Tag Archives: Bears

Look Around You

Living in the wilderness on Kodiak Island, , , , ,

Look at the cloud-draped mountains, the small buck prancing through our backyard, or the eagle standing watch in the tree. Did you see the brightly colored puffin, or the sea otter lounging on her back, her baby nestled on her stomach? Did you notice the seals hauled out on the beach, two of them bloody from fighting, or did you stay up late one night to watch a beautiful Alaska sunset?

As many of you know, my husband and I own a small wilderness lodge on Kodiak Island, Alaska. In the summer, we take guests wildlife viewing and sportfishing, with an emphasis on watching Kodiak bears in their natural habitat. One thing I have noticed over the years is the guests who have the best time at our lodge are those who see everything. They are the ones who show me their photos at the end of the day and are embarrassed by all the images of rock formations they snapped. They are also the ones who admit they didn’t take any pictures of the whales because they just wanted to look, listen, smell, and feel the experience instead of watching it all through their camera’s viewfinder.

The guest who sheds a few tears when she talks about a bear splashing in the water twenty feet from her and the guest who was thrilled by watching through binoculars from a distance as a sow interacted with her three cubs are the guests we will see again. They will return in a year or two or ten because they won’t be able to get the sights, the sounds, or the smells of this beautiful place out of their heads.

Nearly 75% of our guests this summer were returnees, and many of them have been to our lodge multiple times. They’ve been here when the bear viewing was spectacular, and when bears were scarce. They’ve been here during great fishing years and years when the fish were slow to bite, and some years they’ve seen whales, while other years they haven’t. They’ve braved storms and basked in the sun. They’ve seen it all, but they keep returning because they have never focused on just one thing and lost sight of the big picture.

One guest this summer who has been here multiple times told me she and her husband have never had a rainy day here. I’m sure she must be either extremely lucky or mistaken, but I love that she and her husband only remember the sunshine!

No matter where you travel or what adventure you seek, if you narrow your focus too much, you will miss what is right in front of you. Instead, look around, and you might be surprised by what you see. The things that please you most and makes you fall in love with a destination could be something entirely different from what you were expecting.

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Robin Barefield is the author of three Alaska wilderness mystery novels, Big Game, Murder Over Kodiak, and The Fisherman’s Daughter. To download a free copy of one of her novels, watch her webinar about how she became an author and why she writes Alaska wilderness mysteries. If you like audiobooks, check out her audiobook version of Murder Over Kodiak. Also, sign up below to subscribe to her free, monthly newsletter on true murder and mystery in Alaska.

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Springtime on Kodiak

Kodiak Wildlife, Living in the wilderness on Kodiak Island, , , , , ,

Kodiak Bear Sow and Cub

I’m sitting next to the heater and looking out the window at a blizzard, so it seems strange to write a post about spring.  I know, though, that over the next few weeks, spring will unfold in this corner of the world, and springtime on Kodiak is spectacular.  It is, without question, my favorite time of the year.  True, the weather is much nicer in the summer, but nothing can compare to the awakening of nature that spring brings.

All I have to do is look out the front window or walk out into the yard to watch the breath-taking aerobatics of mating bald eagles.  On the beach, I can see raucous, funny black oystercatchers, squawking and strutting to protect their territories.  The black-legged kittiwakes arrived yesterday at their rookery in front of our home, and the Arctic terns should arrive in the next two weeks.  We will soon begin seeing horned and tufted puffins paddling through the water and launching their fat little bodies into the air for their short, awkward flights.  Of course bears will be leaving their dens, and before too long, we hopefully will catch a glimpse of a sow with tiny, newborn cubs.

Fin Whale near Kodiak Island

All of this is fantastic to see, but perhaps the most amazing displays of spring occur in the ocean.  As the sea temperature slowly rises, phytoplankton bloom, providing a food supply for spawning zooplankton. Soon, the ocean is full of these small crustaceans that provide a food, for everything from herring to whales.  Spring is also when adult herring return to the marshy heads of bays to spawn and lay their eggs on eel grass and other plants.  It seems as if overnight we begin seeing masses of zooplankton washed up on our beach and notice huge schools of herring in the bay, and following the herring and zooplankton are fin whales, humpbacks, and other whales, along with seals and sea lions.  Some years we even see Orcas chasing and feeding on the oil-rich herring.  There are days in the spring when the last sounds I hear before I fall asleep at night and the first sounds I hear when I awake in the morning are whales blowing.  Life doesn’t get much better than that.

Over the next few weeks, I plan to go into more detail about springtime on Kodiak Island.  How do eagles court and mate, and when will their chicks hatch?  What do bears do when they first come out of their dens?  When do the Sitka black-tailed deer give birth to their fawns, and when are red fox kits born?  I’ll also let you know about the whales and other wildlife we see and tell you a bit more about Arctic terns and some of the other birds in our neighborhood.  The snow is relentless today, but I’m certain spring is around the corner!

Please let me know if there is any particular Kodiak animal you would like me to cover.