Tag Archives: Robin Barefield

The History of the Relationship between Humans and Kodiak Bears

Kodiak Bear, Kodiak Wildlife, , ,

According to archaeological evidence, Kodiak Island has been inhabited by humans for the last 7500 years, and bears were already on the island when humans arrived. The earliest human occupants are referred to as the Ocean Bay tradition, and while little is known about the relationship Ocean Bay people had with bears, bear bones have been found in archaeological digs of sites dating from this period, indicating they did hunt bears. Interestingly, though, few bear skulls have been found in excavations of Ocean Bay sites, suggesting that the head may have been left in the field as part of a ceremonial practice or a sign of respect for the animal. If the Ocean Bay culture was similar to other early northern cultures, then it is likely bears were revered and perhaps even viewed as emissaries between man and the spirit world.

The Ocean Bay tradition lasted 4000 years and was replaced by the Kachemak tradition which lasted approximately 3200 years and was gradually replaced, beginning 900 years ago, by Alutiiq (Koniag) society. As time progressed, the human population on Kodiak grew, and conflicts between humans and bears undoubtedly increased as well. Excavations at Koniag village sites uncovered a greater number of bear skulls than were found in more ancient sites, indicating either bears were more heavily hunted, or the humans had abandoned the practices that forbade bringing skulls into the villages.

Russian explorers arrived on Kodiak in the early 1760s, and while the Russians were impressed by the huge bears inhabiting the archipelago, their main interest was harvesting sea otters and shipping the valuable pelts to China. Bears were also hunted, but a bear hide was only worth two percent as much as a sea otter pelt. Once the Russians depleted the sea otter population, they more actively sought out other fur-bearing animals including bears, and between 1821 and 1842, 268 bear hides per year were shipped from the Alaska colonies. In 1867, the United States purchased Alaska from Russia, and the brown bear harvest more than doubled, with an average of 548 hides shipped per year from 1867 to 1880.

Russians brought livestock to Kodiak, and when bears began killing the livestock, especially cattle, they were considered a nuisance to be eliminated. At nearly the same time, more efficient methods of fishing by commercial fishing operations on the island led to a depletion of salmon stocks and created greater competition between humans and bears for the fish. Although the U.S. government never set an official bounty on bears as they did on eagles and Dolly Varden, bears were routinely shot, and some canneries offered private bounties on bears.

The Boone and Crockett Club, a wildlife conservation organization, was formed in 1887, and one of its goals was to work for the preservation of wild game in the United States. Thanks to the efforts of the Boone and Crockett Club, the Game and Wild Bird Preservation and Disposition Act, or the Lacey Act as it is commonly called, was signed into law in 1900. This important law provided the first legal protection for wildlife, including the Kodiak bear, in the U.S.

When exotic big-game hunters learned about the huge bears on Kodiak Island, many journeyed to Kodiak in pursuit of a trophy, and the Kodiak bear gained a reputation as one of the ultimate trophy animals in the world. As interest in guided Kodiak bear hunts increased, the Alaska territorial government set strict limits on commercial hunting and selling of bear hides. In 1925, the Alaska Game Commission required any nonresident hunter in Alaska to be accompanied in the field by a registered big-game guide. In the late 1920s and 1930s, commercial and sport hunting were strictly regulated on Kodiak, while shooting bears to protect cattle was not only encouraged but was government sanctioned.

On August 19th, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 8857, creating the Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge which encompassed Uganik Island and most of the southwestern portion of Kodiak Island. The purpose of the refuge was to preserve the natural feeding and breeding range of the Kodiak bear and other wildlife.

Throughout the 1940s and 1950s, cattle ranchers and those involved in the salmon industry fought for stricter predator-control measures against Kodiak bears, while bear hunters and conservationists from across America voiced loud opinions against the concept of bear control, alarmed that the Kodiak bear could easily be wiped out in a few years. After considering all opinions, the Alaska Game Commission in the late 1950s opted against any form of bear control and did not increase the length of the hunting season on Kodiak.

This interesting, complex relationship between humans and bears continues to this day. I’ll tell you more about this relationship over the next two weeks, beginning with the battle between ranchers and Kodiak bears in the 1960s.

As always, I would love to hear your comments and opinions. If you would like to receive my free newsletter on true murder and mystery from Alaska, sign up on the following form.

My publisher recently released a webinar about how I became a published author and why I write Alaska wilderness mysteries. I invite you to watch it and to download a free copy of one of my novels at the end of the webinar. The link is: http://bit.ly/2pcCOo6 .

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Kodiak Bear Cubs

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A Kodiak bear cub fetus develops for only two-and-one-half months, so the cubs are very underdeveloped when they are born. No other mammals except marsupials have such immature offspring at birth. The cubs weigh 1/400 to 1/1000 of what they will weigh as adults. If the same were true for humans, a grown man might weigh as much as 8000 lbs. Cubs are born at such a premature stage of development because the mother must provide nutrients for her unborn young while she is in hibernation and not eating. She provides these nutrients by breaking down her body protein, which causes her to lose muscle mass. If she carried the cubs longer, she would lose too much muscle mass and would not be able to move by the end of hibernation. While a shorter gestation period produces underdeveloped cubs, the mother maintains enough physical strength to be able to care for her offspring. Cubs continue to develop after they are born.

At birth, brown bear cubs are nearly helpless. They can detect temperature changes and move closer to their mother to seek warmth, and they are also able to find the sow’s nipples to nurse. They weigh about one pound (.5 kg) and are blind, deaf, and unable to smell. They are covered by a fine hair and are toothless, weak, and uncoordinated.

A brown bear sow has three pairs of nipples. She may nurse on her side in the den but normally nurses in a sitting or partially-reclined position after emerging from the den. A bear’s milk contains an average of 33% fat, as compared to human milk which contains 3.5% fat. Bear’s milk consists of 11 to 15% protein and 0.3 to 0.6% carbohydrates. Due to this diet of rich milk, brown bear cubs grow rapidly.

A cub’s eyes open about four weeks after birth, and he begins to walk at six weeks. A Kodiak bear cub’s weight doubles every two months during the first year. The cubs are completely dependent on nursing for 24 weeks and may continue to nurse for as long as 82 weeks.

On Kodiak, most cubs stay with their mothers for three years, and nearly half of all Kodiak bear cubs die before they leave their mothers. Causes of death range from starvation, accidental separation from their mother, deliberate abandonment by their mother, fights with other bears, accidents, and infanticide, most often, but not always, by large boars.

Researchers have postulated that the reason for infanticide, the killing of the young of one’s species, is so the male can eliminate the offspring of another male, bring the female into estrus, mate with her, and pass along his genes to the next generation. While this theory might prove true for some species, it doesn’t make sense for bears. For one thing, bears are seasonal breeders in the spring, but boars often kill cubs in the summer when the female cannot go into estrus again. During the mating season, a boar would have to kill all the cubs in the litter for the mother to go into estrus, and even then, the female would not become sexually receptive for several weeks. Unless he waited around for the sow to be ready to mate again, the boar who killed the cubs probably would not be the bear who eventually mates with the mother. Also, females are sometimes the perpetrators of infanticide.

A friend of mine saw a large male bear walk up to a den, stick his head in the den, pull out a cub, shake it to death, and continue on his way. It is difficult to coordinate the actions of that boar with any biological theory. We humans often feel the need to understand the purpose behind every animal behavior, yet we do many things with little or no purpose in mind.

Next week I’ll write more about bear biology and behavior. Please let me know if you have any questions or comments.

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How Large is a Kodiak Bear’s Home Range?

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Brown bears are not considered territorial, but they do have home ranges. A home range is a geographical area a bear inhabits over the course of a year. The ranges of separate bears overlap and vary in size depending on several factors. The ranges tend to be smaller in regions with abundant food and where the food supply is near denning habitat. Kodiak bears have smaller home ranges than most other brown bear populations in North America because of the abundant food supply on the island. Males tend to have larger home ranges than females, and home ranges may increase in the fall when there is less food available, and bears are attempting to build their fat reserves for the winter. Home ranges of females on Kodiak average 50 sq. mi. (130 km²), while the ranges of males average 97 sq. mi. (250 km²).

Several scientific studies have been conducted on Kodiak to understand home ranges and the movements of bears relative to salmon runs and food sources. Studies near Karluk Lake show bears move extensively between different drainages and often time their arrival at a particular stream to exactly coincide with the arrival of the salmon run for the stream. This would not be so exceptional if the salmon returned at the same time every year, but the runs often vary by several weeks from year to year.

 

Recent research by Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge biologist William Leacock and his team provided detailed information on the daily movements of radio-collared bears in the Karluk drainage. During 2010 and 2011, this team fitted eight female bears with GPS collars that broadcasted information at one-hour intervals. This information allowed the researchers to track not only the seasonal movement but the daily and even hourly movements of these bears and to coordinate their travels in response to food sources and bedding areas. Some surprising results emerged from this study, and what struck me was how much the movement patterns, home ranges, and bedding habits varied from sow to sow. This study, as well as any, points out that bears, like humans, are individuals and one bear may have a very different behavior pattern from another bear.

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As always, I welcome your comments on this or any other post. I love to hear what you think.

Be sure to watch my webinar about how I became a published author and why I write Alaska wilderness mysteries. I think you will enjoy the beautiful photos taken by my husband Mike and my friend Ryan Augustine. Stay until the end, and you will receive a coupon for a free e-book of one of my novels. The link is: http://bit.ly/2pcCOo6  

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Why Do Salmon Jump And Other Questions

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Why do salmon jump?

This is the question our guests most frequently ask about salmon as they watch fish pop out of the water around them. The answer is: no one knows. Some speculate salmon jump to loosen their eggs from the membrane encasing them, but males also jump, so this reasoning doesn’t work. Another explanation is they jump to catch flying insects, but their jumping behavior increases in frequency as they near their spawning stream at the same time their digestive system is shutting down and they stop feeding, so this explanation also is not valid.

I like to tell our guests the salmon they see jumping are teenagers. As a salmon prepares to spawn, its hormones rage and its body changes color and shape. These jumping fish are the equivalent of a human teenager, so they act like teenagers. While this explanation is always good for a laugh, there is no scientific evidence to support it.

My opinion, for what it’s worth (and not much, since there is also no scientific evidence to support this), is salmon have evolved to jump because jumping is beneficial to their survival. Salmon that have inherited the genetic characteristic to jump when they near their home stream are more likely than those who cannot jump to make it upstream and spawn. They then pass along this trait to jump to their offspring. Evolution has selected this jumping trait. Most salmon spawn in small streams and they must navigate shallow water, rapids, and sometimes even waterfalls. If they couldn’t jump, many salmon would never make it to their spawning grounds. Again, this explanation is only my opinion, but I believe it has some merit.

The correct answer to the question, “Why do salmon jump?” is: no one knows.

Do all salmon return to spawn in the same river or stream in which they were born?

No. A small percentage of salmon spawn somewhere other than where they were born. This behavior is called “straying,” and it is adaptive because it allows salmon to colonize streams that do not currently have a salmon population. It also allows salmon to spawn somewhere if the stream where they were born no longer exists. Pink salmon and chum salmon both often spawn close to the mouths of small streams. If these streams are diverted by winter storms, as often happens, the returning salmon will stray to a nearby stream.

When a salmon returns from the ocean, how does it find its spawning stream?

Salmon must navigate a long distance from the open ocean to their spawning stream. Evidence shows they use magnetic cues, the position of the sun, and day length to know when to begin their migration back to their natal stream and how to get there. Once salmon near and enter fresh water, scientists think they use their sense of smell to find not only their home stream or river but the specific tributary or area of the river where they were born. Juvenile salmon imprint on the unique chemical signatures of the waters where they were born and occupied as fry as well as on the waters they migrated through to get to the ocean. When they return to spawn, they follow this chemical smell back to where they were born.

How many salmon eggs hatch, develop, and return as adults to spawn?

Salmon have tough lives. From the egg stage, until they spawn and die, they are a food source for a wide variety of fish, birds, and mammals, including man. Biologists estimate 1 in 1000 eggs will develop, find their way to the ocean, swim back to their natal stream, and spawn. Depending on the species and the age of the fish when she spawns, a female salmon lays between 1000 and 6000 eggs, so the survival rate is not good.

I hope I’ve answered a few of your questions about the amazing Pacific salmon. Next week, I will tackle a big question. What is the difference between Atlantic and Pacific salmon?

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If you haven’t seen my webinar on how I became an author and why I write Alaska wilderness mysteries, this is the link: http://bit.ly/2pcCOo6. If you like it, please share it with your friends. The free book offer is sincere, and there is no catch. Also, please sign up for my free, monthly newsletter about true murder and mystery in Alaska. This month I am writing about the Fairbanks Four. Four young men spent 18 years in prison for a murder they didn’t commit. 

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Welcome, 2018

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

I am excited to welcome 2018 and not at all sad to leave 2017 behind me. Do you wish you could see into the future? I certainly would not want that ability. I looked back at the post I wrote a year ago, and I was so enthusiastic and excited about what I would accomplish in 2017. I had no idea I would spend most of the year sick, weak and in pain, and I had no clue my brother, uncle, and cousin would pass away in 2017. I would not have wanted to know any of these things on January 1st, 2017.

New Year’s Day is a time for planning, dreaming, and looking forward. Life happens, and plans get derailed by sickness, death, and catastrophes, but still, the ability to plan and dream is a luxury, and I know I am extremely fortunate to live someplace where I can indulge in that luxury. I think about people who live in extreme poverty or war-torn countries. What are their dreams when they know their situation is unlikely to improve in the coming year? What is New Year’s Day like for them? For me, 2018 is shiny and bright and full of possibilities. I am very lucky.

My health is improving with every passing day.  I am regaining my strength, and my muscles are slowly returning to life. Before long, I will be able to exercise again, and then I will have more energy and a sharper mind (I hope!). I often have been told to appreciate my health, but I don’t think I gave it a second thought until now. I won’t take my health for granted again.

I checked my resolutions from the post I wrote last year to see what I did and did not accomplish. I wanted to publish my third novel, and I did. The Fisherman’s Daughter is now available at online booksellers. I hoped to finish and edit my wildlife book, and I accomplished half of that resolution. I finished the book, but I haven’t edited it yet. I hope to tackle the big job of editing it this winter. I resolved to work on the camp cookbook, but I didn’t do much on it. I also resolved to have the rough draft of my fourth novel written, but nope, I haven’t done that either.

So, what have I done? Editing The Fisherman’s Daughter took much longer than I anticipated, and while I hate to blame anything on my health, it took its toll. I only had enough energy for my job, my blog posts, my newsletter, and editing. I did write approximately 20,000 words of my next novel, and I know the story I want to tell. I am excited about the novel I call Karluk Bones, and I think it will be a good story. I am working on it again now, so I’m sure I will finish it in a few months, and I hope to have it published sometime in 2018.

I have written enough Mystery Newsletters about true crime in Alaska to compile them into a book, and I hope to self-publish my true-crime book this year and offer it free to my newsletter subscribers. If I finish my true crime book, my wildlife book, and another novel, I could publish three books in 2018. I may be dreaming, but I think it is good to dream.

As a nice surprise this year, my publisher started a website called Author Masterminds: https://authormasterminds.com where I and some of his other authors can sell our books. I have my personal information on my author page, so if they want to, readers can contact and correspond with me. The site is also an easy place for authors to discount their books and run promotions. I think the site has a great deal of potential, and I am anxious to explore and spend more time on it in the next few months. It is not easy to be a successful author in today’s marketplace, but so far, I still think it is possible. I still have that dream!

My publisher also created a webinar for me about how I became a published author, and soon it will be ready for you to see. I used Mike’s gorgeous wildlife photos and my friend Ryan Augustine’s amazing photos and videos to create the webinar, so I am very happy with the way it turned out. If you want to take a quick trip to the wilderness of Alaska, I think you’ll enjoy the show.

I wish you a happy 2018. May you have good health, happiness, and love, and may you never stop dreaming.

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Happy Holidays

Living in the wilderness on Kodiak Island, , , ,

 

Happy Holidays! I hope you are enjoying a festive or peaceful holiday season. I know some enjoy the hustle and bustle of the holidays while others seek peace. My holidays are very quiet, and I enjoy the peace.

This is the season when I have time to write and indulge myself in a few hobbies. Of course, I also have plenty of work to do this time of year, but I do it on my schedule.

So far, our winter has been wet, windy and warm. The weather has not lured me outdoors for a hike, but I’m happy to have warm weather, even if it is stormy. When the weather is warm, we don’t have to worry about our water line freezing, and more importantly, we don’t have to watch the deer struggle to stay warm and finally die from exposure and starvation. Last winter was very cold, and approximately half the deer on the island died. When we returned from our vacation in March and hiked into the woods, we found deer carcasses everywhere. When it snows here, it is beautiful, but then I think about the deer, and I begin to worry about them.

We are gaining a few seconds of daylight each day again, but right now, it starts getting light at 10:00 am and dark again at 4:00 pm. Kodiak Island is in the southern part of Alaska, so we have more daylight than most of the state. I don’t mind the limited daylight, but what wears on me is even when it’s light in the middle of the day, we don’t see the sun because it is low on the horizon, and mountains surround us. I miss the sun, and I will be very happy when it returns in a few weeks.

A perfect Christmas day for me will be (weather permitting) a hike on the beach with Mike and our cats, followed by a Christmas dinner with our neighbor, Jim, and capped off by a hot-buttered rum in front of the woodstove.

Wherever you are and whatever you celebrate this time of year, I wish you joy, happiness, and peace.

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If you’d like to buy yourself a gift, my novel, The Fisherman’s Daughter, is now available for sale in both e-book and print formats. For a free gift to yourself, sign up below for my newsletter about true crime and  mysteries from Alaska.  You can check out this month’s newsletter about the ambush of two Alaska State Troopers by following this link:  Massacre in Tanana.

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King (Chinook) Salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha)

Fish, Kodiak Wildlife, , , , , ,

King salmon, also called Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) are the largest Pacific salmon, and they are also the least abundant of the Pacific salmon species. Adult kings average 24 to 36 inches (61 to 91 cm) in length but may be as long as 58 inches (150 cm). They average 10 to 50 lbs. (4.5 to 22.7 kg) but sometimes grow much larger. The world record sport-caught king, caught on May 17th,1985 in the Kenai River in Alaska, weighed 92.25 lbs. (44.11 kg.), and the largest king salmon caught by a commercial fisherman weighed 126 lbs. (57 kg). This fish was caught near Rivers Inlet, British Columbia in the 1970s.

King salmon can be distinguished from other Pacific salmon species by the black spots present on their head and on both the upper and lower lobes of the tail and by their black gums. In their marine phase, kings are dark green to blue on the top of the head and back and silver to white on the sides, belly, and tail. When they return to fresh water to breed, they turn olive brown, red, or purple in color. Males are more brightly colored than females. In the ocean, kings are torpedo-shaped with a heavy mid-section and a blunt nose. During their breeding phase, males develop a hooked nose and enlarged teeth. Fry can be identified by well-developed parr marks extending below the lateral line. When they become smolt and are headed for the ocean, they have bright, silver sides, and the parr marks recede to above the lateral line.

In North America, king salmon range from Monterey Bay in California to the Chukchi Sea in Alaska. On the Asian coast, kings occur from the Anadyr River in Siberia to Hokkaido, Japan. In Alaska, they are most abundant in the Yukon, Kuskokwim, Nushagak, Susitna, Kenai, Copper, Alsek, Taku, and Susitna Rivers. Kings have been introduced to many areas, including the Great Lakes of North America, Patagonia, and New Zealand. King salmon are raised in pens in New Zealand and are an important export for the country.

King salmon spawn in fewer rivers than other Pacific salmon because they require larger, deeper rivers and spawn only in areas with good water flow through the gravel. They migrate from the ocean back to their birth streams in the winter and early spring, and while some enter fresh water as early as May, most enter streams in late June or early July. Most Alaska rivers receive only a single run of kings each year. Usually, those entering the streams first are the ones that will travel the furthest. Yukon River kings may travel more than 2000 miles (3219 km) to the headwaters of the Yukon River to spawn.

When a female king arrives in the spawning area, she selects a spot for her nest. She swims to the bottom of the stream, turns on her side and gives several powerful thrusts with her tail to remove gravel from the stream bottom. She continues to dig, resting occasionally, until she has a long, deep nest. While she is digging her nest, she drives off any other females that approach but pays little attention to the males. She is usually accompanied by a dominant male and one or two subordinate males. The dominant male, and occasionally one of the subordinate males, drive off any other male intruders. The males do not help with the nest digging, but the dominant male may court the female by resting beside her and quivering or by swimming over her and touching her dorsal fin with his body and fins.

When the nest is finished, the female drops into it followed by the dominant male and sometimes one or more of the subordinate males. The fish open their mouths, quiver, and release their eggs and sperm. The female then swims to the upstream end of the nest and begins digging a second nest, covering the eggs in the first nest with the gravel she unearths for the second nest. She continues digging four or five nests or more over the next several days and lays between 3,000 and 14,000 eggs. Even after all her eggs are laid, she continues digging in a haphazard manner until she weakens and dies. The male may mate with another female, but he also will soon die.

In Alaska, king salmon eggs hatch in the late winter or early spring, depending both on when they were laid and the temperature of the water. The hatchlings are called alevins, and they live in the gravel for several weeks, receiving nutrition from their attached yolk sac. Two to three weeks later, the young fry, as they are now called, wiggle up through the gravel and begin to feed on their own. Fry in fresh water feed on plankton and insects. Some kings, called “ocean-type,” migrate to saltwater during their first year. “Stream-type” kings remain in fresh water for one or even two years. In Alaska, most kings remain in fresh water one year and then migrate to the ocean as smolts the following spring.

In the ocean, king salmon eat herring, pilchard, sandlance, squid, crustaceans, and other organisms. They are voracious feeders, and they grow rapidly in the ocean, often doubling their weight in just one summer. Most king salmon have pink or red meat, but 3% of all kings have white meat. In Southeast Alaska, as many as 40% of the kings in some runs have white flesh. Biologists are unsure whether the variable meat color is due to genetics or to what the fish eat.

Kings become sexually mature anywhere from their second to their seventh year, so they vary greatly in size when they return to spawn. A mature three-year-old king, called a “jack,” would weigh less than four pounds (1.8 kg) while a mature seven-year-old would probably weigh more than fifty pounds (22.7 kg). Males mature earlier than females, so most jacks are males, and in many spawning runs, males outnumber females in all but the six-and-seven-year age groups.

King salmon are considered relatively uncommon but not rare in Alaska, but in some rivers their numbers have dropped drastically in the past few years. Over the next two weeks, I’ll write about the various fisheries for kings and the controversies swirling around them.

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If you enjoy mysteries set in the wilderness of Alaska, I just released my third novel, The Fisherman’s Daughter. If you want to read about true murders in Alaska, sign up below for my free, monthly Mystery Newsletter.

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Author Platform

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Last week in my Thanksgiving post, I mentioned working on my author platform. Since I am often asked how I sell my books, I decided to write a post about my author platform and how I promote (or how I should promote) my books.

I love to write and enjoy creating a fictional story, but the rest of my job as an author is not easy, and I’m not good at it. My latest novel, The Fisherman’s Daughter went on sale four weeks ago, and at first, sales were good, but lately, they have dwindled. I know sales have fallen because I have not been promoting the novel as I should. My excuse, and it is not a good one, is I’ve been exhausted. As we neared the end of the season at our lodge, I only had enough energy to work with nothing left over for writing or promotion.

According to my publisher, I should dedicate at least two hours a day to social media. Lately, I have fallen one hour and fifty-five minutes per day short of this goal. I also have not “advertised” my book in any other way. In today’s market where thousands of books are published every day, it is not easy for an author to find readers. There are, however, scores of “promoters” ready to tweet about an author’s book to the masses for a fee (and sometimes a hefty fee). I have fallen for some of these offers, and they did not work. If an author wants to find readers, she must reach out and approach them one at a time.

An author’s platform is a way an author attracts dedicated readers. A platform consists of a website, a blog with frequent posts, and a newsletter where an author can contact a prospective reader through his or her e-mail inbox. The platform also includes social media, such as an author’s page on Facebook, a presence on LinkedIn, an active Twitter account, a Pinterest board, Instagram, Google +, Goodreads, etc. The platform also includes non-internet activity such as book signings, speaking engagements, and other appearances where an author talks about her books.  The platform can also include many other things, but this gives you an idea of the basics.

I have a website and a blog, and I post frequently, I also have an e-mail newsletter. I am on social media, but I do not post as often as I should, and I am not active in the social media groups I have joined. I don’t usually have two hours a day to spend on social media, and if I did spend that much time on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter, I’d never find time to write.

Unfortunately, while the number of brick and mortar bookstores decreases, the number of books being published increases. More than one million books are published in the U.S. each year, and it is impossible for a new author to get her book into a store without the backing of a large publishing agency. Most authors I know are not great at promoting themselves or their work. We want to write not sell.

I will keep working on my author platform, and maybe I’ll get better at self-promotion. My publisher is currently encouraging me to work on a webinar about how I became a published author. It’s a fun project, and I’m excited to work on it. I’m not sure how I will use it to sell books, but I’ll let you know when it’s done, so you can take a look at it and tell me what you think.

I’ll continue my salmon posts next week when I write about king salmon biology. My fish posts have been popular, and I love the opportunity to dive into each species and learn as much as I can about it. Learning about fish is so much more fun than selling books!

Please sign up for my newsletter so I can put another brick on my author platform!

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Happy Thanksgiving

Uncategorized,

Happy Thanksgiving to my U. S. viewers, and thank you to everyone who reads my weekly blog. I think it’s great we have a holiday dedicated to reflecting on what is truly important to us and reminding us of all we have.

I’ve had a tough year, but instead of leaving me less thankful, this year has made me more thankful for all I have now and for all I’ve been blessed with in my life. Last year, my oldest brother died, and this year my other brother died, leaving me with no parents or siblings. The thought of being the last of my childhood family has knocked the wind out of me. Family memories from my childhood belong only to me now, and they are a burden that weighs heavily on me. I can no longer e-mail my brother and say, “Hey, remember the Thanksgiving when. . . ?

Holidays can be sad when a loved one has recently died, but I’m trying to focus on the good, and I have many wonderful people in my life for which I am very thankful. This year, in particular, I am taking stock of my loved ones.

I have also had a rough year health-wise, but I am slowly recovering, and I made it through our busy season, so now I can rest. My illness has made me think about people who are disabled with no hope of recovery, and my heart goes out to them. Not being able physically to do what you want is tough, and I am thankful I will recover my strength within a few months.

Writing brings me joy and gets my creative juices flowing, but lately, I have been too tired to write. Our lodge is now closed for the year, though, and I am looking forward to again tackling my writing projects. I’ve started my next novel and hope to edit my wildlife book and get it ready to publish.

Working on my author platform is necessary if I ever want to make a living as an author, but I have put little effort into promotion lately. I plan to spend a great deal of time working on my author platform over the next several weeks.

Life in the wilderness can be hard. We must do everything ourselves. We can’t call a mechanic if something breaks or hire a crew to build a new cabin. It’s up to my husband and me to do these jobs, and sometimes I yearn for an easier life. Then, I look around me at the beauty of the ocean and the mountains, and I pinch myself. I am the luckiest person in the world to live in such a beautiful place, and I am very thankful. Where else could I look out the window and see a beautiful fox sitting in the backyard?

I am thankful for all of you who have read my books, my mystery newsletters, and my blog posts. The number of people who visit my website each day has slowly increased over time, and the number of subscribers to my newsletter continues to grow. Whenever I receive a notice saying someone new has signed up for my newsletter, I cheer. I value each of my subscribers, and I work hard to write interesting newsletters for them each month.

Thanksgiving is a wonderful time to reflect, and I only need to watch the news to realize how fortunate I am to live in a country where freedom is a right, not a dream.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you!

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Sockeye (Red) Salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka)

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Sockeye salmon also called red salmon and sometimes blueback salmon, are larger than pink salmon but average smaller in size than other Pacific Salmon species. Sockeyes measure between 18 and 31 inches (45.7-78.7 cm) in length and weigh between 4 to 15 pounds (1.8-6.8 kg). In their marine phase, sockeyes have iridescent silver sides, a white belly, and a metallic green-blue back. Due to this marine coloration, sockeyes are sometimes called blueback salmon. While they can have fine, black speckles on their backs, they lack the large spots found on other species of Pacific Salmon. The flesh of a sockeye in the marine phase is bright orange and firm. This beautiful, firm flesh with its rich flavor makes sockeyes highly prized and a culinary favorite.

When sockeyes return to their natal streams to spawn, their bodies turn bright red, and their heads become green. They are called red salmon because of this spawning coloration. In addition to changing color when they return to spawn, males develop a humped back, and hooked jaws called a kype. Breeding females are paler in color than males.

Unlike pinks, chums, and cohos that can spawn close to the mouths of small streams, sockeye salmon usually spawn in large, complex river/lake systems. Most sockeyes spawn either in streams connected to lakes or along the lakeshore in areas of upwelling. Because a sockeye requires unimpeded access to a lake to complete its life cycle, it is susceptible to habitat manipulation or degradation. Not only man but also beavers can alter a river system by building dams, effectively blocking a river or stream and denying salmon access to the lake.

The natural range for sockeyes is from the Klamath River in California and Oregon north to Point Hope in Alaska. In the western Pacific, sockeyes range from the Anadyr River in Siberia south to Hokkaido, Japan. Sockeyes are most numerous in the Fraser River system in British Columbia and the Bristol Bay system, including the Kvichak, Naknek, Ugashik, Egegik, and Nushagak rivers. Some populations of sockeyes do not migrate to the ocean but spend their entire lives in freshwater. These landlocked salmon are called kokanee salmon. Kokanees are found from Siberia to Japan on the Asian side of the Pacific and In North America from the Kenai Peninsula to the Deschutes River in Oregon. Kokanees have been widely introduced to lakes in the U.S., including the Great Lakes.

In Alaska, sockeye salmon return from the ocean to spawn from July to October. Like other Pacific Salmon species, sockeyes spawn in the streams where they were born. Some sockeyes spawn in streams not connected to lakes and others spawn near the lakeshore, but most spawn in streams attached to a lake. A female digs a nest in the stream bottom by giving several, powerful strokes of her tail. Once she finishes digging the nest, she rests while a dominant male courts her by nudging her side with his snout and then coming to rest beside her and quivering. The female then drops into the nest, and the male follows, stopping beside her. Both fish arch their bodies, open their mouths and quiver, releasing their eggs and sperm. Other males may also enter the nest and release sperm. The female will continue to dig nests until she has deposited all her eggs. She usually digs three to five nests over the course of three to five days, and she may breed with several dominant males. A female deposits between 500 to 1,000 eggs in a nest and lays a total of 2,500 to 4,300 eggs. A male sockeye may breed with several females, and both male and female sockeyes die within a few weeks after spawning.

Sockeye eggs hatch in the winter, and the young alevins remain in the gravel, gaining nutrition from their yolk sacs until spring when they emerge into the stream. At this stage of their lives, the young sockeyes are called fry and have dark, short, oval parr marks on their sides. Fry move out of the stream and into the lake where they spend one to three years in fresh water, feeding on zooplankton and small crustaceans. As they prepare to leave the lake, sockeyes lose their parr marks and turn silvery. They are now called smolts. Smolts weight only a few ounces when they enter the ocean, but they begin to grow quickly, mostly feeding on plankton, insects, and small crustaceans. A sockeye’s beautiful orange flesh comes from eating plankton and krill in the ocean.

Sockeyes spend one to four years in the ocean where they travel nearly continuously, covering as many as 2300 miles (3700 km) in one year. As it begins the return trip to its spawning stream, a mature sockeye swims even faster, covering 28 to 35 miles (45-56 km) per day during its last two months at sea. Sockeyes are prey for nearly every animal they encounter that is bigger than they are, and they are a valuable species for commercial fishermen.

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Next week, I will cover the commercial and sport fishery for sockeyes as well as the status of sockeye populations and threats to their survival, including the controversial proposed Pebble Mine in Bristol Bay, Alaska.

I would love to hear your opinions and ideas about the Pebble Mine as well as about anything else related to salmon conservation or any of my other posts.

My novel, The Fisherman’s Daughter, is now available for sale at Amazon and other online booksellers, as well as on my page at www.authormasterminds.com

As always, thank you for reading my blog, and if you would like to receive my free, monthly newsletter on murder in Alaska, sign up on the following form.

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