Our second day in Ketchikan Alaska, after cruising the inside passage heading north, we took an excursion to do a Bear Country Walk and visit the Raptor centre at a private reserve just a 20 minute drive from Ketchikan town. We started with one of our guides giving us a very informative talk about what we might hope to see when we got a kilometre into the forest and end up at a wooden boardwalk platform at eagle creek. The salmon running season here is just starting to get underway and many were starting to run. We had our fingers crossed that today might be the day.
The forest was beautiful with a canopy of hemlock, spruce and Alaska cedar trees. Above are a type of mushroom that grows on the bark of a spruce tree.
Then we arrived near the end of the board walk to find a black bear making its way through the long grass with a salmon in its mouth. My heart nearly stopped. It was just so exciting to see our first bear in the wild.
He made pretty quick work of feasting on the salmon and then made his way of into the bush. I guess we ruined his day but I think by seeing the number of salmon coming up the creek it probably wasn't his first one of the day.
Then we got another surprise when a second bear approached and instead of getting his own from the river he turned around and followed the scent of the first bear. He seemed to eat the remaining scraps then followed the scent of the first bear down to a stream where he disappeared from view.
The salmon trap tanks where the fish that make their way up the tubes or ladder are held.
It was a great sight watching the salmon try and make their way up the very fast flowing water. many were pushed back by the force of the water but seeing the tanks above the trap it was pretty obvious that many made it as they were fairly full. Each summer over 100,000 salmon return here to spawn and end their life cycle providing a banquet for the black bears, eagles and other wildlife in the area.
The bear activity and the salmon running had not gone un-noticed by the bald eagles.
This eagle flew to the middle of the stream to recover a piece of salmon that would have been ripped off by a bear. It dragged it with great difficulty to the bank and started devouring it only to have five or six other eagles trying to claim it. I got some fantastic video footage of this but Im not sure that I can post it here on the Blog. For the simple reason its a bit beyond me!!!!!
After the bear and bald eagle activities we walked back to the trailhead where were taken to the Raptor Centre a recovery centre for birds of prey. Each year the centre treats between 100-200wild birds with injuries from gunshot wounds to collisions with cars and electrocutions being the main ones. They have a flight training centre where they can fly the birds in a controlled setting for long distances to help them regain the muscle strength they need for survival in the wild. Some of the stories the staff told us were truly incredible.
Volta the bald eagle above was found after flying into a power line. He had concussion, electrocution, and bone fracture injuries. He healed well but one of the bones in his shoulder, critical for flying was partially destroyed in the collision.
Another story that comes to mind is a bald eagle that somehow swallowed a 3 and 3/4 inch common nail, almost half the length of the birds body. They named the eagle Spike. Following surgery he had a long and very difficult recovery but within 48 days was flying again. Such a great story and there were many of these.
Some interesting facts they gave us on raptors were----- that eagles can fly up to a height of 10,000 feet.------bald eagles have more that 7,000 feathers that weigh more than the rest of the bird.-----Bald eagles are very good swimmers. If they can't lift their prey from the water they will swim to shore with it.
This bird is the Peregrine Falcon. They are supposed to be the fastest animal on the planet and can dive up to 200 MPH. This was a beautiful looking bird.
A Barred owl, one of my favourites. Only to look at though!!!!
Volva giving us all the 'once over'
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