Glacier Bay National Park
Cruising through the vast reaches of Glacier Bay offers unlimited opportunities to scan for wildlife and enjoy the grandeur of the landscape. As this land so recently occupied by glaciers unfolds before us, the stark islands and steep hillsides begin to reveal the rich variety of birds and mammals that make their home in this large, wild and altogether incredible national park.
Tufted puffins, black-legged kittiwakes, glaucous-winged gulls, common murres, pigeon guillemots, and black oystercatchers make South Marble Island their summer home. The sharp screeching sound of a thousand kittiwakes together with the groans and the scent of several hundred Steller sea lions hauled out on the smooth rocks make this small island an experience of several senses. For most of the year the seabirds that nest here are scattered across the Pacific Ocean and have only recently arrived to build their nests.
Bears. Many hours of intently scanning the shoreline has produced eagles and mountain goats, whales and sea lions, but we haven’t seen a bear until today. Four brown bears along the beaches and hills, and our sharp-eyed Anderson caught a black bear and her two yearling cubs high on a hillside. This time of year (well, any time of year, except during the winter) the bears are looking for food. Recently out of their dens, they’ve been fasting for about five months. In the spring, brown bears frequently forage in the intertidal, turning over rocks to find crabs, fish or other tasty bits to sustain them.
Gale force winds coming out of the Fairweather range added a touch of icy reality to our glacier viewing this afternoon. Margerie glacier seemed to patiently await our arrival and we were greeted with a cacophony of calving – the sounds of ‘white thunder’ accompanying huge chunks of blue ice were a highlight of an already amazing day.
