as it approached us but in typical porcupine fashion, it continued down the middle of the path oblivious to our presence.  Having a back full of potentially deadly spines has "freed" the minds of these creatures allowing them to spend more time in deep contemplation rather than attention to their surrounding world.  At least that is one possibility that I imagine sometimes when I watch porcupines either slowly plodding along the ground or sitting high in a tree looking down on the world.  Porcupines are not the most beloved of animals, many dog owners despise them especially if they are the owner of a dog that doesn't learn from experience and many foresters despise them as well as porcupines can do a lot of damage to groves of young trees as they strip them of their bark to access the sweet sugary inner bark and sap.  I have more sympathy for the dog owners than the foresters as porcupine quills can cause a great amount of discomfort for the dog and even lead to death if all of the quills are not removed as they can continue to move further inside the dog until they pierce a vital organ.  I have an old friend whose dog had to have one of her eyes removed because of a unseen quill that eventually migrated through her face into her eye socket.

Too be honest with you, I am interested to know what getting spined by a porcupine feels like but despite countless opportunities, I have not followed through with the necessary action to quell (or quill) this curiosity.  I haven't figured out how to go about getting intentionally quilled nor have I decided what part of my body I would sacrifice for this experiment.  I'll be sure to let people know how it goes if I ever follow through with this idea.

Porcupines are also supposed to be rather tasty animals, they are eaten regularly in the northern colder parts of Alaska but this is also an aspect of porcupines that I am interested in but have yet to follow through with.  I have had countless opportunities to shoot or club one of these animals but each time I have considered it, my soft side comes to the surface when that cute, lumbering, seemingly helpless animal looks at me.  Maybe someday I'll follow through with this experiment as well.

A Mystery

I'm going to start this post by warning anyone reading it that there will be photos of a dead whale and some creepy looking animals associated with the whale.  The photos of the dead whale are not gory or gross, there is no sign of obvious trauma, no open wounds, no blood and guts but I know the death of an animal can be upsetting.


Very recently, Wrangell Island has become part of a mystery that is playing itself out on the Pacific Coast of the U.S. and Canada this year.  The mystery is the "unusual mortality event", as stated by NOAA, of grey whales.
This is not the first of these "unusual mortality events", there was another in 2000 when 131 whales were found dead that year.  So far in 2019, 167 whales have been found dead on beaches from Baja California to Alaska, primarily juvenile whales but also some adults, some emaciated, some not.  
As with so many things involving the oceans of our planet, this mystery may never be solved with certainty but there are a few current thoughts and theories regarding this 2019 event.
But first, a little information regarding grey whales.  Like so many whale species, grey whales were hunted commercially in the past and their population was reduced to possibly less than 1000 whales at one point.  Their population has rebounded greatly with the estimated population of the northeastern Pacific grey whales last year at about 27,000 individuals.  Their population is considered a success story of species recovery and they were taken off of the Endangered Species Act list in 1994.
Grey whales have baleen so feed by taking in a large volume of water and prey animals and then pushing the water out through the baleen leaving behind whatever prey animals were in the massive mouthful.  Grey whales are different than other baleen whales in that they scoop up mouthfuls of sediment from the ocean floor which they then strain through their baleen leaving behind small crustaceans called amphipods.
Grey whales like many whale species are migratory and journey annually from calving areas in the warm waters of the Pacific off of Mexico to the cold Pacific waters of northern Alaska, a migration of thousands of miles requiring who knows how many calories to accomplish.

Okay, here come the photos.  I feel the need to first say that I took these photos out of a true compassion for the natural world and to document this individual's passing.  I got up early in the morning the day after I learned of the whale and kayaked to where it was grounded on the beach.  I wanted to see it to satisfy my curiosity but also to spend some time in the solitude of the early morning contemplating life and death.  I'm glad I did it because the next day was when the necropsy was performed on it and it sounds like there was quite a crowd as seems to happen whenever a federal agency gets involved.

As you can see, the whale is on its back fairly high up on the beach.  In the bottom picture, I put my paddle there to get some scale - my kayak paddle is 7 feet 3 inches long so you can get a little idea of the size of the whale.  That thing on the right that looks like a rope is a rope which is one of two that are anchoring the whale to some trees so it does not float away before a necropsy can be performed.

I kept a close watch for bears while I was here but there was very little smell yet as the days were cloudy and cool and there were no open wounds.  I'm sure the bears have found the whale by now after it has been opened up by the necropsy and there have been a couple of fairly hot sunny days.  This will be quite a macabre feast for the bears, eagles, and ravens for probably quite some time.

The current theories regarding this "unusual mortality event" of grey whales mostly involve climate change related ideas of course as climate change is the catchall reason for anything we think are "out of the ordinary".  Warmer sea waters may have disrupted some aspects of the ecosystem affecting the food items of the whales or maybe the lessening sea ice in the Arctic may be creating a scenario where the whales have to migrate farther to find food items associated with the ice.  A non climate change theory that is also in a sense a "good" thing is that maybe the grey whale population has increased in numbers to the point that they have exceeded the carrying capacity of their environment.  I've never understood why we are always so eager to attribute some phenomenon to one specific cause rather than a combination of causes.  Maybe it is a combination of all 3 of these plus some others or maybe it is a combination  of others yet untheorized.  Fukushima radiation maybe?  Plastics in the oceans?  Disease?  I won't jump to "the sky is falling" conclusions yet as everything dies and this hasn't been a regularly occurring event.

Now for a photo of the creepy animals I cautioned about earlier.  These animals are crustaceans called whale lice and they live on whales.  They do not seem to harm the whales and likely benefit them despite their creepy and mildly scary appearance.  The whale lice are more commensal than parasitic meaning they don't harm the whale or cause it stress of any kind, in fact, they can help the whales' health by eating the dead skin and flesh around wounds and by preying on parasites that may try to infest the whale.  Different species of whales have their own species of whale lice and it has been discovered that female sperm whales have a different species of whale lice than male sperm whales.  They are actually pretty interesting but I have to admit that their appearance doesn't make me want to spend much time looking at them or studying them.  

Yeah, not something I would want on me regardless of any health benefits they might offer.  They are strange looking things aren't they?

I'll finish with a few photos of a much cuter animal than a dead whale and whale lice.  As I paddled around a point, I saw a river otter ahead of me swimming in the same direction as I was paddling.  The otter would swim for a bit and then dive for a few moments before coming back to the surface chomping on something it caught.  It did not notice me for several minutes so I was able to get a little closer and keep tabs on it when it was under the water by the stream of bubbles that gave away its submarine position.  Just to clarify, this is a river otter not a sea otter even though it is in the sea.  River otters are much more interesting, active, and fun to watch than sea otters.

Kayak Hunting

Here's another post about an unsuccessful bear hunting trip, this one done from a kayak rather than a bicycle.  In contrast to the bicycle bear hunt, I did see a black bear this time but as I was glassing it with my binoculars as I bobbed in the kayak, it spotted me and immediately bolted into the forest.  I found this to be unusual behavior as the majority of bears that I have seen from a kayak either seemed to not notice me or seemed to not care.  My guess is that this bear has seen a fair amount of human activity on the water lately as it is bear hunting season and most spring bear hunters "hunt" by cruising the beaches in boats until they spot a bear eating the sedges and grasses.  This isn't my style of hunting and I'd rather not shoot a bear than be successful in such a way.

A few of the other animals I saw today while paddling the shoreline were multiple minks, a couple of deer including this doe with her newborn fawn, and something that made this a successful trip after all, at least for a nature lover like myself - a sighting of a very rare bird in Alaska and southeast Alaska in particular.  It's a bird that isn't rare in many other parts of the country and I have seen countless numbers of them in the past but this was my first sighting of one in southeast Alaska so I was pretty pleased.

That is an osprey and as I said, it isn't a particularly rare bird in a lot of places but this is the first time I have ever seen one here and I spend a lot of time outside.  The reason for their rarity here must have something to do with the very healthy and large population of Bald Eagles here as they compete for the same foods, nesting places, and position in the hierarchy of predatory birds.  I was able to get a few decent photos of this bird from the kayak despite the slight swells and it gave me several opportunities as it kept flying ahead of me down the shoreline before perching in a tall tree.

So, no bear meat in the freezer again but this sighting made this a successful trip nonetheless.  Photography and hunting share many of the same required skills and goals for success.  A photo can be a trophy  that can be displayed with a potentially interesting story surrounding it.  Photography requires patience, preparation, luck, and the drive to create the opportunity by being "out there" where the potential photographs will be.  Plus, photography extends the hunting season to the entire year!

Bicycle Hunting

Over the last couple of years I have been trying to do more hunting that involves as much physical effort on my part by relying less on machines with motors to get me to my hunting locations.  I don't mean to imply that I am not driving my truck or boat at all to get to the hunting locations, I'm just trying to use them less or as little as possible occasionally with the intent of doing this more often.  My reasons for this are solely for my own enjoyment and satisfaction and the feeling of earning what I get not for some kind of climate change stance or a holier-than-thou environmentalist attitude.  I love riding a bike, I love kayaking, and I love hunting so combining them just makes sense for me when practical.
I recently did a 24 mile bike bear hunting trip that was successful as a bike ride and wildlife viewing trip but not as a hunting trip and thought I'd share a few pictures of how one bike hunts.

I did use my truck to travel the 13 miles from town to the end of the pavement where the dirt Forest Service roads begin and then from there switched from truck to bicycle to pedal a 24 mile trip involving a road that makes a loop and a trail that ends at a very scenic and peaceful lake.

Where a solitary beaver swam back and forth not far away.  I saw one beaver, one deer, one porcupine, and one wolf on this trip.  Unfortunately, the wolf heard my bike make a loud clunking shift as I was changing gears to go up a steep hill so got spooked before I was able to get out my camera.  I didn't see any bears on this trip but did have a very close encounter with one as I topped a rise on the road and heard and saw the bushes and small trees right next to the road shaking as a bear ran away from the strange two wheeled creature that suddenly appeared.  The bear must have been a couple of seconds from having been on the road when I came upon it as the shaking bushes were only a few feet from me when I passed.

Most of my hunting gear including some extra clothes were in the bag under my seat and in the bag inside the triangle of the frame.  I was also wearing a small backpack mainly for my hands free water bag but also had my camera and a few other things in it as well.  I'll be riding a 56 mile route on Wednesday that is the cycling portion of a triathlon that will be happening here at the end of the month but I won't be taking a rifle or hunting gear so I'm sure to see a giant bear!  I probably won't even be taking a camera on that ride so I'm also bound to see Sasquatch or some other equally legendary or unusual creature.

Whale language

Memorial Day 2019 here in the temperate jungle was an incredibly beautiful one with sunny skies, calm winds and seas, and temperatures in the 70s.  The weather just can't get any better than it was, it was a gift without doubt.  I was able to get the last half of my work day on Sunday off to be able to do an overnight kayak trip with Andrea which has been too rare because of our conflicting work schedules.  She had been on Prince of Wales Island since Friday to run a half marathon in the 20th anniversary of the Prince of Wales Marathon.  This was her seventh time running a half marathon on POW and was her 40 something half marathon all together.  She was tired and worn out from running and from spending the weekend in a cabin shared with 8 other Wrangell people there to either run or cheer on the runners but was eager to get out on the water and to spend the night on the beach in a tent.  Her willpower, endurance, and love of being outside especially in a sea kayak put us in the right place at the right time to have two of the most incredible experiences we have ever had in nature.  Thank you Andrea for being you!

We loaded our kayaks and gear into my boat and headed west from Wrangell for about 30 minutes to Roosevelt Harbor on Zarembo Island where we planned to paddle south along the Zarembo shoreline in Stikine Strait until we found a suitable beach on which to camp for the night.  We paddled leisurely for about 2 hours until we decided to stop for the night so we could relax in the remaining sunlight and enjoy the scenery and the peace of being away from town.  It was less than 2 hours after we had gotten settled in that the excitement began!

As I sat in my camp chair enjoying some pinot noir from a titanium cup, I thought I heard the sound that I am always hoping to hear when I am on or near the ocean - the sound of a whale breathing.  It sounded pretty far away but we kept hearing it at regular intervals so I began to scan the water with binoculars hoping to spot the whale.  It can take some patience especially when they are far off since by the time the sound reaches your ear, the whale may be back under the water or at least mostly back under the water.  We began to hear more breath sounds in different spots which didn't sound like humpback whale breaths so I began to get excited that we might be hearing killer whales!  (I'll call them orcas from here until the end of this post for lazy typing reasons)  I finally caught a brief glimpse of one of the breathers in my binoculars and yes, orcas!  I began to spot others and figured there were at least 6 of them, 2 males and 4 females.  They seemed to be heading in our direction so we started to get pretty excited and began to get ready to launch the kayaks to go out closer to them.


We didn't have to paddle far from shore before we realized that we were directly in the path of the oncoming orcas, an exciting, exhilarating, scary, and intimidating feeling.  Despite all of the statistical evidence that wild orcas do not attack humans, it was difficult to not feel small, weak and helpless as these beings neared.  There were no good photo opportunities really as they were either a little too far away or were moving a little too quickly to get any worthwhile photos but I did get something even more interesting.

This video was taken more for the audio so there is nothing interesting to watch really, I was more interested in capturing the language of these orcas as they travelled by.  The variety of sounds that they made was amazing and being able to listen to their communication as we sat in kayaks in the fading sunlight made this experience more intimate and humbling.

In some of the audio clips you can hear the steady continuous clicking of their sonar.  Occasionally these clicks got louder and faster making us wonder if they were "looking" at us.  I just can't describe what it felt like being there as these orcas travelled passed us as we bobbed in what felt like the flimsiest and most inadequate of vessels.

I hope that was interesting.  Personally, I'm pretty fascinated with this but just wish I knew what they were saying to each other.  What information were they passing?  What information were they collecting with those clicks?
That was how our Sunday evening ended as the orcas swam by and around the point and the hydrophone fell silent.
Monday morning dawned in a similarly spectacular fashion as the sound of  more whale breathing found us as we laid in the tent in the early morning light.  It didn't sound very close but then after a few minutes the next breath we heard was very close to the shoreline not far from us causing us to sit up quickly and start scrambling for camera gear and tent zippers.  The whale was swimming away from us not far from the rocky shore, not the best scenario for whale watching from the kayak as a whale's casual swimming speed is still a challenge to keep pace with in a kayak especially when the kayaker is also hoping to get some photos.  We chose to make some coffee and listen to the fading sound of the intermittent whale breathing rather than engage in a fruitless pursuit.  A cup of coffee on a wilderness beach while the sun climbs higher in the sky and the Three Sisters mountains look down on us from the other side of the strait is such a wonderful thing!
As the coffee began to push away the last remnants of the previous night's slumber, another distant sound came to my ear and made me search for my binoculars to be ready should they become necessary.  Before I traded coffee cup for binoculars, I saw what all whale nerds like myself hope to see when looking for whales - the silvery spray of a huge splash made by a distant breaching whale!

The splash we saw was too far away to have been the first whale we saw swimming away from us so I finally traded coffee for binoculars to keep an eye on this second whale to find out in which direction this second whale was travelling.  After a few leaps, the second whale began swimming in our direction very close to the shoreline just like the first one.  It was better than a mile away from us which gave us enough time to still enjoy that morning cup while gathering up cameras and paddling gear and giving me a chance to get our two kayaks down to the waterline.  Soon enough we heard the sound of whale breathing getting closer just on the other side of the closest point to us and then...…

The whale was still breaching at regular intervals as it travelled toward us and the first whale we saw that morning seemed to have joined it in its travels.  Andrea even got a video clip with her phone of this whale breaching while she was in the tent.  Whale watching from a tent seems to me to be an opportunity provided by very few places on the earth.  Andrea chose to stay on the beach and take photos while I let my excitement take over and paddled strongly directly toward the whales.

Not long after this dive, this whale breached again not very far from me bringing me back to the reality of what I was doing and tempering my headlong rush.  Watching a breaching whale rise out of the sea is an incredible sight with potentially deadly consequences should the overexuberant whale nerd approach to closely in his fragile boat so I kept what I felt was a safe distance and pulled out my camera.

I won't even try to describe what this was like bobbing in the kayak.  

When I captain whale watching tours, I get asked often "Why do they breach?"  The science/biologist answer is that it helps them rid themselves of the barnacles and other marine growth that will grow on a large slow moving surface and it could be some sort of communication to other nearby whales.  Unfortunately, science doesn't allow enough room for explanations such as joy.  I think these leaps could be literal jumping for joy moments occasionally especially on a beautiful morning like this one was.  I wasn't able to keep pace with the travelling whales while also trying to be ready with the camera, so as they passed the point in the near distance I floated motionlessly for awhile to soak in the experience I had just had before heading back to camp.

This was one of the shortest and most leisurely kayak trips Andrea and I have done together but it is the most memorable, maybe my most memorable of Memorial Day memories.

One last whale tidbit that came from other whale trips that I have wanted to share for awhile now, the following audio clip is from encounters with humpback whales as they are bubble feeding.  This is the song that they make as they use sound and a ring of bubbles to corral a school of feed fish such as herring into a more condensed, easily swallowed ball of food.  Bubble feeding is one of those things that is always incredible to see.  The coordination that it takes for a group of whales to pull it off is a mystery to me.  How do they decide who makes the bubble net?  Is the bubble netter also the singer?  How do they decide which one of them will be where in the group?  This behavior is highly coordinated as I have seen up to 12 whales all participating in bubble feeding groups and it always looks successful and orderly.