Bird of the Week – Eurasian Bullfinch
There are some birds that are vagrants, birds that turn up in Alaska but have no business – or anyone to breed with – in the area. Maybe the migration instructions in their brains got wired wrong; maybe they are pioneers trying to expand the range. We’ll be looking at some vagrants intermittently the next few months. This isn’t a very good photo, but it is unique in one way: it’s the one of the first bird photos WC took. In 1996, an Eurasian Bullfinch female turned up at a feeder on Rosie Creek Road, outside of Fairbanks, in the dark…
Bird of the Week – Great Blue Heron
The Great Blue Heron is visual evidence that birds did indeed evolve from dinosaurs; when you see a Great Blue in flight, you can almost think you are seeing a pterodactyl. Great Blues are found in Alaska throughout Southeast and in Southcentral Alaska as far west as Seward. There are irregular reports from Cook Inlet. While Great Blues are equally at home in marine and freshwater environments, in Alaska they are mostly marine and estuarine. Although this is primarily a fish eater, wading (often belly deep) along the shoreline of oceans, marshes, lakes, and rivers, it also hunts upland areas for rodents…
Thank You, Johnny Ellis
I was thinking about the retirement of Sen. Johnny Ellis this week. He has served Alaska for more than half the years we’ve been a state. It’s not a secret that I’m one of his most ardent fans and I am considering asking him for an 8-by-10 signed glossy photo to put on my desk to help me get through next year’s “Gavel to Gavel”coverage. I wasn’t able to attend his retirement party because the sockeye were flooding Tutka Lagoon and they wouldn’t wait or find my fish smoker by themselves. I used to have a standard summer rant. It…
Bird of the Week – Snow Goose
The Snow Goose is one of the most abundant waterfowl species in North America, maybe in the world. Oddly, it doesn’t occur in great abundance in Alaska. (Bonus points for identifying the four other species in this photo.) But they do range west as far as Interior Alaska during spring migration, although not every year. There are breeding birds in the northeastern corner of Alaska’s Arctic coast, but generally Snow Geese breed in far northern Canada. Snow Geese have two color morphs – thought to be different species until 1983. The white morph, shown here, is overwhelmingly the more common…
Juneau, Like An Outhouse On Fire
I like parables. They were my favorite sermons growing up. Oh, look! A story that has a problem and a lesson in it. What a cool way to make a point. Sometimes life presents its own parables and I try to pay attention. This week my watery cul de sac presented such a story. It has to do with something we don’t like to talk about often, but hold your nose and we’ll get through this together. Rural Alaska has a waste issue. Most people on the road system flush their toilets and – well – who knows – it…
Weekend Off – News You Missed
Alaska KNOM – First Evidence of Ancient Trade With Asia Uncovered in Northwest Alaska There’s new evidence that metal goods from central Asia made their way to Alaska long before contact with Europeans. Juneau Empire – After Legislature quits with work undone, Governor calls them back At 11:46 a.m. Sunday, the Alaska Senate adjourned the fourth special session of the 29th Alaska Legislature. Forty minutes later, Gov. Bill Walker issued a proclamation stating that the fifth special session will begin on July 11. On its agenda will be three items: Using the earnings of the Alaska Permanent Fund to pay…
Reverse Robin Hood Economics
I’ve watched a particular boat for the last several years. It’s a 15-and-a-half-foot wooden boat built decades ago by my neighbor Dick Dunn. The little boat sat submerged, tied to a piling, during most tides. Barnacles and blue mussels took up residence and seemed quite happy shacked up from bow to stern. See, another neighbor had acquired the boat and got pretty busy with a million projects. It happens. Every time I drove past that forgotten vessel, it made me a tiny bit sad. The boat had been built for a wonderful woman here on the bay who has since…
Last Second Candidate Filings Flood In
It’s not that Alaska politics isn’t always interesting but the drudgery of the last couple of months has been draining. The Republican run state capitol has been nothing but frustrating – not passing anything of meaning for an entire session. Including a budget. So today, the last day to file as a candidate suddenly it suddenly became VERY interesting. There’s awesome news, some bittersweet news and some &^%*$ what is going on sort of news. Let’s get to the awesome news first. Friend of TheMudflats and life of the Union party, Vince Beltrami is running for State Senate. Now, while that’s pretty…
Enough with the ‘Thoughts and Prayers’ – We Need Real Support for First Responders
There has been an ongoing glitch in the system for the families of fallen first responders. The health benefits that cover families of our state employees are only covered until the end of the month that their loved one has died. If they are killed the last week of the month, the surviving spouse has yet another problem to figure out during their grief. Their health insurance can be null and void before the funeral occurs. OK, so glitches happen. I’m sure that’s how a few families have felt. Oh, look! A glitch! No. It’s devastating on top of devastation,…
Around The Lens with Photographers Carl Johnson and Andrew Renneisen
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/44561/Around%20the%20Lens%20-%20Episode%2026.mp3 This week’s panelists were Carl Johnson and Andrew Renneisen. We discussed the French photojournalist who’s facing legal trouble due to the recent shooting in Paris, which tutorial we like and 256gb micro sd cards. Our picks this week included The Making of 40 Photographs, the B&H Photography Podcast, the TASCAM DR-60 Mark II and how to excel as an artist. Watch the show here. Subscribe to the Podcast on iTunes or YouTube, or via our direct feed, follow us on Twitter and and like us on Facebook.