Monday, May 10, 2010

Photos from our latest kayaking trip

Dunlin


Brown Bear


Semipalmated plovers


Lesser yellowlegs


Whimbrel


Wandering tattlers


Rock ptarmigan


Rock ptarmigan


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Saturday, November 14, 2009

Mines in Prince William Sound

There are a bunch of interesting mines in Prince William Sound. They're fun to explore, although sometimes made even more interesting by rotten timbers and caved-in roofs.


Oh, and they're always more or less flooded:


This is a cool stamp mill:


There are also little ore carts abandoned all over the place:


An old boiler:


Another ore cart:


Sometimes it's just downright sketchy - and fun!!!


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Walking around in Prince William Sound

Here are some pictures of hiking during last summer's kayaking trip in Prince William Sound.





Kayaking pictures from Prince William Sound

This is fairly self-explanatory: here are some pictures of kayaking in Prince William Sound last summer.


I actually climbed onto this iceberg and did a crazy-fast seal launch off it!


Sea lions are curious there too, but by and large they left us alone more than in Sitka.


Cool rocks!


We got salmon twice from fishing boats. Quite the feast!


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Thursday, October 22, 2009

Kayaking in Prince William Sound

Hello! Here are some random pictures from Prince William Sound, where Cathy and Steve and myself went kayaking in June. The pictures came out small, but deal with it...




Andromeda polyfolia












Boschniakia rossica












Fritillaria camschatcensis









Our state bird! The willow ptarmigan - Lagopus lagopus










Black oystercatcher

Haematopus bachmani







Melibe leonina









Metridium farcimen








Musculus discors










Nuphar luteum

Monday, September 21, 2009

List of the Birds of Titicaca / Lista de las Aves del Titicaca

I decided to use Google Doc as a test for one of my classes, and here is a worthwhile text for that application: the two-part list of the birds of the Reserva Nacional Del Titicaca, which I made last winter (boreal winter, that is):

Part 1

Part 2

And here's the paper I wrote about that:

Informe de Voluntariado RNT

Monday, September 14, 2009

Some Mexican birds

Okay, so I am incredibly far behind. I'll just blame this crazy summer for my delays in updating this blog. Now that fall is upon us and things get dreary, it's easier to find time to do this chore, but it's also a little sad to think back. Here's some birds - that's pretty fun and harmless. How about we start with the bat falcon Falco rufigularis?


If you've ever been wildlife-watching in tropical rainforests, you'll know just how incredibly hard it can be to see anything at all, and to know what you're looking at. Toucans, at least, make it easier by hanging out in clearings and making funny noises. This is Ramphastos sulfuratus, the keel-billed toucan.


And then, the tropics are also filled with birds from genera that I don't even know exist. The yellow-throated clorophonia, for example, may have been a beetle for all I knew. It turned out to be a cool little bird of the understory, Euphonia hirundinacea.


And this woodpecker is more of a variation on a familiar theme. The lineated woodpecker Dryocopus lineatus, looks much like the pileated woodpecker, except for its streaked chest and white stripes on the back.


Here's another very tropical bird, the red-legged honeycreeper Cyanerpes cyaneus.


This one is pretty common and familiar, but usually they've eluded me throught the tangle of vegetation. It's the groove-billed ani, Crotophaga sulcirostris.


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