Glacier Bay National Park
Our travels through Southeast Alaska these past few days have brought us a myriad of visual delights. This photo shows the smallest glimpse of what we have seen. However, there is an aspect of our journey that no photo can capture, and that is sound. Our day started with a cacophony of sound at South Marble Island. Black-legged Kittiwake's called their names repeatedly. Glaucous-winged Gulls squawked and squabbled upon high rocky ledges. Black Oystercatchers, who easily caught our eye with their brilliant orange beaks and lovely pink legs, caught our ears as well, with their high pitched peep-peep-peeps. As we rounded the island, a bachelor colony of Steller's sea lions gave out low rumbling growls and belches. We listened to Linda Lieberman, an Interpretive Ranger with Glacier Bay National Park, as she shared with us a plethora of information on the glaciers, explorers, and wildlife of the park. At Margerie Glacier we took Linda's advice and listened to what the glacier had to say. It creaked and groaned its way downhill and calved, subsequently splashing a few chunks of ice from its face into Tarr Inlet. We responded to this display of ice, water and gravity with an assortment of oohs, ahs and ohmygosh's! The sharp booming sounds of glaciers groaning and subsequently calving is known as "white thunder," and it was easy to hear why.
By far the most exciting sound of our day was silence. What could make all of us fall silent in such an inspiring wilderness? A brown bear, or to be more precise, two brown bears and later, a couple of moose. The first bear fed along the shores of Russell Cut in a sparsely vegetated area, possibly on strawberries. Later, a second bear and a second feeding; this time on barnacles and mussels in the intertidal zone of Tarr Inlet, shown in the above photo. The moose were sighted late in the afternoon far into Geikie Inlet, quietly feeding along the shoreline. With each sighting and subsequent observation, we took note of the animal's quiet repose and followed suit, silently watching them from the bow of the Sea Lion.
While the scope and variety of sights in Southeast Alaska continue to amaze and delight us, the sounds of Southeast Alaska have just as much inspiration to offer, even when the sound is silence.
Our travels through Southeast Alaska these past few days have brought us a myriad of visual delights. This photo shows the smallest glimpse of what we have seen. However, there is an aspect of our journey that no photo can capture, and that is sound. Our day started with a cacophony of sound at South Marble Island. Black-legged Kittiwake's called their names repeatedly. Glaucous-winged Gulls squawked and squabbled upon high rocky ledges. Black Oystercatchers, who easily caught our eye with their brilliant orange beaks and lovely pink legs, caught our ears as well, with their high pitched peep-peep-peeps. As we rounded the island, a bachelor colony of Steller's sea lions gave out low rumbling growls and belches. We listened to Linda Lieberman, an Interpretive Ranger with Glacier Bay National Park, as she shared with us a plethora of information on the glaciers, explorers, and wildlife of the park. At Margerie Glacier we took Linda's advice and listened to what the glacier had to say. It creaked and groaned its way downhill and calved, subsequently splashing a few chunks of ice from its face into Tarr Inlet. We responded to this display of ice, water and gravity with an assortment of oohs, ahs and ohmygosh's! The sharp booming sounds of glaciers groaning and subsequently calving is known as "white thunder," and it was easy to hear why.
By far the most exciting sound of our day was silence. What could make all of us fall silent in such an inspiring wilderness? A brown bear, or to be more precise, two brown bears and later, a couple of moose. The first bear fed along the shores of Russell Cut in a sparsely vegetated area, possibly on strawberries. Later, a second bear and a second feeding; this time on barnacles and mussels in the intertidal zone of Tarr Inlet, shown in the above photo. The moose were sighted late in the afternoon far into Geikie Inlet, quietly feeding along the shoreline. With each sighting and subsequent observation, we took note of the animal's quiet repose and followed suit, silently watching them from the bow of the Sea Lion.
While the scope and variety of sights in Southeast Alaska continue to amaze and delight us, the sounds of Southeast Alaska have just as much inspiration to offer, even when the sound is silence.
