We began our travels in Alaska with spectacular wildlife. Humpbacks, perhaps the most beautiful and intelligent of the baleen whales, are now common in Southeast Alaska. But their most impressive behavior is not. When pursuing the wily herring, humpbacks pull out the most complex technique from their diverse bag of tricks. After coordinated sequential dives, several whales heard a school of fish toward the surface. Meanwhile, another swims in a circle around them while blowing bubbles. The herring are doomed. Whales chase the herring up through the rising cylinder of bubbles, finally erupting at the surface in an astonishing melee. Melee it appears, but the action is actually carefully orchestrated—the whales always surface in the same order.
Using our hydrophone, we discovered one more aspect of the whales’ clever behavior. Just before surfacing, one of the whales starts to sing. The haunting notes of the call probably function to coordinate the attack, and also to frighten the herring into a tighter school. One effect for sure is to let us know when the whales are about to surface. It was thrilling to wait, and at last hear the call. Where would the whales be this time? Gulls wheeled about, waiting to feast on the fish that get away. They veered this way. False alarm! They veered back. And at last, another cetacean explosion.
Hard to believe that the afternoon could be as exciting, but it was. We went ashore at Pavlov Harbor. The trail here winds along the shore to the base of a cascade where salmon migrate. As we hoped, we found a bear fishing along the rocky shelf at the foot of the cascades. We watched the bear for a long time. The bear worked hard at fishing, and was rewarded with several fine catches. Some of us walked on through the forest, and we were surprised when the bear decided to join us there! Fish-in-mouth, he suddenly popped his head over the crest of the hill almost in our midst. Alarming though this might sound, the bear was only looking for a private place to dine, and withdrew right away. Minutes later, we saw him ambling through the forest, so we were relieved that our encounter had not much changed his behavior. The bear returned to fishing, but was soon displaced by a larger bear. Many of us watched the newcomer before our thoughts turned to our own evening repast.
More wildlife! Returning to the ship we heard that divers had had a great experience with an octopus. Though Recap was good, we look forward to the undersea specialist’s video.
Southeast Alaska offers many kinds of riches. We hope to enjoy the scenery, glacial spectacle,and Native culture. But for today, wildlife was enough!
