Point Adolphus, Fox Creek, and Idaho Inlet, Chichagof Island
After leaving Sitka the evening before, we awoke at Point Adolphus in Icy Strait. To the northwest, Mt. Fairweather, 15,320 ft. above sea level, lived up to its name, shining white through parted clouds. As the weather improved, so did our luck. It would be a day exceptionally rich in mammal sightings. Near the shoreline, we saw in the distance a humpback whale, splashing grandly by slapping its tail on the water. Soon we were among a group of humpbacks. Seven humpback whales seemed to be feeding in a loose group as we watched, plus an energetic calf. At one point, the calf breached twice, then lifted its head from the water in what is called a “chin slap.” We watched, trying to interpret the behaviors, as the mother left her baby resting in a kelp bed as she fed. The mother must have been hungry after giving birth, not eating during the winter in Hawaii, and she knew the calf would only interfere as she fed.
By afternoon the sky had nearly cleared. We headed to Fox Creek, in Idaho Inlet, for an afternoon of hiking and kayaking. In the early summer profusion of plants on shore, we learned of the sneaky ways that flowers dupe bugs into helping them spread their pollens. The exquisite shooting star, for example, retracts its flowers. Bees do not land on the shooting star. Instead they buzz their wings and shake the flower’s pollen onto them in a golden dust. One of the rare treats of the day came when one group of hikers was lucky enough to see a pine marten, a small member of the weasel family, as it stalked a red squirrel. Through the evening we also saw a brown bear, a few Sitka black-tail deer, and many playful sea otters rafting together in the evening light. Combined with the earlier whales, harbor seals, harbor and Dall’s porpoises, our total of mammals for the day reached nine species. They augur well for a magnificent week.
After leaving Sitka the evening before, we awoke at Point Adolphus in Icy Strait. To the northwest, Mt. Fairweather, 15,320 ft. above sea level, lived up to its name, shining white through parted clouds. As the weather improved, so did our luck. It would be a day exceptionally rich in mammal sightings. Near the shoreline, we saw in the distance a humpback whale, splashing grandly by slapping its tail on the water. Soon we were among a group of humpbacks. Seven humpback whales seemed to be feeding in a loose group as we watched, plus an energetic calf. At one point, the calf breached twice, then lifted its head from the water in what is called a “chin slap.” We watched, trying to interpret the behaviors, as the mother left her baby resting in a kelp bed as she fed. The mother must have been hungry after giving birth, not eating during the winter in Hawaii, and she knew the calf would only interfere as she fed.
By afternoon the sky had nearly cleared. We headed to Fox Creek, in Idaho Inlet, for an afternoon of hiking and kayaking. In the early summer profusion of plants on shore, we learned of the sneaky ways that flowers dupe bugs into helping them spread their pollens. The exquisite shooting star, for example, retracts its flowers. Bees do not land on the shooting star. Instead they buzz their wings and shake the flower’s pollen onto them in a golden dust. One of the rare treats of the day came when one group of hikers was lucky enough to see a pine marten, a small member of the weasel family, as it stalked a red squirrel. Through the evening we also saw a brown bear, a few Sitka black-tail deer, and many playful sea otters rafting together in the evening light. Combined with the earlier whales, harbor seals, harbor and Dall’s porpoises, our total of mammals for the day reached nine species. They augur well for a magnificent week.
