Sunday, December 30, 2007

Birds pt 3

A male Long-tailed Duck, or Oldsquaw (Clangula hyemalis) in non-breeding plumage


Most ducks (most birds too) undergo a plumage change, or molt, twice per year alternating between a breeding and a non-breeding phase. Long-tailed ducks are different. Each full molt is interrupted by a partial molt thus giving the long-tail four plumages per year.






A Pigeon Guillemot (Cepphus columba) in it's non-breeding plumage. Pigeon guillemots dive to 150 feet to forage for mollusks, crustaceans and small fish. Unlike other Alcids (murres, murrelets, puffins, auklets etc) who use their wings to swim underwater, pigeon guillemots also use their feet.

In open water, alcids fly in flocks close to the surface in search of places where prey fish are concentrated up to 100 times their average densities. Closer to shore, they use areas where prey is concentrated by strong currents flowing over shoals and banks and in passes between islands (!). They are able to locate oceanic "fronts" where water masses of different densities and temperatures collide forming underwater "walls" against which prey get trapped.

Tufted Puffin (last seen in October)



The White-winged Scoter (Melanitta fusca) is the largest of all scoters. It dives for clams and other shellfish



Long-tails, a female here, spend their winters at sea over sandy substrates (most of the West Coast population winters in the Bering Sea) They eat mostly mollusks and crustaceans and do most of their foraging within 30 feet of the water surface.




A Pelagic Cormorant (Phalacrocorax pelagicus). Cormorants mostly eat small fish, the pelagic species forages around submerged rocks.


Pretty no? Smelly too. This work began to appear in November as the cormorants took up positions on the cliff to our south.





Larger flocks have been flying overhead during the past three or so weeks. We don't know what kind of birds these are but we have seen King Eiders moving south and yesterday saw Steller's Eiders eating with the White-winged Scoters, three pair of Red-breasted Mergansers, a female bufflehead, and a Crested Auklet: our new neighbors for the winter.

Friday, December 28, 2007

Festivus maximus




We discovered that we are not too old for sledding and have had some great runs on the hill behind the house. After awhile the climb up the hill wore us right out. Inde decided that the sleds were not to be messed with and watched from a safe distance.


Cookie decorating, a necessary activity. Then play games with your cookies before eating them. Notice Bob is wearing a red cape to do his decorating.




Thanks to Amelia for this life-like rendition of Bob and Jen in Alaska.




Some Christmas day highlights...Above Bob's Grog: A mixture of red wine, raisins and mulling spices splashed with liquor.
Below, the last of our greenhouse goods. After a over a week of freezing temperatures the greenhouse has succumbed to frost. We gathered the last of the kale and steamed and froze it. The remaining beets, rhutabagas and carrots were Christmas dinner.





Umm, Bob and I thought that we remembered how to make snowflakes from elementary school. Turns out our attempts more closely resembled cut-up squares of paper. We had fun trying.






So, we had the idea to try and hunt a ptarmigan for Christmas dinner. We made all the necessary preperations. Did a little reading, cleaned the gun, gathered a knife and some string and headed up to the alder thickets. There was lots of fresh snow and the winds were mild. Perfect hunting weather. One problem. No ptarmigans. Lots of tracks and signs of their resting spots but no birds were spotted. Inde had a fairly good show of searching them out and left us to wonder if she might have some real skill. We decided that we actually liked this kind of hunting: searching without killing.



I'm not sure what is going on in the North Pole this year. This guy showed up on Christmas, calling himself "Santa" and demanded all of our bling.

Thursday, December 20, 2007

O Geweihbaum



So this is our christmas "tree" - I was contemplating cutting sitka alder branches from the ravine and arranging them, but Jen had a better idea: an arrangement of three caribou antlers, tied, wrapped, and adorned. We collected false jingles from the beach and Japanese glass floats from the shelves...Hope everyone has/had/is having (a) fun celebration!

Monday, December 17, 2007

The day we climbed Sentinal

Sankin Bay


Sentinal Peak in the distance




Plain and lakes on Unimak Island



Roundtop, Unimak and the beginning of the Aleutian Islands



Sentinal's summit, Ikatan Peninsula, and in the distance the Pacific



We have been looking for the opportunity to hike to the top of Sentinal Peak since we got here. The first months we were distracted by the over-abundance of new sights and activities. Then one day we made a deal to head for the mountain the next time we awoke to clear skies. That morning came the very next day. It was sunny, crisp and the hills were covered with fresh snowfall. Perfect. No reason to delay, so off we went.

It was slow going at times in the foot or so of snow. The sun was melting the snow's surface and producing a crunchy layer for us to stomp through. Being our first substantial snow, the land seemed quite changed to us, in it's new white cover. Inde was, as you might suspect, beside herself. Snow just may be her favorite thing and she lost little momentum even when swallowed whole by the drifts.

The last 200 feet or so were a bit hairy, at least for me. Bob practically skipped to the top, while I on the other hand slowly clawed my way up. It was pretty steep at this point and the combination of rock skree and ice gave me little sense of security. Eventually I hauled myself up and was able to see over the peak, what a view! I was looking down at Sankin Bay, over Ikatan Peninsula to the Pacific, across to Roundtop and down a great portion of Isanotski Strait, heading to the Bering Sea. The winds were biting and Inde and I were cuddled together, more for fear of slipping off the mountain than for warmth. Bob was snapping photos left and right, making me a nervous wreck. And now it was time to climb down, oh--I hadn't even thought of that yet. Well, I will say this: It was much slower on the way down. Part of the problem, I feel I must explain, is that I was wearing the most ridiculous boots imaginable. Somewhere, someone invented snowboots that zip up instead of tying and I happened to come across a pair. Those zippers are senseless and I do not recommend them for hiking! Once down those icy 200 feet, it was easy going, sliding down a great portion of the way on our bottoms.








Headed back home.


Monday, December 10, 2007

Digging for gold





Thanks to the Laukitis family we harvested an estimated 25 pounds of potatoes! So far gardening has been pretty easy, we just gather and eat. Well, we have been composting seaweed and chicken manure on the beds. Just today (12-17) we lost the majority of our remaining greens to frost. Sad. Time to start cracking open the canned green beans.

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

The Others


An extremely close landing to Bob as he watched another eagle below, feasting on fish scavenged from the Orcas passing by.



River Otter (Lutra canadensis)

"About half of a river otter's time is spent sleeping. Both young and adults are fond of play. They manipulate rocks or sticks, play tag and hide-and-seek, dunk each other, wrestle, and slide on mud or snow.
River otters are often found in groups. A family unit is made up of a female and her pups, with or without an adult male. The family usually travels over an area of only a few square miles. The female appears to dominate the rest and may drive other animals away from a small area around the den where her pups are living.
River otters produce a variety of noises. They growl, caterwaul, and whine. When alarmed, individuals emit an explosive “hah!” When two or more are together, they often produce a mumbling noise that seems to be a form of conversation. A good imitation of this is made by closing the lips and rapidly uttering “hm” several times in a deep voice. A bird-like chirp apparently expresses anxiety and is most often heard when members of a group become separated."




There is a family of otters, living near Stonewall, that quite often we interrupt while roaming along the beach.

A funny story: Yesterday, Inde and I were walking the beach. As we passed Stonewall Inde caught sight of three otters and gave chase. They quickly escaped to the water and swam away. As we were passing Stonewall again, an hour or so later, one otter had returned to the point. This time it did not seem so ready to give up it's territory. The otter swam around the point making its throaty noises, swimming in close and then backing away. Inde was beside herself, transfixed by this newly discovered creature. The two continued this act for around 20 minutes. Twice the otter climbed upon a large rock five feet from shore and taunted Inde, who could not find the courage to enter the water. With great effort Inde finally pulled herself away from her fascination to follow me home. The otter however had not had enough and continued to pursue us along the shoreline until we headed off the beach.




Don't know who this little guy is, but there were lots of them along a lake on Unimak Island, where we saw these bear prints.










We haven't seen any bears lately, but the pictures remind us that they are here...somewhere.

Tuesday, December 4, 2007

Logging in the Aleutians





As is apparent from all our landscape photos, there are no trees here (we have seen a few random Sitka Spruce in False Pass, brought by villagers no doubt). So in order to have wood to warm us in the cold and more importantly to fuel the sauna and hot tub, we gather driftwood. There is quite a bit around, although none near the house. On this mission we headed southeast around the peninsula to Sanak Bay, where the logs are plentiful.


We were happy to show off (to each other) our peavy skills. As usual there are no pictures to confirm Bob's presence, but he did work too (once he put his camera down).