Anchorage, AK

We left Kenai early Monday (July 7th) and moved about eighty miles south to the town of Homer at the southern end of the Kenai Peninsula. The drive on AK Hwy 1 took us through Kasilof, Clam Gulch, and Ninilchik. We checked into an RV park that is right on the Cook Inlet and got a site with a great view.

Here’s a picture of our view - Cook Inlet and the snow covered mountains on the other side.



On Tuesday we took another boat tour - this one was a “whale watching” tour. We were not disappointed. All the ones we saw were Humpback Whales and we don’t know what the total for the day was, but there were several times when we had 4 or 5 in sight - some close. In fact, one time we were so close that when the whale “blew” the wind carried it right to us - LaVerne got whale snot on her glasses and it got all over my camera lens. And talk about bad breath!!! Whew! Here are a few whale pictures.

The patterns on their flukes are distinctive and are used for identification. These two were named “Hootie” and “Hot Wings”.





We were lucky to see a couple of the whales “breach” - which is come up out of the water head first and then splash back down. I was not quick enough with the camera to get those shots. I did get a few shots of them slapping the water with their pectoral fins.

Here is a picture of one of them slapping the water.



One of the female whales (they’re called cows) had a calf. This particular youngster was a yearling and probably already weighed 12-15 tons.

Here’s a picture of the cow and calf swimming along.



Not only did we see lots of whales, but we also saw 6 different new “life” birds to add to our list - 2 different Shearwaters, 2 different Jaegars, a couple of Black Turnstones, and a Surfbird. Got a few pictures, but they weren’t that good.

On Wednesday (July 9th) we left Homer and headed back north toward Anchorage. We stopped for a couple of nights at Bird Creek State Park about 25 miles south of Anchorage. On Thursday we drove into Anchorage and did a little birding along the way. At Potter Marsh we saw another “life” bird - a Red-necked Grebe. When the chicks are small, they ride on their mother’s back - for protection and warmth. When they get too big to ride, they have to swim alongside.

Here’s a couple of pictures of two different mother Red-necked Grebes with their chicks.





On the way back to camp from Anchorage we saw Doll Sheep high on the rocks above the road.



Today, Friday the 11th, we moved to an RV park in Anchorage for one night. There were several birding spots around town that we visited during the afternoon. Saw nothing new.