It's been awhile!

Gosh, I almost forgot that this blog existed! It has been quite awhile since I have posted on here. Many things have happened in life since my last post. I have lost my grandmother, grandfather and father in the last two years. It has been a roller coaster ride. This November will mark 10 years since I lost my older sister Ellen in a car accident and April will be six years since my mother passed away. Lots of sadness, but I have learned so much about myself and the things that I can survive! Death is part of life and while it is sad, life goes on for those of us left behind. Not a day goes by that I don't think of them.

My sister Ellen and my dad. This is one of my favorite photos of them.

My grandparents on their wedding day. 

My grandparents at the celebration of their 70th wedding anniversary. 

My mom in Alaska in the 60's. She loved Alaska, it was a part of her soul.

It has also been a year since I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. This is a disease that runs in my mother's family. I was not surprised that I acquired it, but I wasn't trilled about it either. I spent my life watching it take my mother's life from her and then spent about a week in bed dreading what the rest of my life was going to be like. Turns out that there have been many strides in the treatment of RA since my mother's diagnosis in the late 70's. I am on the same medication that she was taking. It makes a huge difference when you start taking it at the onset of disease rather than after it has already started destroying the joints. I am feeling good, going to spin classes and walking the dog 2-3 times a day! The more I move, the better I feel...so we just keep moving!

Dory is my inspiration...just keep swimming...

I have some travel planned for the up coming year. So far, just going to Seward, AK for a meeting in April. This is held at the Alaska SeaLife Center, one of my favorite places to visit. I get to see some very cool birds up close and personal and visit with one of the biggest Steller sea lions I have ever seen, Woody!  The other trip I have planned is one I have been wanting to take for many years. I am going to Adak, Alaska. Adak is an island in the Aleutian chain. Alaska Airlines flies there twice a week on Sunday and Thursday. I can't wait!! There will definitely be some posts about that experience!

The front half of Woody, checking out my friend Kaili!
Below: Woody waiting for a snack in his habitat.

It was hard to find a map that would show both Sitka and Adak! I will actually be further south when I arrive at Adak. It is a two hour flight from Sitka to Anchorage and then just a quick three hours to Adak! This is going to be interesting! For those of you who don't know Alaska...Sitka is on the lower right side of the map. Adak is on the lower left side of the map.

Mission accepted: Save the banana slug!

My friend Victoria and I are on a mission. Ridding the town of the invasive European black slug Arion ater. 

Like any invasive species, the black slug takes over the habitat of the native banana slug. We are both very much in favor of not having these slugs get any closer to town than they are already. Currently they reside only at the end of Halibut Point Road, seven miles away from town. They seem to be confined to the Starrigavin camping area and Mosquito Cove trail. 

Below are photos of the native banana slug and the invasive European black slug.

We have been picking up the slugs mainly at the walk in camp sites. It has been three weeks and we have killed about 550 slugs. We only go hunting on our Saturday morning walks. It drives the dogs crazy, but how can we just walk past these critters that don't belong here? Sure, it's not the slug's fault, but if you have ever seen what can happen to the native animals when invasive species take over you should visit or read about the native bird species in Hawaii. Besides all of the introduced bird species on the islands, the feral cats and the mongoose have pushed all of the native species close to extinction. We don't want that to happen to the banana slugs, so we must take action!

Each week we take a photo of our gathering and then dump the black slugs into the salty ocean! If only there were something in Sitka that would eat the slugs!

Week 1: About 130 black slugs




Week 2: About 235 black slugs




Week 3: 200 black slugs



We will keep on collecting, but if you happen to be out in the campgrounds and see some black slugs please squish them or collect them and dump them in the salt water! SAVE THOSE BANANA SLUGS!

Wishing for Spring...or something like it! 

There was snow in the mountains this past week. It's MAY for goodness sake!

My body is confused. I am supposed to have more energy. I am supposed to be enjoying the long hours of sunlight. All I want to do is sleep. It's terrible. This winter just doesn't want to let go and I am not liking it. We had a gorgeous month of April. I was really excited for summer. Now, I want to hibernate.

Oh dear Spring, get here soon. I might have to take a vacation to the warm sunshine of Arizona!

It's just for the birds...

I went to work this morning and then found out that there were shorebirds EVERYWHERE! After work at around 2:30 I decided to go look for the shorebirds. It had started raining by then, but it didn't matter to me!

I saw a lot at Halibut Point Rec, then went to the Turnaround and finally to the National Park. Here is a list of the birds that I saw and some photos. Enjoy!

Savannah Sparrow
Brown Creeper
Dunlin
Rock Sandpiper
Surfbird
Mallard
Northern Shoveler
Northern Pintail
Bufflehead
Brant
Black Turnstone
Marbled Godwit
Dowitcher
Western Sandpiper
Least Sandpiper
Black-bellied Plover

The cutest thing you've ever seen!

I have been meaning to post photos of my new kitten for a while now, I have just been so busy I keep forgetting to do it! So, here he is...Bisbee Marie!

He was born a poor boy with 4 other siblings, all fighting for the same nipples. His mommy was a shelter cat, only about a year old herself. She came in to the shelter in February. I seem to have a strange knack for finding pregnant kitties. Just about a year before this, there was another cat at the shelter that I went in to pet and thought she was pregnant. Well, turns out she was. It then turned into "Kittygate 2008". Let's just say, the cat disappeared from the shelter and the police were involved. That is all I am going to say about that!

Bisbee's mom turned out to be a step-sister to the mommy from the previous year! What can I say, we live in a small town. Everyone knows everyone, and everyone knows all the cats and dogs! So...Bisbee and his brother and 3 sisters were born on April Fool's Day. Perfect! He is quite a terror, and picks on every other member of the family!


He is Nimmy's best buddy, he is very curious about my dog Tex, and he is hated by Beanie. It has been about a month and a half and Beanie still wants to kill him everytime he gets close to her. I have a lovely scratch across my chin to show for all the hatred. Someday she may learn to love him, but I won't hold my breath.

Check out the big feet! My friend Victoria thinks he is going to end up being a big boy. Let's just hope he is big, but thin. Not big and chubby like his buddy Mr. Nimmy. Hey, we can't all be perfect! I am sure there will be a lot more Bisbee adventures to come. OH, I forgot. His name. I know you are thinking...Bisbee Marie, what kind of a name is that for a boy kitty? He is named after Bisbee, Arizona. Bisbee was a copper mining town, and he is a pretty coppery orange color. Marie comes from my mother. She passed away right before I brought him home. As with most kids, he only gets the full name when he is a bad boy. Most of the time he gets called Busy Boy, and he really is just that, a very busy boy!

It was like an albatross around my neck...

Well, it finally happened. I finally convinced my boss that I should get to go out and see some albatross!

We have been studying sperm whales for about 5 years now. Sperm whales feed right along the shelf edge. We are studying them because they are taking fish off the lines of the longline fishermen and we are trying to solve this "little" problem (which is actually a big problem!) For these 5 years I have not had the opportunity to get out on the "big water" as I have a tendency for getting sea sick. NOTE: I am fine when medicated! My boss worries about me and won't let me go on these trips. They are multiple day trips and it would be quite terrible to be stuck out on a boat and be getting sick! For 5 years they have been bringing me back photos. Photos of sperm whales, photos of fish, photos of birds, photos of albatross! I feel like I have seen these birds already since I have seen so many photos of them, but I have never actually laid eyes on them, until yesterday.

There are 3 species of albatross that they see off the shelf edge. The most common is the black-footed albatross, less common are the Laysan albatross and the endangered short-tailed albatross. Yesterday was a great weather day. A little wind, but pretty calm, so away we went at 5:30 am. It takes about an hour and forty-five minutes to get to the albatross domain, but when we got there they came to check us out! I was so excited...and they are so big! We only saw the black-footed albatross, but that was fine. I have quite some time to get back out there and see the other 2 species. Maybe I will get to see them on their breeding grounds someday. You just never know!

Black-footed albatross

I also saw northern fulmar for the first time yesterday. Neat little birds, and they have all learned to be very opportunistic and skilled at getting guts from the fishing boats. We saw 20 bird species total and also marine mammals. I will list them below and add a few more photos. We did have to stop and take photos of the many humpback whales that were in the area, we are scientists after all!

• Northern Fulmar
• Black-footed Albatross
• Sooty Shearwater
• Cassin's Auklet
  
• Ancient Murrelet
• Marbled Murrelet
• Common Murre
• Pigeon Guillemot
• Double-crested Cormorant
• Pelagic Cormorant
• Tufted Puffin
• Rinoceros Auklet
• Black Turnstone
• Bald Eagle
• Glaucous-winged Gull
• Boneparte's Gull
• Black-legged Kittewake
• Fork-tailed Storm-petrel
• Mew Gull
• Herring Gull
  

Rhinoceros auklets in flight

Northern Fulmar

Herring Gull

Cassin's Auklet

Tufted puffin in flight

Sooty Shearwater

One of the many humpback whales we saw today.

Marine mammals we saw were humpback whales, harbor seal, sea otter, and Steller sea lions. All in all a pretty good day! We returned home around 2 pm, I finished work and went home and slept and slept and slept...

Shorebird Festival Cordova, Alaska

The Copper River Shorebird Festival is held in Cordova, Alaska every year at the beginning of May. I had never been to the Festival before, so my friend Victoria and I decided to go this year. Hundreds of thousands of shorebirds stop at the Copper River Delta to refuel before continuing north to the their nesting grounds.

The photo above is a flock of western sandpipers. They were by far the most abundant shorebird that we saw. Unfortunately, this was not the best year for birds passing through. We had had a week or so of beautiful weather. Nice for those of us that live in Southeast Alaska, but not for viewing tired, hungry shorebirds! Everyone in Cordova said that the number of birds was very low this year. I think they took advantage of the warm weather and kept going north. Oh well! We did manage to see 5o different species of birds, one black bear, one moose, and a beaver! It was a pretty good time!


There was a little tragedy. I mean not everything can be perfect, right! The first night we were there I was getting down from the top bunk and sprained my ankle, badly! So, I never got to go down onto the flats and see the birds up close and personal, but it was still a good time. Cordova has a bunch of road to drive, so we were set! We saw a ton of Canada geese, trumpeter swans, and ducks. We took a ton of photos, some of them were really cool, so I'll post them below. Happy Spring!


This is a long-billed or short-billed dowitcher. They are so similar that it is difficult to tell in the field. This is the first shorebird that we saw, in the top of a tree, not a spot of water visable!

This is a dunlin. The ONLY dunlin that we saw the entire weekend. Well, I can't even claim it...Victoria went for a walk and found this guy in with a bunch of western sandpipers. Too cute!

I really liked this picture. It is a hermit thrush that was hanging out along the side of the road. He flew up into the tree and with just the perfect light, who could resist taking photos of it!


A pair of northern pintail. One of my favorite ducks, I think it must be the chocolate colored head on the male...hmmm.


You would think that two professional women in their late 30's-early 40's would be more mature than this, but we were having a great time taking photos of the swans when they tipped their hineys up in the air to eat. It is actually a really fun thing to watch, really.


This was a bumper sticker on a truck. I think I might need to find one. I mean, people need to know this. It's important information.


Finally, they had this amazing little sandpiper in town that liked to visit with the bird watchers. He was very nice, so I took my photo with him!