Alaska's Bald Eagles -- Magnificent!

Sunday, 13 October 2013.  Continuing the blog entries to record our cruise up Alaska's Inside Passage..... In addition to the humpback whales we saw during our whale-watching cruise out of Auke Bay (near Juneau), our tour boat's keen-eyed skipper also spotted a couple excellent bald eagle photo-ops while we were scooting around the Bay looking for whales.  Think I captured several good shots of this most famous avian.  Wish we could have gotten closer, but believe my Canon EOS Rebel and telephoto lens did a pretty good job.  (Images of Auke Bay)

 I took this shot once I located this small island in Auke Bay that our skipper was yelling "Eagle dead-ahead."  Can you spot it?  I couldn't, even through my telephoto lens.

 We're getting closer; spot the eagle yet?

Okay, a keen-eyed Daniel Boone type might spot the eagle.  Look very closely, dead center, atop a rocky crag.  Look for the white bald head; a small white dot.

 Our skipper was very careful in maneuvering our boat so as not to startle this eagle as we got closer to this rocky island.  Ended up with some great photo-ops!

 Another good shot of this eagle.  He kept his back to us for most of our maneuvering; once in awhile I caught a profile, but not often.

Just as we were getting mesmerized by our lone eagle, here comes another one!  Can you spot it? Once I determined this second eagle would probably join his brother on the island, I just continued to "shoot" him till he landed.  Some great shots, as evidenced in the following pics.

Here's a close-up of the above pic.

 Now we have TWO eagles on our rocky island!

 Our skipper continued to slowly cruise around the small island that now had two eagles on it.  As we circled, he alerted us to another photo-op as the boat was going to align with a glacier in the distance with one of the eagles and a fishing boat in-between.  What a great shot!  

 Almost have the one eagle perfectly in line with the glacier.....Here's a close-up of this shot featuring the eagle, the fishing boat, and the glacier.

 A goof shot of both eagles with Alaska's awesome landscape as a backdrop.  Will end this eagle watching entry with two last shots of the eagles, seemingly together (not really, since our boat has continued to circle the small island; just looks that way).  Still, couple nice pics!

As our skipper finally decided to head back to our dock in Auke Bay -- and bring an end to our whale and eagle watching for the day -- his keen eyes spotted ANOTHER eagle on another rocky outcropping.  Can you spot it in the photo below?  Again, look for that white bald head (a white dot against the green forest background).  As you'll see in the following pics, our passing might have startled this eagle since it took off from its rocky perch and headed for the protective forest.  Caught him in flight.  You have to have good eyes -- the eagle is in flight for several shots -- but its there.  Jaw-dropping moment as I clicked away with my Canon.  Awesome day on Auke Bay!  Would do it again in a heartbeat!

 Getting ready to take-off.....

 And the eagle is off!

 Have to have a keen eye, but that eagle is there...in flight.  Left center, gray rocks as a background.  Look for that white "dot".....

 Eagle's wings are extended upward in this shot...Close-up photo of same pic is below.

 Wings are slightly down in this shot.  Eagle is positioned on the edge of the rocks and green grass.  Here's another close-up of the same shot.

Eagle is left center -- evergreen as background -- as it heads into the trees.  And here's one more close up of this guy disappearing into the forest.

Whale-watching out of Auke Bay, Juneau, Alaska -- Fantastic...incredible...unbelievable!!!

Sunday, 6 October 2013.  After visiting Mendenhall Glacier, we headed for Auke Bay to catch our tour boat for some whale-watching -- something both of us have been looking forward to since we booked this cruise.  The excursion package on the Golden Princess said the tour operator guaranteed that we would see whales or we'd get a refund of $100.  Believe I'd prefer to see some whales -- bring 'em on!

Just as a tease -- before posting some of the INCREDIBLE pics of the humpbacks we saw -- here's a shot of the just-as-awesome scenery in-and-around Auke Bay.  What a most beautiful landscape!

A fishing boat headed out of Auke Bay -- what incredible scenery!

 Our whale-watching boat is the one on the left.  Two decks, the top one wide-open, which is where I spent most of my time with my Canon EOS Rebel.

 Looking back at Auke Bay...Mendenhall Glacier is in the background.

Another whale-watching tour boat...a bit smaller than ours.

Our first sighting!  Boy, was I ever excited!  I managed to catch this humpback's fluke as it was headed down.  I've got some better fluke shots coming up.  

What's a fluke, you ask?  Well, so much diversity exists among whale species that some have only the most basic traits in common with others -- and flukes are among them. Flukes are the two lobes of the whale's tail. While each whale has flukes, flukes themselves differ from species to species. In some whale species, flukes are so distinctive researchers use them like fingerprints to identify individuals. On our whale-watching tour, our skipper spotted a female and immediately identified her as an individual that was born in Auke Bay, came back and eventually had her own baby, and has been coming back to the Bay each and every year for about 12 years.  We followed her around for about an hour -- and I got some great pics.

Here's a shot of that female as she surfaced to blow.  Pretty close to the boat, eh?  The skipper tipped us photo dogs off to the whale's routine.  Come up and blow about three times in a row.  Just a gentle roll (like in the pic).  About 2-3 minutes between rolls.  Usually after that third roll the whale would head deep and show its fluke.  Got some cool shots!  Check out the next two pics.

I really like this shot -- think I got it just right!

 One more fishing boat headed out into that awesome scenery!

A shot of our "sister" tour boat (same outfit) -- looking for humpbacks just like we were.  And there's another fishing boat in the background.

We also spotted several eagles during our day of whale-watching (I have a separate blog entry for all those pics),  and I thought I'd provide a "teaser" or two of the first one we spotted.  You can see the eagle hanging out on that small rock cropping, left of center.  Then I caught it as it took off!  Great shot!

 Thought I'd throw in a shot of a glacier that I spotted in the distance -- not sure of its name, but beautiful just the same.

Here's a trio of fluke shots that I think we some of the best ones I got all day.  Except for the ones at the end of this blog of a humpback feeding.

These next few shots show a humpback feeding.  Our skipper once again tipped us off to some birds that would gather above a humpback that was submerged and "blowing bubbles of air" up, pushing krill and other critters the humpback eats to the top of the water.  As the humpback got ready to surface, the birds would get all excited and dive almost into the jaws of the humpback as it opened its huge jaws to take in a gulp of krill.  Pretty neat thing to watch, let me tell you.

 Humpback's mouth wide open at this point.

 Humpback finishing its big gulp and crashing back into the water.

Humpback about to crash back into the water!  Incredible scene to watch!

Whale breaching.  Scientists aren't sure why whales breach (jump out of the water), but humpbacks do it with some frequency.  Our skipper was just as excited as we were when this humpback breached not far from our tour boat.  And it happened so fast that all I got was the last little bit of the whole thing.  But still pretty exciting to witness and we were all talking about it as we headed home for the day. 

Last sequence of this whale-watching blog entry.  On our way back to the dock in Auke Bay, we spotted one more humpback close to the shoreline of a small island.  Our skipper said the waters drop off fairly steeply from the shore line, so the humpback can come fairly close to the shore.

So, that's it.  Pretty incredible, yes?  We thoroughly enjoyed our full day of sightseeing at Mendenhall Glacier and then whale-watching out of Auke Bay.  If any of our blog readers ever get to this part of Alaska, and especially the Juneau area, do yourself a big favor and book a whale-watching tour.  You will be treated to not only some spectacular scenery, but also some of Alaska's most breathtaking wildlife.