Life on the Outer Coast

July 4th

The flotilla left Swanson Harbor at 7am for Bartlett Cove. Left very early because of the very low tide that might be an issue for the boats on the shore side of the float. Emmelina, Jordan and I traveled on board the Majestic Eagle. Permits have been obtained for the four client boats to enter the park, but the permit for Deception isn't availabale until the 6th of July.

The weather in Icy Strait was very calm, with low clouds and occasional rain. We sat up on the fly bridge for the first couple of hours until the cold got to us. Near Pleasant Island the birds and marine mamals sightings increased (scads of Marbled murrelets). Most of the humpbacks were seen in the distance toward Pt. Adolphus. Did see one Minke whale relatively close. The dorsal fin was very curved and more prominant than that of a humpback. Also saw Sea otters, Harbor seals and Steller's sea lions along the way.

Other birds along the way: Common Murres, Pigeon Guillemots, Fork-tailed Storm petrels, 2 Common loons, 2 Common mergansers, Phalaropes (disputed the species), Parasitic Jaeger, Bonapartes Gulls, Black-legged Kittiwakes, and one or two Herring Gulls.

We completed our radio check in with the park service required for a boat to enter Glacier Bay. Proceeded to Barlett Cove dock to attend an orientation presentation. Arrived and tied up at the dock at 1pm. Many Barn swallows were flying over the dock. They were flying low over the dock feasting on the abundant insects. They seem to be nesting under the large pier adjacent to the dock, at least the noise coming from under the pier sounded like begging juveniles.

After the orientation and checking into the lodge, several of us walked the Barlett River trail (about 2.5 miles one way). Bartlett River is a 14 mile long river running through the relatively mature Sitka spruce/western hemlock forest. It turned out to be a good day for wildlife.

Walked out of the front door of the lodge, down the access road and out of the woods came a young, but rather large moose. As soon as it saw us, it turned and ran down the road and into the woods again.

Saw lots of Black bear and moose scat along the trail, but the highlight was at long last seeing a Short-tailed weasel.

Emmelina (leading the pack) heard an odd sound or saw some movement beside the trail and found a dead vole on its back on the boardwalk cross beam. We heard some insistant sounding squeaking from close by (under the boardwalk)and decided to walk on just a bit to see if the animal would come back for its dinner. We moved about 5 steps down the path and a very small, lean and long weasel peeked out from under the boardwalk. It squeeked a few more times, grabbed the vole and squeeked some more. It didn't run off right away, but moved from about a foot or so and squeeked at us again (actually did this a couple of times) then ran off with the vole in its mouth. Squeek isn't a very good description, but it sounded alot like a mink.

It seemed rather like it was letting us know that we had seriously interfered with its dinner plans. Glad that weasels aren't the size of dogs or it would have eaten all of us.

The open meadow near the trail end had an interesting mix of plants including; Fragaria chiloensis, Equisetum arvense, Platanthera dilatata, Lupinus nootkatensis, Triantha glutinosa, Hedysarum alpinum (earlier thought it was a weird Astragalus), and Eriophorum chamissonis.

There were a variety of colors of Castilleja blooming along the meadow. Not sure if they are hybrids or just normal color variation in Yellow paintbrush. The key differences between Red and Yellow Paintbrush seem a little nebulous. Yellow Paintbrush has yellow or yellow-orange bracts with obtuse to round tips and Red Paintbrush has red (rarely yellow) bracts obtuse to acute tips. So what to do with the obtuse yellow orange paintbrush?

The photo of Bartlett river is courtesy of a fellow traveler, Buster Hoffmaster.