Alaska- Animals!

Wildlife is a huge highlight of any Alaskan trip. We were lucky to see lots of it! Some of it in captivity but most in the wild. Captions under photos.


Horned Puffin at the Alaskan Sea Life Center. This Puffin was going nuts swimming under the water and shooting out into the air above the surface. He must have flapped around playing in the water for about five minutes without pause. Puffin fact: they only have their beautiful orange beaks and colors for mating season. The orange beak is actual a colored growth similar to a fingernail that covers their much duller bill underneath. When mating season is over, the cover falls off and their plumage dulls.


Red Legged Kittiwake and baby at Alaskan Sea Life Center in Seward. The entire Red legged Kittiwake population exists in the wild on a solitary island in the Aleutians.


Ducks (not sure what kind) at the Alaskan Sea Life Center.


Band of Lazy Sea Otters in Prince William sound vicinity. There were otters everywhere just floating around and cleaning themselves. They were very hard to get good photos of because they rarely let you get anywhere near them in a boat and they are very, very fast and small. On our return trip from Surprise Glacier we were surprised to not see anywhere near the number of otters that we stumbled upon on the way in. The reason became apparent when we rounded a corner shortly after and found them all floating and napping in two huge groups of about thirty or forty. The bonus was they were far less skittish in a group and we could get in a bit closer in the boat for some better shots.


Large fish in the Alaskan Sea Life Center


Mother otter and pup in Prince William Sound vicinity. Otter fun facts: Pups can't swim so their carried around by their mothers until they are old enough to fend for themselves. Otters also have pockets under their armpits in which they store clams and a shell or stick to open them.


Mountain goat outside of Anchorage. This guy was literally on the side of the road nibbling grass. Why he wasn't skittering around way up on the rock faces above with all his pals- who knows.