Alaska Cruise May 29th to June 9th
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| The cruise route although we went in the reverse direction to the arrows |
This was the surprise of the year for me. I had always stubbornly stated you would not get me anywhere near a large cruise ship, not for any particular fear, just an uncomfortable vision of sharing a ship which resembles an office block with hundreds of other people. Indeed, when Easter arrived in early April, this was not on the horizon.
It was only a visit from Justin, our brother-in-law, over the Easter weekend, when the cruise was first mentioned as they had booked this as part of an extended trip before visiting Europe in late June (where we were meeting them in Berlin). By the end of the conversation we found that we were going on a 7 day cruise in Alaska with them.
We arrived home from Portugal on Saturday evening and on Wednesday morning we were back at Gatwick for our flight to Chicago then onto Anchorage.
We arrived around 10pm on the Wednesday night of the 30th where Sue and Justin were already in the AirBNB we had booked for one night in Anchorage.
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| At O'Hare International in Chicago waiting for Anchorage departure |
Thursday 30th May - Anchorage to Seward
Even though the cruise was billed as starting in Anchorage, the cruise ship dock is in Seward, which is 130 miles further South. We were offered a bus transfer from Anchorage, but opted to get the Coastal Classic train, which we thought would offer a more scenic route.
The ship was due to sail at 6.30pm, and you could board any time after 2pm, so we had plenty of time as the train was due to leave at 8am and should take 3.5 hours.
We were up early as needed to be at the station before 7am to check into the train. Standing outside the appartment waiting for the taxi I started my bird list (with the help of Merlin !!). I have used Merlin for most overseas trips, principally for the easy access to species photos, in the UK I rarely use the sound ID and some of the other countries I have been to, do not have sufficient sound recordings to make species ID useful. However, here in the US, it works perfectly, easily picking up and ID'ing bird calls. Particularly useful when you've just arrived somewhere and are not tuned in at all as to what birds are around.
So in the 10 minutes we waited for the taxi I picked up Black-capped Chickadee, Common Redpoll, Dark-eyed Junco, White-crowned Sparrow, Black billed Magpie and Northern Raven.
We were able to drop our luggage at the station and were told it would duly arrive in our rooms on the ship ! A muffin and a coffee later we were on the train and it departed on time. The whole journey was at a fairly sedate speed, which meant that wildlife watching was possible out of the window. The journey was also narrated and helpfully wildlife was pointed out over the tannoy, so I had a more productive journey than I had anticipated and the scenery was quite spectacular.
To start on the coast, there were Short-billed Gulls and Glaucous Gulls and Canada Geese, that were not of the feral variety. Before long we were seeing the first Bald Eagles and some Tinhorn Sheep (Dall's Sheep) were on a hillside.
Every now and again the train would slow to a virtual standstill, and on one of these stops a Wilson's Snipe was seen fairly well on a tree stump, a group of Purple Martins hawking over the fields and a Song Sparrow quite close to the train in a tree, We passed through several areas of marsh which held a Trumpeter Swan, American Wigeon, Green-winged Teal, Common, Merganser, Red-breasted Merganser and Barrow's Goldeneye. One creek that we passed over held a smart male Harlequin Duck.
In the pine forest as we went through the only birds I managed to ID were Steller's Jay and Pine Siskin and I had several potential birds that got away, with possibles of Varied Thrush, Pine Grosbeak, and a BoP that I couldn't work out whether it was a Harrier or even a Northern Hawk Owl.
We also saw a Moose, but calls that a Black Bear had been seen didn't produce a sighting.
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| As we left Anchorage |
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| Stunted Pines were a feature of some of the low lying marshy fields |
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| Entering Glacier country |
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| Large Glacier in the distance |
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| The snow reflected a cold late Spring |
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| The front of the train |
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| Scenery was stunning |
We arrived in Seward and walked along the harbour front and had lunch in a harbour-side restaurant near to where some of the local fishermen were displaying their Halibut catch with one weighing 160kg being very impressive.
We then walked to our ship, easily boarded and found our rooms which were on the Starboard side but crucially had a large balcony. The ship was brand new and 'only' had 700 passengers, which I'm told is small !!. I had brought my small scope with me and had a look into the harbour. There was a large gull flock gathering, but I couldn't make anything different from the Slender-billed and Glaucous-winged Gulls. There were some Arctic Terns flying around and also Double-crested Cormorants and a single Red-faced Cormorants. Pigeon Guillemots were near the ship and Marbled Murrelets a bit further out and the Bald Eagles were keeping an eye on proceedings.
The ship left dock at 6.30pm and we sailed overnight towards the Hubbard Glacier.
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| Hoping to see some real ones ! |
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| I hadn't realised Sally had her shoes sent in advance. |
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| It looked big to me, I checked the number of lifeboats it had !! |
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| Gull roost from the ship |
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| Bald Eagle |
Friday 31st May - Seward to Juneau via Hubbard Glacier
Today was a sailing day and would give me the opportunity to 'sea-watch' from the balcony. The route to Glacier bay probably took us through the best opportunities of the whole trip for seabirds.
I did this in a few spells throughout the day, the scope generally worked ok from the balcony despite a bit of swell in places. I was up early and outside by 5.30am. It would go from spells of seeing absolutely nothing to a sudden change and birds streaming through. To start with is was the normal panic of trying to ID birds that were a little too distant, also taking pictures was quite a challenge but generally helped with some of the ID.
Throughout the day I did manage to see quite good numbers of birds with a particular spell in the afternoon where there was a large feeding pod of Humpback Whales at least 20 if not more and in that area vast rafts of Seabirds, most of which appeared to be the blue phase Northern Fulmars. I had in excess of 100 Sooty Shearwaters, which were by far the commonest, although there were several of the very similar Short-tailed Shearwaters especially around the larger flocks, but also Pink-footed Shearwaters and Flesh-footed Shearwaters, once I had worked out enough of their features with Pink-footed much more like Cory's and the Flesh-footed like a large version of the Sooty with a pink bill.
The most spectacular was a Laysan's Albatross which I had good views and the more common Black-footed Albatross.
Other auks and smaller birds were trickier, but the Fork-tailed Storm Petrels were fairly obvious and fairly numerous and Auk fly-bys were probably a mixture of Thick-billed Murres and Common Murres. Several Sabine's Gulls were in the larger flocks with Black-legged Kittiwakes.
We had a sail past of the impressive Hubbard Glacier, seeing quite a few Harbour Seals and Pelagic Cormorants and as we entered Disenchantment Bay a Steller's Sea Lion and both Long-tailed Jaeger and Parasitic Jaeger (Long-tailed and Arctic Skuas).
We arrived in Juneau around 7pm and spent the evening on the ship .
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| Into Glacier Bay |
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| Towards the Hubbard Glacier |
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| The Hubbard Glacier |
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The height of the near edge of the Glacier was actually twice the height of our ship. |
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| Northern Fulmar |
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| Northern Fulmar |
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| Laysan's Albatross |
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| Laysan's Albatross |
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| Laysan's Albatross |
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| Northern Fulmar |
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| Black-footed Albatross |
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| probable Sooty or possible Short-tailed Shearwater |
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| Probable Sooty Shearwaters |
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| Black-footed Albatross |
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| Black-footed Albatross |
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| Black-footed Albatross |
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| Fork-tailed Storm Petrels |
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| A raft of Seabirds - Northern Fulmars, Sabine's Gulls and Shearwaters |
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| Humpback Whale |
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| Humpback and calf |
Saturday 1st June - Juneau and departure to Skagway
With the 'shore days' there was a selection of excursions to choose from that we had pre-booked. Today was quite exciting as it was a helicopter ride over the Mendenhall Glacier, with a short time actually on the glacier.
The trip was great and spectacular scenery and quite an experience on the glacier itself, you get a feeling of how immense the glaciers are, even with their rapid retreat.
Other than some Bald Eagles, Bonaparte's Gulls, Glaucous-winged Gulls, Northwestern Crows and Barn Swallows, there were no birds on offer in Juneau.
Late afternoon the ship set sale for Skagway, and as we set sail some Pigeon Guillemots, a large flock of c100+ White-winged Scoter, Long-tailed Ducks, Surf Scoters, Pacific Divers and a Pomarine Jaeger were seen.
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| Helicopter view over the glacier |
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| Landing on the Glacier |
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| Pacific Loon (diver) |
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| Glaucous-winged Gull |
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| Glaucous-winged Gull |
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| Pigeon Guillemot |
Sunday 2nd June - Skagway and Skagway to Sitka
At first light we were already in the final approaches to Skagway, which was probably the farthest accessible inland inlet and close to the Canadian border. Our shore excursion today was a trip to the Yukon Suspension bridge, which in theory included a boardwalk around alpine meadows.
The bus drive took us into Canada so we crossed the US border and the Canadian border, although the formalities here we very light and only involved us waving our passports at the border official who stuck their head in the door of the mini-bus.
It was still very early in the season and there weren't really any alpine flowers yet in the season. The Suspension bridge was worth a visit even though there wasn't much to it, but the surrounding scenery was great.
A singing Wilson's Warbler at the suspension bridge was a a nice sighting and a brief male Rufous Hummingbird at another stop and a Golden-crowned Sparrow was actually a lifer for me. Some others seen around the town of Skagway included Myrtle Warbler, Townsends Warbler, Orange-crowned Warbler, American Robin, Violet-Green Swallow, Dark-eyed Junco and American Crow.
Nearer the harbour and Arctic Tern was flying around and a Wandering Tattler and Belted Kingfisher were near some rocks.
Later in the day we set sail towards Sitka.
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| As we were docking in Skagway |
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| From the Yukon suspension bridge in Canada ! |
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| Lakeside stop, there were some Common Loons on the lake |
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| Wilson's Warbler |
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| Golden-crowned Sparrow |
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| Orange-crowned Warbler |
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| Wilson's Warbler |
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| As we left Skagway |
Monday 3rd June - Sitka and departure to Ketchican
There was a couple of hours of cruising time before we arrived in Sitka this morning and as Sitka is positioned on the Pacific side of the islands we were closer to open sea again, even though largely cruising through island passages. It did make the birding potential better and I managed to see several Tufted Puffins close to the boat, quite a few Ancient Murrelet which seemed to outnumber the Marbled Murrelets. Sooty Shearwaters and a few Black-footed Albatross, Common and Thick-billed Murres and a couple more Humpback Whales.
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| Tufted Puffin |
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| Tufted Puffin |
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| Ancient Murrlets |
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| Humpback Whale |
Having arrived in Sitka, we had an excursion with was noted as a Sea Otter Cruise, where we were picked up directly from the ship by a smaller boat. we headed into the Sitka sound, where there were some Bald Eagles and a small raft of Rhinoceros Auklets. We motored out towards small rocky outlet close to an area known as the Russian Cemetery and there were several Sea Otters just offshore. The Island had several Pelagic Cormorants, Black Oystercatchers and 3 Surfbirds.
We headed towards a far bay, seeing a few Common Murres, Thick Billed Murres and Ancient Murrelets. We firstly saw a Pacific White-sided Dolphin but the highlight was close views of several feeding Grey Whales, where we spent quite some time enjoying the spectacle. We were dropped into Sitka to have a wander around the town before getting a tender boat back to the ship.
We sailed late afternoon towards Ketchican
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| Steller's Sea Lion |
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| Rhinoceros Auklets |
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| Bald Eagle |
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| Common Murre |
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| Ancient Murrelet |
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| Sea Otter |
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| Sea Otters |
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| Sea Otters |
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| Black Oystercatcher |
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| Surfbirds |
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| Marbled Murrelets |
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| Pacific White-sided Dolphin |
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| Pacific White-sided Dolphin |
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| Grey Whale |
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| Grey Whale |
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| Grey Whale |
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| Grey Whale |
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| Grey Whale |
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| Grey Whale |
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| Grey Whale |
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| Returning to the ship |
Tuesday 4th June - Ketchitan with the rain
We sailed into Ketchitan early in the morning, not seeing much in the way of birds other than a large flock of c60 Surf Scoter and c20 White-winged Scoter.
The weather was awful, being very windy and pouring with rain. We had an excursion booked for a rainforest walk, which we duly went on and it was very interesting but there was very little on show in the way of wildlife, although we saw plenty of bear scat. A Humpback Whale was briefly seen close inshore from the bus on the journey, but we were back at the boat fairly early as we set sail mid afternoon and would now be at sea until we arrived in Vancouver the day after next.
Wednesday 5th June - Queen Charlotte Sound to Vancouver
We had sailed overnight and awoke, still just inside Alaskan / US waters, but soon crossed into Queen Charlotte Sound and to Canadian waters, not that there were any landmarks. The sea had started with a large swell but soon calmed down and was bright and sunny for most of the day. There was some seabird action earlier in the day but as the weather brightened viewings became very sparse.
The most notable change in species were the number of Leach's Petrels with over 20 being recorded. I had 12 Black-footed Albatross, Laysan's Albatross, 6 Fork-tailed Storm Petrels, 7 Tufted Puffin, 2 Flesh-footed Shearwater and 2 Sooty Shearwater, Ancient Murrelet, Common Murre, Pacific Loons, Rhinoceros Auklet. Flocks of waders were seen flying north but they were too distant to id although one group were probably American Golden Plovers.
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| Leach's Storm Petrel |
Thursday 6th June - Vancouver.
We arrived around 8am in the port in Vancouver, selected our disembarkation time as late as possible and had soon collected our luggage. We could not enter our appartement until later in the afternoon so stored our bags and went to explore, deciding to take the hop-on-hop off bus tour, which gave us a good view of the city.
Friday 7th June - Vancouver
I decided to get up early and go to Stanley Park, I was there by 7.30am and started my wander around the park.
There was plenty of birdsong and I started by seeing a Western Flycatcher, American Robin and a Golden-crowned Kinglet. I walked in the direction of the Beaver Lake, firstly in a scrubby area seeing a Myrtle Warbler, Wilson's Warbler and Song Sparrow, Chipping Sparrow then a Spotted Towhee and a Swainson's Thrush.
Arriving at the edge of the lake, the habitat quickly changes from the pine / cedar woodland to a willow scrub and the first bird I found was a singing Willow Flycatcher. Several Song Sparrows were around the track with 2 Anna's Hummingbirds and Red-winged Blackbirds further into the marshy lake. A male Wood Duck was on the path and a few more out on the lake with Mallards, Both Chestnut-backed and Black-capped Chickadees were seen and a distant view of a Purple Finch.
I bumped into a couple of other birders which gave me some helpful information. One told me that he had seen a Beaver last night on the edge of the lake, as there is an obvious Beaver damn in the lake, although they are crepuscular and it was unlikely I would be back at dusk.
Northern Rough-winged Swallows with some Barn Swallows were hawking over the water and a Grey Heron was the only other water bird seen. On a side track a Red-breasted Nuthatch was seen with a a very vocal Pacific Wren and then a Black-throated Grey Warbler.
I crossed the road and headed into more open Pine forest. Merlin alerted me to a singing Hammond's Flycatcher which took a bit of finding before eventually being seen on a high perch, it was a new bird for me so I was pleased I found it. I walked back to the start of the park via the Lost Lagoon, which was pretty empty, only adding an American Bushtit.
I walked all the way back to the apartment and then met the others on Granville Island where we spent the rest of the afternoon.
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| American Robin |
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| Spotted Towhee |
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| Willow Flycatcher |
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| Wood Duck |
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| Song Sparrow |
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| Anna's Hummingbird |
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| Black-capped Chickadee |
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| Swainson's Thursh |
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| Pacific Wren |
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| Pacific Wren |
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| Brown Creeper |
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| Beaver Lake, Stanley Park |
Friday 8th June - Vancouver
This was our last day in Vancouver and I'd persuaded the others to go to Stanley Park first thing in the morning . It was slightly later than yesterday but I followed a similar route around given the best birds (and most scenic for the others) was around the Beaver Lake.
I saw many of the same birds as yesterday but managed to add a Killdeer, Rufous Hummingbird, White-crowned Sparrow, House Finch, Coopers Hawk and Peregrine.
We walked out to the totem poles and the mermaid on the rock. At that point it was nearing midday and the crowds were becoming a significant factor so we returned to the start of the park and spent the afternoon in the central parts of the city.
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| Red-winged Blackbird |
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| Killdeer |
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| Killdeer |
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| Myrtle Warbler |
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| Myrtle Warbler |
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| Purple Finch |
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| Purple Finch |
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| White-crowned Sparrow |
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| Peregrine |
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| Rufous Hummingbird |
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| Rufous Hummingbird |
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| Rufous Hummingbird |
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| Great Blue Heron |
Sunday 9th June - Return to UK
Travelling all went smoothly and we arrived back in the UK with no problems. In summary an unexpected and great trip, recording c 100 species and 15 lifers. The scenery in Alaska is spectacular and worth a return visit... so many places to see !
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