The Marge of Lake Laberge. Yukon Territory, Canada.
Tim Troll & I found many hidden beauties and many blind allies that required backtracking in our 10-day wandering road trip on a 2700-mile exploration of the Yukon Territory and Alaska (Spetember 24-October 10)
Lake Laberge is a mysterious lovely lake, the scene for Robert Service’s poem:
The northern lights have seen queer sights, But the queerest they ever did see, Was that night on the marge of Lake Labarge I cremated Sam McGee…
Typical conversation:
Bill: “Stop here for a photo!” (screeching tires). “Where do you want to go now?”
“How about down the fork to the left?”
“Where does it go?”
“No idea, but it looks like the road heads toward the river.”
“Yeah, that sounds good… is there food? Never mind, we’ve got what we need.”
Brother-in-law Tim is an excellent voyaging companion.
And then, of course, there’s the chance that a raven will help point to the right path. (maybe?? or is it a trick?)
Steller’s Jay feeding 6-day-old chicks near our window today. Juneau, Alaska. The chicks lie silently in a pile at the bottom of the nest (see my gallery for photos of just-hatched chicks).
When the adult arrives at the nest, it gives a sharp chirp.
Suddenly the open mouths of the chicks appear above the rim of the nest cheeping for food.
Steller’s Jay feeds 6-day-old chicks
I’ve been very surprised that both parents forage for fairly long periods of time, leaving the nest unattended for 5 to 15 minutes or more.
The adult regurgitates food that it has eaten, often crushing it into smaller pieces, and then distributing.
The nestlings are extremely competitive and insistent, cheeping and jostling each other.
But the nest is deep, so at least for now, they don’t seem to in danger of falling out.
They continue to beg with upturned heads and cheeps after the adult is gone, so I don’t think their eyes are open, or at least that they have good sight. Then they settle back into a silent amorphous heap until the next food arrives.
Steller’s Jay – 4 Hatchlings just out of their eggs
4 Steller’s Jay Chicks hatched from eggs outside our window yesterday (May 4)!
Steller’s Jay (Cyanocitta stelleri). Juneau, Alaska.
Quick photo taken while female was away from nest to get food.
These are “hatchlings”. They do not have feathers or down, just bare skin.
Their eyes are still closed.
When they grow fine down and open their eyes in a few days, they will be called “nestlings”.
Steller’s Jay perches on our porch, guarding nest. Mount Jumbo (Mount Bradley) in background. Juneau, Alaska.
The male & female built their nest just 60 cm (24 inches) from our window on April 14.
Since then, the female has sat on the nest. She left sometimes to find food, but the male also helped feed her.
We can’t see into the dark nest, and it is highly backlit, so photography is difficult.
I bought a Selfie Stick (my first) that lets me extend my phone to the nest through our window.
I’m using my iphone & a Bluetooth remote trigger.
Uncle Bill and Aunt Kate have new family members!
Steller’s Jay (Cyanocitta stelleri): Cyanocitta is a genus in the same family as crows and ravens.refers tor the deep blue color.
“Stelleri” is for Georg Wilhelm Steller, a German botanist, zoologist, physician and explorer, who sailed with Vitus Bering on his 2nd voyage in 1741, pioneer of Alaskan natural history.
Steller’s name is attached to species as diverse as sea lions & this lovely jay.
The male & female built their nest just 60 cm (24 inches) from our window on April 14.
Since then, the female has sat on the nest. She left sometimes to find food, but the male also helped feed her.
We can’t see into the dark nest, and it is highly backlit, so photography is difficult.
I bought a Selfie Stick (my first) that lets me extend my phone to the nest through our window.
I’m using my iphone & a Bluetooth remote trigger.
Sunrise as Mt. Juneau (3,576 ft.; 1,090) m rises straight up from sea level to towers over Douglas Bridge.
The Mt. Juneau trail is a stiff climb, with option to follow the alpine ridgeline and descend using the Perseverance Trail (13-mile round trip).
Juneau & Douglas, Alaska were originally separate competing cities. Treadwell gold mine on Douglas Island, and the Alaska Juneau and Perseverance mines on the Juneau “mainland” (North American continent) were the largest hard rock gold mines in the world from the late 1880’s thru the first several decades of the 20th century.
The Douglas Bridge opened in 1980, replacing the first bridge (built in 1935. Juneau became Alaska’s state capitol in 1906. Juneau-Douglas unified into a single municipality in 1970.
Sunrise Fog-Gastineau Channel, Juneau, Alaska: CLICK PHOTO TO SEE VIDEO
Winter Sunrise: Gossamer cobwebs of mist rise from Gastineau Channel, floating south in the early morning air flow. View from the Douglas Bridge, that connects downtown Juneau to Douglas Island (see previous post for more about the bridge and cities).
The sun will rise another few degrees above the horizon, then drift west to disappear behind the Douglas Island mountains to the right by noon. A cloudless winter day, minus 5 C (23 F). Froze my fingers taking this vid.
Exposed tideflats provide food for Gulls and Shorebirds, Douglas Island, Alaska
It’s low tide: along the right side of the view, Douglas Island’s exposed tideflats show as a black shadow between the sunlit water and the snow above the high tideline. Gulls and shorebirds will be feeding here among the blue mussel-kelp beds, just as they do below the Douglas Bridge.
Dark, weighty clouds in the distance nearly hide the mountains of Admiralty Island. Although the wind is light here, the thinly banded clouds between the dark bank and the blue sky look like they could be shaped by higher winds, probably coming down Taku Inlet.
Sheep Creek Estuary at low tide. Gulls feeding on chum salmon eggs
Gulls feeding on salmon eggs and carcasses, Juneau, Alaska. Chum Salmon (aka “Dog Salmon”) and Pink Salmon (aka “Humpies”) spawning in Sheep Creek estuary. CLICK THE PHOTO BELOW TO SEE VIDEO: 10 seconds into video, a chum salmon with red and purple stripes thrashes into shallows. Past this chum salmon out in the channel, see the humped backs of pink salmon in spawning frenzy.
Gulls feeding on Chum Salmon eggs. CLICK IMAGE FOR VIDEO
Pinks and Chums are the only two species of salmon whose fry (newly hatched young) migrate immediately back to saltwater. They become “smolt”: their bodies and metabolism change so they can live in saltwater. The young of the other 3 species (Chinook, Coho, and Sockeye) stay in streams and lakes for 1 or more years before they go out to sea.
Once in the ocean, their life histories diverge. Pink salmon spend only 1 year feeding in saltwater, migrating back into the streams as 2-year-old adults, the smallest of the salmon at 2.2 kg (4.8 lbs.). Chum Salmon remain in the ocean for 2-4 years, so return as 3 to 5-year-olds. Their longer life of feeding and growing results in weights of 4.4 to 10.0 kg (9.7 to 22.0 lbs.)
The high protein-high fat salmon and their eggs are super-foods for predators like gulls, shorebirds, bears, and humans. As they die, the nutrients from their bodies feed aquatic and terrestrial plants and invertebrates from crab to insects in the Coastal Temperate Rainforest. These are critical habitats and migratory passages that require protection from pollutants, destruction, and blockage.
Kate Troll leans on stone chessboard in a pocket park off of Battery Park at the southern end of Manhattan Island, NY
Pocket Parks enrich a cityscape just as habitat diversity enriches a wild landscape. As Kate and I explored Manhattan for a few days, I tried to look at the cityscape through the eyes of NYC inhabitants. Impossible, of course. I won’t pretend that I know anything about cities from a city person’s perspective. In a sense I’m writing about something I know nothing about, and I’m sure I’ll prove it. I can only relate the city to my own experience.
A city is a landscape with habitats that support people, plants, and other animals. City habitats have their own energy, water, and food flow patterns; their own microclimates.
Intertidal Zonation provides diverse habitat for organisms like the Black Gumboot, barnacles & seaweed. Click image to go to detailed images and text: @bhfootloose Instagram
If you’ve followed me on Instagram (@bhfootloose), you know that I’m fascinated with habitat. Click the next two images if you want to learn more about the sea life that lives in habitats of the intertidal zone between high and low tide, or to read about the diverse plants in the small space at the base of a tree in the Southeast Alaska rainforest.
Moss and wood provide habitat for variety of plants. Click Image to read more at Instagram @bhfootloose
Walking with Kate through Battery Parkand along the esplanade at the edge of saltwater on the west shore of Manhattan Island, I began to think about how much value pocket parks add to the city. Pocket parks are tiny spaces dedicated to the enjoyment of everyone. They may look like a garden, with plants and soil, or they may display sculpture, offer benches to rest on, or perhaps chessboards for public use.
NYC Battery Urban Farm: How cool is this? Click image for more
And speaking of gardens, check out the image of the urban farm in Battery Park. I find it interesting that all of us can recognize one of these pocket parks when we see one. They contrast with the crammed buildings, the use of every square inch of space that defines a city, where land is astronomically expensive.
Diverse Wildlife Habitats: Open Muskeg with Forested Mountains in background
People live in habitats just like wild animals do. A diversity of habitats, makes a place attractive to a wider variety of people with their own needs, also similar to wildlife. It’s true, of course, that we must first fulfill our basic needs for food, water, and shelter. Beyond these, however different people have different needs. The closeness of city life may feel more secure than living and recreating in wild places. Or the reverse. People may seek solitude, a chance to be near birds and living plants, a meeting place for friends, enjoyment of art, a chance to relax… an infinite and personal list.
Like other public parks and facilities, pocket parks are for the PUBLIC, a critical concept. So much of the land, and structures of a city are privately owned. Pocket Parks belong to everyone, so they let each of us define them as a place of our own, shaped by and fulfilling our personal needs.
NYC Pocket Park: Louise Nevelson Plaza
What I heard from local residents and felt myself is that pocket parks made me happy. To walk along city streets of endless tall buildings without a gap except the streets, fully filled by stores and apartments, and then come upon a small open space with benches to sit on, perhaps with outdoor sculpture displayed, perhaps with nothing more than a shrubs and flowers (and inevitably birds and insects that I hadn’t seen for blocks), made me feel freedom, comfort, happiness.
So, my hat is off to every place that supports pocket parks. Thank you, NYC.
