After a wonderful day in Anchorage, we took the train to the coastal town of Seward. It was a fantastic train ride, billed as the most spectacular in the country. As the train sped across the wilderness, we spotted Dall Sheep perched on high cliffs and zipped past glaciers yielding to the earth. I was never interested in photographing birds, but was awed at the bald eagles surveying the land and artic terns hovering over the waters and scooping in to grab the fish. With my favorite 17-55 mm lens resident on my camera, my pics were less than optimal. But in Seward, I mounted the brand new 55-200 VR lens!
If you ever visit Alaska, take a few days and relax in Seward. It’s a tiny town located at the top of Resurrection Bay. The bay itself was carved by receding glaciers at the end of the last ice age and thus snow-capped mountains tower both sides of the bay. We walked along the water and spotted the common sea gulls as well as the endangered sea otters. Here are a few pics of Seagulls caught from the shore and other birds we caught on a cruise out in the ocean.
The common seagull, but what a majestic wingspan.
Mountains towering over resurrection bay!
I think this is a variant of the seagulls: the Black-footed kitty wakes.
Black-footed kitty wakes (note their black wingtips) heading to their nests in the evening
Feeding on a school of fish!
But a humpback whale and calf arrive (see black shape in the center), interrupting the lunch and dispersing the gulls. But it gave us a superb opportunity to see the mother and calf at work.
Whales next!
Our Alaska Trip:
Arun Shanbhag 