PART 5- Friday, Sept. 06, Arriving in Skagway-
The evening cruise through the Gulf of Alaska with 10 foot seas and 30+ knot winds was certainly interesting! I am sure the Captain flooded the bulbous bow to help stabilize the Orion and the ride. Although it WAS bumpy...... it wasn't really that bad! Don't get me wrong, sleeping was easy (once you got into bed). However, walking around the cabin, taking a shower, and brushing your teeth was more challenging; just hang on!!
Sometime in the night the Orion entered the Strait where the waterway narrowed and was sheltered from the wind. The rolling of the ship subsided and the ride was much smoother and easy. I woke up just before dawn and went out on he veranda. The night sky was slowly being replaced by a gradual gray as dawn was approaching. What the pale light was revealed was a very overcast sky with areas of fog and light rain. The closer we got to the cruise ship dock, the fog increased and the town of Skagway was barely visible.
(These images are of the port of Skagway taken later in the day when the fog lifted)
We were really close to the dock, and other than a few Kittiwake and Glaucous-winged Gulls, I didn't see too many birds. In the distance I could make out a few small groups of Gulls in the harbor area, but nothing close to the ship.
Just as the Orion was approaching the dock, the tender tug appeared to assist in the docking of the Orion. The tug slowly nosed up to the Orion and the bow gently made contact to the Orion exactly in the location designed by the ship engineers marked "Tug" on the side of the ship. This area is directly below our suite just aft from the bow. As the tug gently pushed the Orion it throttled up its powerful diesels and produced a huge prop wash from behind it. The surface of the water was getting really churned up!
The churned up water spread out for a hundred yards behind the tug. Suddenly, there were Gulls everywhere..... they came from all directions. Typical of Gulls following boats and ships to take any opportunities of food items being stirred-up by the prop wash, this was a bonus I had never expected!!
The most exciting part where the number of Short-billed Mew Gulls...... they were by far, the most numerous Gull species in this encounter!
The Gull frenzy included several species, including a large group of a new species for this trip: Bonaparte's Gulls!
The Tug was working the Orion for about 15 minutes. There were at least 250-300 Gulls swirling around the area right out in front of our veranda. It was fast action and trying to identify an interesting or a different Gull to photograph in the swirling frenzy was challenging. I am sure one or two snuck through the mass of Gulls that I never saw. This interesting 1st cycle Herring Gull caught y eye-
Adult Herring Gull-
The Gull show from our veranda was quite impressive. The best part of this was the higher numbers of Short-billed Mew Gulls. I like Mew Gulls, that species is in my "favorite Gull" list which includes Iceland Gull, Glaucous Gull, Little Gull, Black-legged Kittiwake, Black-headed Gull, Franklin's Gull (only seen one-rare vagrant) of course our own New England specialty...... Great Black-backed Gull all of which I see in CT.. I have seen several 'Canus" European Mew Gulls in CT near our home, and a "Kamchatka" Mew Gull also in CT close to our home. I had never seen a Short-billed Mew Gull until we came to Alaska. And now I have a small flock of them to observe and photograph!
Beautiful soft feathering on this 1st cycle Short-billed Gull-
After twenty minutes, the tug's duty was over and it returned to the harbor. With the departing tugboat, so did the Gulls...... the buffet had closed!
We had originally signed up for an excursion tour for today on the Skagway Train. The train went up through the mountains showcasing the original trails of the Alaskan GOLD RUSH! Skagway is the area where the heart of the gold rush began. We were looking forward to going n this tour.
As scheduled, we disembarked the Orion and were to walk down the pier and meet our pre-arranged group for the tour. Just as we got off the ship, and just below the main pier.....a Harbor Seal was loafing under the pier. Since we were early by about a half hour, time for a few pictures.
While I was taking pictures of the Seal, Jen tapped me on the shoulder and told me to turn around! I knew that Jen had spotted something that would interest me, and sure enough! There was about thirty-five feet of water between the pier and the shoreline. Swimming right alongside the shoreline were a dozen hen and juvenile Common Mergansers swimming the crests of the large waves. The hens were still moulting and were missing their primaries along with the juveniles that were growing theirs. I always appreciated Common Mergansers, they are my third favorite species of waterfowl. We live close to the CT River in CT and Common Mergansers are quite plentiful in the river in winter and spring. Jen and I always stop by to watch and enjoy them.
It was time to leave the Mergansers behind and join our tour group and get to the shuttle bus. Well, without getting into the details, there was a mix-up and we ended up on the wrong tour. The bus we were instructed to go on was an hour and a half bus tour that would be going up the mountain pass into Canada t the zone change from coastal montane alpine forest to the Arctic zone. Maybe since we would be stopping in a few places, there would be an opportunity for birds something that would not be available on the train tour. Although Jen and I were disappointed (I was a little ticked-off) maybe this would be OK!
Unfortunately.......... the farther we went up the mountain, the heavier the fog and cloud cover became. Literally, you couldn't see your hand in front of your face!! The bus driver did narrate the tour constantly all about the Gold Rush and points of importance and interest along the way such as "the Gold Stairs", "Dead Horse Pass", the bridge we drove over that is built right on a fault line (huh?), and many others that we couldn't see!! But the narration was quite interesting!! The bus stopped at the Canada border and after going thorough the walk-through customs inspection (one Canada border officer with a lot of hardware on his belt), the bus passed through and even the fog broke a bit. You could barely make out how the terrain changed from large towering Hemlock and Cedar trees to small stunted trees to absolutely no trees. This was the Arctic terrain that the bus driver told us about.
The bus made a brief stop at a remnant Glacial Lake that was called "Dead Lake" for a good reason. There is absolutely NO wildlife in this area! Nothing growing except grass and desert-like scrub. I didn't see one passerine species while we were there so Jen and I stayed on the bus. After everyone filled their cameras with selfies of nothing, the bus headed back to Skagway passing right through the American customs station.
When the bus arrived in town, you had the choice to spend the day in Skagway shopping or go back to the Orion. We went back to the Orion to spend the day on the ship. After we had lunch, we headed to the Explorer's Lounge to relax the day away. Later in the day, I went out on the sun deck to see if there were any birds in the area, just a few of the usual Gulls. But one surprise was swimming below me in the lee of the Orion, and one I never expected, a 1st cycle California Gull!
Later in the day, the fog cleared somewhat, at least it wasn't as heavy and thick as it was in the morning. The Orion was scheduled to leave Skagway at 6:00 pm. and arrive in Juneau the following morning (Saturday) at 8:00 am. The Orion got underway and headed out of the Strait towards the Gulf once again.
Jen and I relaxed the day away on the Orion with most of the time being spent in the Explorer's Lounge. We chatted with many people on the ship and shared many stories. I kept popping out on the sun deck just checking for birds which consisted of the usual Kittiwake and a few Glaucous-winged Gulls. I still hadn't seen any Orca, so my bird watching now turned into whale watching! The day slowly faded and no Whales or birds of significance!
The forecast for tomorrow was not looking good: rain, and heavy at times!! Tomorrow morning was the day Jen and I were scheduled to go Halibut fishing. Well, its Alaska, and we go fishing so nothing unusual here! We just have to make sure we pack all our rain gear and get ready to fish!!
Unfortunately, the wind was still blowing 30 knots, hopefully the wind would subside and the fishing not be cancelled! After another supper featuring Alaska Seafood (Jen had Lamb) you could start to feel the Orion beginning to rock and roll as we got closer to the Gulf of Alaska. This would be another night of being bounced around. But we were prepared, we learned where all the railings and hand holds were on the ship!! Because of the long day tomorrow, we turned in early.
As usual, I woke up around 4:00 am (anxious to start our day) and went out on he veranda, it was raining steady. I wanted to to see if there were any white balls following the ship and dancing on the waves like what happened a few nights ago on the way to Valdez. Almost on cue, a Savannah Sparrow landed on the railing near where I was standing. There were no white balls on the ocean, but when I looked up....... it looked like I was standing in a blizzard! The sky was filled with bouncing bright white balls moving erratically in all directions. The sky was so thick with them! A second Sparrow, a Fox Sparrow also landed on the railing and several birds buzzed by! Even with my diminished hearing, I could hear the orchestra of chirping and twittering Songbirds in the air.... what an event!! I knew that I was in the middle of a migration...... the kind shown on satellite imagery which are published on the birding social media sites.
I ran back in the suite, grabbed my sweater, my hat, my rain coat, and my Canon SX 70 HS camera and was making a dash for the door! Jen knew exactly where I was going and she offered her usual advice to be careful and not fall over the railing!! Thanks Love!! We were on the eighth floor in the bow which was on the top floor that has cabins. A short distance down the hall towards the stern are the doors to the outside deck. Just around the corner and under the overhang is the large area that is top of the swimming pool a floor below. The overhang overlooking the pool glass-top roof is where I was heading. This would give me a great view of the ship's stacks that are brightly lit. As soon as I opened the door to the deck, the deck, railings and just about anything else, were covered with Songbirds!! They were everywhere!
I looked up at the sky in the area of the stacks, but the lights were so bright that I was blinded. I looked up over my head as I peered out from under the overhang, and the sky was filled with the white balls. But how do I photograph this?? I decided to look to the right of the stacks and block them out only looking at the sky. WOW!! I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I tried to take a few photos and I did end up capturing only a part of what I was looking at. The images show only a small percentage of what I was seeing!! Amazing!!
All around me the birds were landing, mostly Sparrows and Warblers. I was only saw two species of Sparrows: Fox and Savannah. I am not familiar with Warblers at all, so I didn't try to identify any of them.
In an hour...... the number of birds in the air diminished from a snowstorm to a flurry. An occasional bird flew in and landed on the deck, and a few would leave. There were still plenty of birds scattered throughout the decks and railings, but the event was over. It was still dark, but it was slowly getting lighter. I am not that interested in Songbirds, since Seabirds and Waterfowl are my passion. However, I have to admit, that was an amazing event!!
The rain continued! I headed back to our suite to pack for the day, and Jen and I went down for an early breakfast. We would be arriving and docking in Juneau soon. Our shuttle bus would be picking us up at the town dock at 8:30. To get to the the town dock we would be taking the ships tender boat which would be leaving at 8:00 am.
List of Birds seen in Skagway- Glaucous-winged Gull, Black-legged Kittiwake, Glaucous-winged x Herring hybrid, Herring Gull, Short-billed Mew Gull, Bonaparte's Gull, California Gull, Common Merganser. Mammals- Harbor Seal
PART 6, Juneau will continue...........
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