Yogi Bear left me a present and an Arctic tern did not like me near their nests........ HIKE #1

Last night I went on my first hike out to Ocean Cape ~ 12 miles round trip.  The duo hike was with Matthias Breiter, bear biologist/photographer/author.  We left at 1730 and arrived back at 0000 EXACTLY; it wasn't even dark outside!  I could see everything!!

I told my students' I would take pictures of bears; no bears yet, but scat from some cubbies.....  I'm certainly not going to push the process of seeing a bear!  But, I can't wait until I do!

I learned a lot from Matthias about bears; he's been a bear biologist for 20 years!  Only pregnant female polar bears hibernate; bears have an uncommon pregnancy in that after fertilization the zygote doesn't "start to develop" for a period of time.  Most bear species have 3 cubs (avg. is 2.3 grizzly's and 2.1 polar bears); pregnancy period is about 3 months for momma bear; cubs are born about 3-5 lbs and gain up to 15-20 lbs in 3 months (polar bear cubs are usually bigger and gain mass faster).

We then ventured out onto an old road built by the US military during WWII to watch out for the Japanese.  There I saw my first marine animal, an invertebrate sea star.

Next to the peninsula point, at the end of Phipps Peninsula to check out some tern nests.  Two types of tern birds nest here; and their is a HUGE concentration of them.  They are the Arctic and Aleutian terns.  They work together in a symbiotic relationship to protect each other's nests.  The Arctic terns are a lot more aggressive if you get near their nests; I got some dive bombing Arctic terns come way too close; but in their defence I was near their nests! 

GET AWAY!

"I'm sleepy"

"My, friend, Gummy"

"I'm ready to join the world!"

I ate my first edibles yesterday at the beach; oysterleaf (pictured above with the Arctic tern eggs) and beach green.  Not too shabby!  

Now below is why I think birdies exist (bird enthusiasts):  as we were going up to this next chick a semipalmated plover bird started coming over to us.  And to distract us from the nest she pretended to be injured to lure us away from the chick.  She faked an injury to save the chick!  SO COOL!!!!!

"I'm hurt, come get me!"

Below is some tracks from a bunch of sea otters; no luck in seeing any yet, but otters always make me smile!  I agree with the first scientists who entered Alaska, Georg Steller, when he wrote in 1792 "Altogether [the sea otter is ] a beautiful and pleasing animal.... cunning and amusing in its habits, and at the same time ingratiating and amorous.  They prefer to lie together in families, the male with its mate, the half-grown young and the very young sucklings all together."

Now onto the scenery: a ferry comes into Yakutat to bring visitors and below is a picture of the ferry with a backdrop of St. Elias Mountains. I haven't been able to get a great view of the mountain range since the weather has been too rainy... just have to be patient!