Shorebirds fly over the Copper River Delta, Chugach National Forest, Alaska.
I have avoided putting any advertising on our main photo website despite some lucrative offers because I think they are a distraction that would take away from the photos.
Copper River Highway
We took a drive out the Copper River Highway – it seemed like we were going back about two months in time!
It appeared a large snow blower had cleared a path through the drifts just wide enough for my truck. The drifts in some places were 15 feet tall! It would have been fun to see Child’s Glacier with all this snow, but at this time the road was only cleared to mile 40 something, and you pretty much needed 4 wheel drive to even get that far. Child’s Glacier was still another 20 miles away.
Shorebird Migration
Yesterday we returned to Seward after a short, but wonderful trip. It seemed only fitting to post a photo of a group of shorebirds departing the Copper River Delta. Here are more Cordova, Alaska photos.
Copper River Delta Shorebirds
Resting shorebirds for as far as the camera can see! And after flying thousands of miles, who can blame them. I stopped down the f/18, but it is hard to get much depth of field when using telephotos. I kind of like the out of focus effect.
Today (Tuesday) there weren’t as many birds as on Monday when I captured this image. High tide is when the best photography takes place, but today a predator (I believe it was a Merlin) passed over at high tide and cleared the birds out in a hurry. We did get a nice break from the rain.
“O My God!”
Flocks of shorebirds in Cordova, Alaska.
What a fantastic day! Wow! Not just the sheer quantity of birds, but the way they fly together. It isn’t in perfect unison, but more like a synchronized dance where the entire group can continually vary the size, shape and color of the flock with endless combinations. I was mesmerized. Hugh Rose has lead tours here for many years, he says there had to be over a 100,000 birds today – they basically just arrived today. I was shooting non-stop thinking it couldn’t possible get any better, and that was when I heard the words “O my God!Read More
Resurrection River
Resurrection River in the Chugach National Forest, near Seward, Alaska.
Wading across this knee deep river in my ski boots was a chilling reminder that I was no longer in the desert! But it was so worth it.Read More
The Milepost 2008
Well I haven’t subjected you to my shameless self promotion in awhile, but this one is too excited to pass up. For the second year in a row I have a photo on the cover of The Milepost!
As I wrote last year, this is a special cover for me, as I remember growing up, every traveler through Glennallen carried a copy of this extremely valuable travel guide. To this day, I still make sure I have the current Milepost with me as I travel around Alaska and Canada as it has detailed mile by mile descriptions of anything you may encounter – not only the mountains and rivers, but the restaurants and campgrounds as well. If you are driving to Alaska, you must have the latest copy of The Milepost!
The photo was taken in late September at Tern Lake, part of the Chugach National Forest, about 35 miles out the Seward Highway from Seward. Wait a second, a quick peak at The Milepost tells me this lake is 37.2 miles from Seward. 🙂
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