Sorted by date Results 26 - 50 of 78
With the arrival of summer, you will begin to catch glimpses of a small but speedy bird in flight, looping through the sky, searching for insects to eat. Its underside is white, and it sports a dark iridescent back that flashes varying hues of blue as the sunlight passes through its feathers. The tree swallows are back! The tree swallow is one of several swallow species that come to Alaska to breed. This small songbird, weighing around 20 grams, arrives from regions as far south as Cuba, Costa...
Recently, a press statement came in from online travel guide Travel Lemming that reported on national parks ranked by affordability, accessibility, biodiversity, crowds, reviews and weather. The overall rankings of Alaska's National Parks are: Kenai Fjords, No. 13; Katmai, No. 21; Denali, No. 36; Wrangell-St. Elias, No. 39; Lake Clark, No. 43; Glacier Bay, No. 48; Gates of the Arctic, No. 62; and Kobuk Valley, No. 63. All eight of Alaska's National Parks were in the top 15 for crowds. Gates of t...
You enter Newport via the impressive 600-foot Yaquina Bay Bridge, a combination of art deco and art moderne with touches of gothic architectural style that opened in 1936. It sits a thrilling 135 feet above sea level. With so many things to do, Newport, Oregon, is a perfect place for a quick getaway or a family reunion. Plus, you can fly direct from Alaska to Portland's sweet and user-friendly airport with a mere 60 gates and dodge the complexity of Seattle's 111 gates and that darned...
It is midnight, and hunger strikes. You creep down to the refrigerator to find something to eat. You pick up a container, peer inside, and decide there are better options in the cabinet. You decide on peanut butter and crackers. The glass jar of natural peanut butter has yet to be opened, so you struggle to break the seal and twist off the lid. Next, you select the best container to store the peanut butter in after stirring it. This scenario isn't unique to humans. Birds must also figure out...
This time of year, many of us like to sit back with a warm cup of tea and watch the birds that come to our feeders. Chickadees, nuthatches, woodpeckers and occasionally redpolls and pine grosbeaks partake of the free food. But what about the other birds that stay in Alaska through our long, often cold winters? The ones that don't visit bird feeders, like golden-crowned kinglets, American dippers or northern goshawks? The diminutive golden-crowned kinglet stays in Alaska and can survive temperatu...
November brings a flurry of seasonal salutes to the whales and eagles that enhance our life here. In Haines, thousands of bald eagles gather to chase the late chum and coho salmon run, while in Sitka the annual migration of humpback whales is saluted with several days of delving into the science of marine life that supports life on our planet. Sitka Whalefest This annual celebration of science and everything marine life occurs in Sitka for three days, November 3 to 6. This year's theme is "How...
While best known for joining the cast of the popular CBS spy series "Mission: Impossible" for the last two seasons in the early 70s, Lynda Day George became something of a minor horror movie icon before retiring from acting in the late 80s. In the horror realm, she portrayed characters threatened by an army of ants ("Ants," 1977), a pack of wild dogs ("Day of the Animals," 1977), a demonic force ("Beyond Evil," 1980), a haunted mirror ("Fear No Evil," 1969), a chainsaw-wielding killer ("Pieces,"...
Help your houseplants make a smooth transition from their outdoor summer home back inside for winter. The lower light and humidity indoors along with any insects that hitched a ride indoors make it difficult to keep these plants looking their best. Give them a shower before they move indoors. A gentle blast of water washes dust and dirt off the leaves and dislodges insects that might be feeding on the plants. Gradually prepare the plants for the lower light conditions indoors. Start by placing...
Fall in Alaska comes with many perks - sightings of migratory birds and Alaskans heading to warmer climes, but best is the darkness that brings the awesome Aurora Borealis. Now Explore Fairbanks has a website that shows you the potential for aurora viewing and how many hours of daylight there is at any given time. While it may be sad to watch the light fade, after Dec. 21 there is the joy of seeing the minutes of light adding up. Go to https://www.explorefairbanks.com/#tracker. Fairbanks is the...
Regardless of the area you live in, there are ‘must dos’ for the summer months for Alaskans. It is a time to plant, gather, harvest and, for many, fish. On the Kenai Peninsula, fishing is active with subsistence, dipnetting, setnetting, drift fishing and just plain fishing. And that is often followed by smoking, freezing and canning. All of this in preparation for the winter months, along with tending the gardens, and fighting with the birds as to who will get berries. It is also a time for building and repairing the structures we call hom...
Alaska has a diverse range of habitats and ecosystems that support over 534 different species of birds. Most of these birds are migratory and travel great distances to spend the brief summers here to nest and raise young. But some birds live in Alaska year-round, despite our long winters and extremes in weather, including a few of our most visible and spectacular birds - raptors. There are 22 raptors that regularly make Alaska their home, all of them incredible in their abilities to survive....
Alaska is a place of endless sky, steep mountains, rolling tundra and miles of coastline. It is a place of climatic and geographic extremes, dynamic and diverse habitats, and abundant resources. Each year millions of birds make the journey from their wintering grounds to this state that we call home. They include over 300 different species from petrels and loons, sandpipers and plovers, hawks and eagles, to hummingbirds and swallows. They depart from six different continents and travel north...
Have you ever wondered who organizes Creek Cleanup? Perhaps you have seen people taking water samples along local creeks and tried to figure out what they were doing. Have you been concerned about something along a creek and wondered who to contact? Are you curious about who is behind all those Scoop the Poop messages? The answer is the Anchorage Waterways Council (AWC), and it's been doing all this and more for nearly 40 years. AWC was established in 1985 by a group of citizens and officials...
Bird Treatment and Learning Center (Bird TLC), founded in 1988 by Dr. James Scott, is a rehabilitation center for the wild birds of Alaska. Our mission is to present living science education that instills understanding and appreciation for wild birds and their habitats, and to provide primary medical treatment, rehabilitative care and potential release for sick and injured wild birds. Caring for wildlife requires specialized training, knowledge and permitting. Bird TLC operates under permits...
Capt. James Cook reported seeing a tall, sail-like rock about 60 miles west of Dutch Harbor in 1778. Unbeknownst to him and his crew, a 6,000-foot volcano lay beneath the conical mountain and its crater sat just below sea level. At various times throughout Alaska's history, navigators' logs recorded changes in the volcanic island's shoreline from season to season. Sometimes it was said to have disappeared into the ocean, only to emerge later in other locations. The mystery island, named...
Lockdowns, job losses and social isolation have been the hallmarks of COVID-19 here in Alaska. However, this pandemic also is denying humans the most basic sense – touch. This is triggering a boom for the pet industry. In the absence of human-to-human contact in millions of households worldwide, animals have stepped into the breach for many people. They now are providing much needed comfort via cuddles, pats and a constant physical presence. A new study published by University of South A...
"Mute yourself! Is everybody muted?" What strange request is this from a chorus director, beginning a singing session? She's looking directly at us, checking us out. "OK, everybody's muted. Now let's sing." It's the world of Zoom, in the seasons of 2020. And I am thousands of miles away from the other chorus members as we begin singing "The Star-Spangled Banner." They are in Anchorage, and I am in a small farm town, outside of Portland, Oregon. We are all staring at our individual computer...
Although staying inside may be new, and a bit challenging, to us, it isn't new for our house cats. They know that inside your home is the safest place to be. While finding ways to keep yourself amused at home, how about finding new ways to keep your cat entertained too? Cat trees. An oldie but a goodie, cat trees give cats options and they love options, especially when it comes to feeling safe. A cat tree allows cats to get away from dogs or over-anxious grandkids. Plus, cats like to sit up...
During our first summer of trying to be self sufficient and live off the land, my husband, Gary, decided to keep honeybees. The year was 1974 and we lived 23½ miles out of Fairbanks on the Chena Hot Springs Road. Once he got the bee hive box situated near the edge of the woods, they needed little attention. One evening in late July, upon returning from a day in town, we noticed the hive box had been toppled over. Gary walked over to investigate and decided from the signs that a bear had...
"Look! Look! Look!" I excitedly exclaimed to my almost 16-year old son as I pointed to the field on our left. We were driving past one of the many grain fields in the Matanuska Valley where we live. I would drop him off for his last day of school in a few minutes. He looked up from reading the all-important sports page of the newspaper. "What? Birds? I don't care about birds," he said with disgust. He went on with his reading, ignoring the four sandhill cranes foraging in the field. I wonder if...
Let's face it, the coronavirus has changed travel plans all over the planet. Where does a nervous Alaskan go to have fun and adventures? Your own back yard. Millions of tourists flock to The Last Frontier every year but residents have the envious cat seat to all the state has to offer – you just have to hit the road. A birder's delight Across the world and the Lower 48, birds fly north to breed and hatch their young. While not in the numbers of even 40 years ago that Elders in Utqiagvik told me...
I almost trained as a scientist, but feared I wouldn’t be able to locate the sweet spot in how to spend my workday. I love the outdoors too much to spend days in a windowless lab, and I’m too wimpy to spend weeks on end camping in a rainy jungle, broiling desert, or roiling sea. I’m in luck nonetheless, because the era of citizen science is here. This is fortunate for those of us who have scientist-envy, and possibly for America’s pocketbook. Citizen science is scientific work undertaken by non-scientists, often in collaboration with scienti...
During my senior year at Glennallen High School, my husband-to-be, Gary, was hired by Woodruff Construction, who had the contract to build an addition to the high school end of the K-12 building. After our wedding the end of the school year in May, 1973, we moved to Anchorage where Gary continued to work for Woodruff. Through Woodruff, he was hired by Mercer Construction to be part of the crew which would do remodel work at the King Salmon Air Force Base. Gary was excited at the opportunity to t...
Bluegrass, birds, and Bollywood. Pebble Mine and poetry. Empowering Self-Defense for Seniors, a History of Flying in Alaska, Hollywood’s original horror films. The list goes on and on for OLÉ’s Fall course offerings. OLÉ stands for Opportunities for Lifelong Education, a non-profit, volunteer-led organization that provides courses aimed to people 50+ years of age – classes for the curious. Become a member, and you may take as many classes as you like for a whole year. Fall courses will run from September 30 through Nov. 22, with some four-we...
Bob Burrus is channeling John Travolta. He enters Lenny's Pizza in Brooklyn and orders a slice. After devouring the snack, he emerges onto 86th Street and struts down several blocks as the song "Staying Alive" plays in his head. Bob is reliving the opening scene of the 1977 motion picture Saturday Night Fever. And he's not alone. As he mimics one of his favorite movie sequences, others around the country are fantasizing theirs. From Maine to Hawaii, locations where movie scenes were filmed...
