PART 7AA  (2-part AA and BB)- Sunday, Sept. 08, Arriving in Sitka- 

     The Orion was scheduled to arrive at the cruise ship dock at 8:00 am. Just like every morning, I woke up between 4:30 and 5:00 am and went out on the veranda to watch the ship arrive to the welcoming lights of the town. The other reason being to see the morning Songbird ritual of Fox Sparrows and other species leaving the ship after seeking nighttime refuge on the upper deck. This ritual wasn't any different this morning. The birds all left the safety of the ship about the same time.......and the Merlin patrol was almost on time. This morning three Merlins buzzed the upper decks of the ship as the Songbirds scattered in all directions heading for the distant conifers along shore. 

     As the morning sky slowly got lighter, next came the morning flight of Gulls: Kittiwake, Glaucous-winged, Mew, Herring, California, Bonaparte's, and a few others I am sure. 

     The Orion docked right on time. Today, Jen and I were gong on an excursion called "Sea Otters and other Wildlife" that we had booked months ago. 

     The Wildlife Cruise was only three hours long, and honestly, I didn't have high expectations. I think of these short tours as tours for the tourists that have never seen a whale. But for Jen and I, anytime on the water looking for birds and wildlife is worth every minute. Sitka, from my view on the ship looked to be a smaller area than the other locations we had already visited. And of course, as I found out in a short period of time......I was so wrong!! Its a beautiful location, and the concentration of Wildlife and Birds was incredible. It turned out to be one of the best birding spots on the entire trip second only to the Kenai Fjords! 

    Jen had come down with a cold that started a few days before we flew to Anchorage. It gradually got worse during the cruise. She decided it would be best for her to skip the Wildlife Cruise and stay on the ship and rest; she had a really good book she wanted to finish. I thought it was a great idea. I told her that I would stay with her, but Jen being the lovely, wonderful wife she is told me to go on the cruise and find some cool things for her (I wouldn't want to be around me either stuck inside while the birding boat went out without me)!! After we had a quick breakfast, I headed down to disembark the ship, Jen went up to the Explorer's Lounge to rest the morning away. 

    The morning was a little cool, but free from the usual clouds and rain. The morning sky was mostly clear, with only a small cloud or two moving in to just cover that beautiful sun for a minute or two and then moving on. The forecast said the wind would be almost negligible 10 knots or less. Everything about this morning weather was welcoming. At the end of the cruise ship dock on the edge of this town was a classic maritime courtyard. On the back side of the courtyard were the restaurants, stores and gift shops. Adjacent to the cruise ship dock were two, long, down-sloping gangways leading to the dock where the excursion boats were. 

     I met up with my cruise group for this tour that ended up being thirty-five people. Once the mates let us board the tour boat, I went right up to the top deck as close to the bow as I could get. And on this boat, because the wheelhouse was quite large, the closest to the bow I could get would be just up to the starboard or port side wheelhouse side window. There was a rope barrier set up between the window and the railing preventing access to the bow which was about twenty feet away. I selected the starboard side. Not the most ideal location, but I was happy with it....... just glad to be here! I texted Jen to check on her, and to let her know I was onboard and in my "spot"! Jen had settled in front of the fireplace with a hot tea, and was getting ready to take a little nap. 

     Before we cast off, we were introduced to he Captain and his crew. As it turned out, one of the crew members was a Naturalist that would be narrating about the area, the events of the day, points of interest, point out the wildlife we saw. Just a short time since we were underway (which was about ten minutes from the dock), we made a stop at the first big Island we came to. This island had a visible Eagles nest in a huge Cesar tree right on the shoreline. The Eagle pair was sitting high in an adjacent tree next to their nest. As the Captain was explaining to us about the Eagle population in Sitka, two more Eagles flew in from off the Sound and landed in the trees right next to the boat.

     While I was photographing these Eagles landing in these trees, I was thinking to myself how interesting it was that these adult Eagles were landing right near an Eagles nest with the parent Eagles perched in a tree next to it! Just then almost on cue, the Captain started telling everyone how the Eagle population in Sitka is high. Because of the high concentration of Salmon in the area, the Eagles are less competitive for nesting and feeding areas. In fact, the Sitka area Eagles are very sociable with each other during the nesting season which I found very interesting! Well, that explains that! 

     The Captain spent about fifteen minutes at this location while everyone on the boat just admired and enjoyed the Eagles. I was getting a bit anxious wanting to move along. I even texted Jen to see how she was feeling and to tell her that I thought this would be a short cruise judging by how much time they were spending with the Eagles near an island that was our first stop. The boat pulled away from the Island and it soon became clear just how special the Sitka Bay/Sitka Sound area really was. Just as we passed by the tip of the island, the view out into Sitka Sound and all the Islands framing the opening to the distant Gulf of Alaska was sensational, perfect for sea birding! Outside these inner islands were a spattering of distant small islands and islets, I was hoping we would go out there! I was thinking that if we lived here in Sitka, we would be out on the Sound just about every day. I had found what I considered the perfect Auk location, and most of it reachable with a small boat. Lets hope my aspirations were close to reality today!!

     After only a short boat ride heading out to more open water, A small group of feeding Humpback Whales broke the surface in an area near and between a group of small islets and exposed ledges (falling tide). The Captain said that the Whales were in about sixty feet or less of water and in an area that they had never seen them before. On a couple of islets and ledges near where the Whales were seen and sounded, was a group of Double-crested and Pelagic Cormorants. They looked for the Whales, I was photographing the birds.

     

    

     The Whales didn't appear again so the Captain slowly started moving away from this area and was starting to move to the next location. This movement away from these small islets and ledges gave me a different angle to look at the Cormorants. This new angle revealed more Cormorants and more Pelagic Cormorants. 

     The boat started moving further away from these small islets and heading out into the open Sound. I was assuming they were going out to look for Whales. At that point I wasn't aware of the hidden treasures I had captured in my images until later when I was back on the Orion with Jen in the Explorer's Lounge. I started looking trough my images from that morning, and found several birds below the Cormorants resting in the barnacle and weed-encrusted rocks. There they were.... a small flock of Harlequin Ducks and a Black Oystercatcher!

     Where I was standing on the upper deck by the wheelhouse, and the window was open. I asked the Naturalist if they were seeing any Marbled Murrelets, and he said that they see a few every day. That perked me up!! I also asked him about Ancient Murrelets, and he told me they don't see them here. Oh well, maybe in Ketchikan! The boat started heading out passing by a few more islets, and without going very far, the first Alcids of the day; Common Murre!! The wind had diminished to near calm and the seas of Sitka Sound was just about flat. 

     While I was taking pictures of this pair of Murre, in my camera viewfinder I noticed a small white glint in the upper right corner. I picked up my binoculars and discovered this white glint was a pair of Marbled Murrelet. That didn't take long! The day just got much better!!

     All this time the boat was motoring at a good clip, the Captain wanted to make time.....he was looking for something! All I could do was photograph anything I could and be fast about it! I only got the one image of the Murrelets, they faded into the distance. Along the way to wherever the Captain was headed, Common Murre were numerous...........

    ...... including this unusual transitioning bird with a aberrant short bill and unusual white cheek patch. At first I thought I was looking at a hybrid Common Murre x Thick-billed Murre but no such luck!! 

                               Murres were very abundant loafing the morning away.

    Keeping in mind although the Captain had slowed down a bit, the boat was still moving along at a good clip. I just kept photographing just about everything I saw. And within the spattering of Common Murre, another pair of Marbled Murrelet. One of the two dove just as I pushed the shutter button. I got this one image. Marbled Murrelet numbers are increasing, I was very happy about that!

     All of the sudden, the boat slowed down and the forward momentum of the boat was a little more than idle speed progress. The Captain was looking for something, most likely Whales and that is exactly what happened. A small pod of Humpbacks appeared off the stern. Everyone on deck and in the cabin raced to the stern to see the whales that were a few hundred yards out. For me, I stayed right where I was because the number of birds spread out on the water in all distances had increased. All the birds I saw at quick glance were Common Murre, but there had to be some other species mixed in with them? Some of the Murre were close, some way out. But the ones that were close presented a wonderful gift to me.......a pair of RHINOEROS AUKLETS!! I never thought I would see this species on my trip, especially down here in Sitka. I was hoping for Rhino Auklets in the Kenai Fjords, but never saw any! I was so thrilled!!!

     After raising my blood pressure a few numbers after the excitement of these Rhino Auklets, I was still looking through all the birds on the water for something that looked different. By now, the whales had sounded and the Captain was slowly pushing the throttle to head to another location. I just kept taking pictures. I noticed a Murre swimming with a much smaller bird that I assumed was its  fledgling. I Took several images of the two birds before I swung my camera in another direction to shoot more birds. It was crazy! As I said, the seabirds  and any direction you looked, in all directions.

     The boat passed through the spattering of seabirds and angled off in a different direction. The bird numbers actually diminished a bit so curiosity got the best of me. I looked at the images of the Murre and smaller bird and couldn't believe wat I was looking at in my camera review screen. What I thought was a fledgling Common Murre was actually an ANCIENT MURRELET!!  Talk about surprised and shocked! In a matter of thirty minutes and maybe an actual sea mile, two of the Alcid species I wanted to see in Alaska, seen here in Sitka! My day is now complete! 

   Unfortunately, most of these Wildlife Tour boats that we have been on here in Alaska, (as I mentioned earlier in my blog) don't really pay much attention to birds.....unless they are Puffins and I can understand why. Most people taking these trips want to see Whales, Sea Otter and Seals. And I understand that, and also take this as a great opportunity for birdwatching. I say this because as the Captain steamed towards the next destination, again the Alcid numbers picked up and no one was interested. 

    The area that the boat was traveling to was back towards the inner Islands to look for Sea Otters. That was fine with me because with every few hundred feet, more Auks appeared that were not overly occupied with Common Murres. 

     In an instance, a cluster of birds were getting closer to the boat as it moved forward. This cluster Alcids was (as it turned out) very special! It was a small group of Rhinoceros Auklets with a single HORNED PUFFIN hanging with them. It was a little amusing, I thought it was jus another Horned Puffin, I was excited about seeing more Rhino Auklets. Through the opened window, I showed the image to the Puffin to the naturalist and right after his comment of  holy crap, immediately, the boat slowed down! They were excited about the Puffin. Apparently, that was only the second time a Horned Puffin had been seen there in Sitka Sound this year. That species is very rare there (according to the naturalist). Tufted Puffins are more Common, but not Horned Puffins. And the fact that the Puffin was hanging-out with Rhino Auklets...... that was noteworthy! That was cool!

    While we were drifting so everyone could enjoy the Puffin (and the Auklets), without warning, Marbled Murrelets starting popping up from dives all around the boat. They were basically all over the place. Some were just below my feet , otters were a few yards out. Now that I have this opportunity to really observe and study them so close, they are really a small Alcid. They reminded me of a slightly longer and leaner Dovekie. Great birds, now I know why I am so fascinated with them! 

                               This Murrelet started gulping air.....I knew what was coming.........

       This is an interesting image..... you can see the Murrelet clearly visible just under the water's surface as it dives down to move away from the boat.

    In fact it seemed that we had found a spot favored by Marbled Murrelets........ they were everywhere around us. Earlier in the trip in Seward, I was hoping for the chance to observe and see Marbled Murrelets. I did happen, but nothing close to really get a sense of the bird and its anatomic features and life style. I think I had now found that place! 

    This Murrelet had probably tired of me taking its picture..........

       ........ and another Murrelet breaks the surface form a dive-

      Another pair of Marbled Murrelets over there trying their best to hide from us........

      I think they had enough fun for one day...........

   Since the Alcids were numerous again, and scattered on the water in all directions, my head was on a swivel.....and I loved every second of it! The boat slowly moved on heading towards an island that was now getting closer, a small group of Rhinoceros Auklets were having a casual swim yards off the starboard side of the boat. Great birds!!

     Its obvious why the Rhinoceros Auklet is referred to as the "fourth species of Puffin" as they clearly resemble a Puffin on profile and anatomy alone. 

    I had a little chuckle to myself. It was obvious that the path of the swimming Auklets and the forward progress of the boat were going to meet very soon. The Auklets just changed directions and swam back the way they came without missing a paddle stroke and not the least bit anxious about the boat.

     Rhinoceros Auklets were not only swimming near the boat, they were also flying. It gave me a good opportunity to study their flight movements and shapes.

   The distant islands and islets were getting closer, I had a feeling the Captain wanted to show us something when we got there. The number of Common Murre were increasing the closer we got to these islands. This Island was located just off the shores of the airport. I saw many Common Murre here.

   When we got close to the larger island, the Captain changed course to the northwest heading towards a few smaller islands and islets about a half mile away. On the way, another Marbled Murrelet was keeping company with a Common Murre. This is a good set of photos to show the size comparison of both species.

    For he last hour and a half it was an Alcid-fest for me, I had no idea that this trip would present me with all these valued little seabirds, more than I could ever have imagined or hoped for. And we still have an hour left! Soon the Captain had reached the inner islands and throttled back on the diesels. The boat came to a near stop and we just drifted about a hundred yards off this island.

    We had arrived. Outside the islands floating kelp blanketed the water with large matts of a green/brown color. In between the matts of kelp, a gathering of Sea Otters just lounged the morning away protected from the sea and waves by these floating matts. 

     The naturalist was checking to see if this was a gathering of males or females. The way you tell he explained, if there are any juveniles in the group, then all the Otters are female. If there are no young Otters, the Otters would be a gathering of males. He looked through his binoculars and announced, he had found young Otters.....its a group of females!

      

       PART BB will continue............ Sitka, leaving the Sea Otters behind and heading northwest!

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