Alaska's Winter Horizon

Alaska's Winter Horizon

Monday, February 25, 2013

Fur Rondy begins!

Remember to click on the pictures to make them larger.

Fur Rendezvous began Friday here in Anchorage. There is always so much to see and do during this celebration. Saturday morning we got up to watch the Frostbite Footrace.
 Most people come dressed in costumes to run this race.
I was quite pleased to see some of the Teletubbies come out of retirement to race.
 Even Santa Claus and a gingerbread man made the run.








That night the fireworks show began about 6:45.
 As you can tell from the photos, it had begun to snow pretty steadily by that time.
The show lasted about 20 minutes and featured some really beautiful displays.
Sunday afternoon we watched the sled dog races for a bit.
 Today was the last day of the three day event. These teams were flying down the street!

These are sprint races, so the quicker- the better.



They are surprisingly quiet as they run and quite interesting to watch.

Monday, February 18, 2013

Great Bear Stakeout/Katmai Trip

 
We received many visitors to our site that arrive here by searching for "The Great Bear Stakeout."










The Great Bear Stakeout is a BBC production with conservationist and ecologist Chris Morgan.












 We met Chris and the film crew on our trip to Hallo Bay, Katmai National Park last June. A few people have asked in our comment section if we had more pictures of Chris and crew from that trip.
So, here are the rest of the photos we captured that day featuring Chris and his team.
We also have somewhat of an update as to when the show may air. According to a post by Great Bear Stakeout member Buck Wilde, the show should air to BBC and BBC World audiences sometime this spring. Those of us in the US should see the show on the Discovery Channel late in the summer. Chris is a great presenter and we can't wait to see the show.

Sunday, February 10, 2013

February 10

Be sure to click on the pictures to make them larger.
Saturday morning while I was making breakfast, Greg happened to notice a group of birds in a mountain ash tree.

He grabbed the binoculars and identified them as Bohemian Waxwings. 
He had been waiting  a year to get a chance to photograph them again.

 He quickly got dressed, grabbed the camera, and checked the tree again only to realize they were gone! Thinking that they may still be near, he headed out anyway.
Before getting a block away from the apartment, he found them again in another mountain ash tree.









He got busy snapping pictures- taking 107 pictures! Here are some of the better photos.








These birds travel in nomadic groups and breed in the northernmost coniferous forests of Europe, Asia, and western North America.










Their diet consists mainly of berries.
I know this little guy isn't a waxwing, but he was just too cute to leave out!


Sunday, February 3, 2013

February 3

Greg's work detail at Campbell Creek Science Center ended Friday. He heads back to his usual job on Monday.  Here are a few pictures of the center that Greg took while photographing one of their environmental education programs.
 Notice the ice shelter the students built in this photo.
My class went on this field trip last year and it was 6 below 0 that day!
 










 
The last several days the high temps have been in the low 30s. So this weekend we took advantage of that and got out and about for a bit.
 We stopped by Cheney Lake and watched some ice skaters.