Snowshoe hare and lynx population cycles

2 Replies
Snowshoe hare, winter molt, white fur, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska.

Hey Folks,

Here’s a REAL snowshoe hare photo, taken on my recent sojourn to the northern side of Wrangell-St. Elias National Park. I was very surprised at how little sign of snowshoe hares there was in this area – negligible. Everywhere else, it seems, the woods are crawling with them. This is at, or close to, the peak of the cycle for snowshoe hares; a 10 year population fluctuation that seems to be pretty consistent.

Why is the Snowshoe Hare Population so volatile?

Sometimes the cycle might be 9 years, or 11, but it’s not usually far off. The population rises steadily, then faster, peaks, and falls drastically,  almost completely, in a single year. Ecologists aren’t sure as to what causes the drop in numbers, though theories abound, as always.

Continue reading →

Caribou feeding in winter snow

3 Replies
A caribou cow digging under snow for food, feeding on lichens and grasses, in winter, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska.
Winter caribou feeding in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park

Hey Folks,

Normally I wouldn’t post a photo of an animal with its head buried under the snow. But, for caribou, this is winter life. Caribou feed on lichens and grasses, and those lie buried, often deep beneath snow’s crust for the long winter months.

Caribou have a few options to eke out their winter, and a heavy snow pack in the winter can be a tough gig for them; finding food is a mission and avoiding predators, namely, the wolf, an equally difficult, if not critical, task. So they’ll typically seek high ground,

Continue reading →

Cold Feet

9 Replies
Hiker, barefoot, in winter, frozen lake, Mt. Sanford, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska.

Hey Folks,

Life has a way, all too often, of providing us with little (or large) lessons on what we need to work on. Communication is something that all of us frequently do poorly, and here’s a good example of that, and how it can mess up your day. I’m usually pretty good about seeking advice from those who know better than me (my father will disagree, I’m sure). So when I first came to AK, I asked my good and trusted friend Ron Niebrugge for some advice.

Continue reading →

Winter in McCarthy

4 Replies

2 Winters in McCarthy from an Aussie Photographer

Spending winter in McCarthy is a study in both extreme beauty and quiet endurance. Life in Wrangell St. Elias National Park during the coldest months revolves around the simple mechanics of survival, like hauling wood for the shack or coaxing a frozen snowmachine to life.

While most people only see this landscape in the green of summer, the true character of the backcountry emerges when the crowds vanish and the mercury drops toward minus fifty. The mountains seem to pull closer in the crisp air, and the vast silence is only broken by the occasional crunch of skis on fresh powder.

The following collection of images and stories comes from my time poking around the frozen Kennecott River and the Lakina drainage.

Whether it is chasing the magenta alpenglow on Mt. Porphyry or hunting for abstract patterns in the snow covered glacial moraines, winter photography here is a constant battle against the elements. Everything from sticking tripod legs to fogged viewfinders makes each frame a hard earned reward. It is a slow, cold way of living, but catching that soft noon light on an unnamed peak makes every subzero mile worth the effort.

Livin in the a Little Shack Down by the River

A cabin in the woods in winter, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska.

My humble abode. This is after I shovelled all the snow off the roof. There’s about another 6-9 inches of snow on the roof already!

Continue reading →

Shadows and Light

4 Replies
Snow covered spruce tree, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska.

Hey Folks,

Here’s another photo I took on my most recent sojoun to Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska. I’d been hoping to find some scenes like this, but they’re hard to come by. Fresh snow still sitting on a spruce tree, in nice warm sunshine.  Usually, after a nice dump of snow, wind blows it off the trees before the weather clears up enough for this kind of photo.

One calm evening I went up on this ridge, not a breath of air was stirring down in the forest at the cabin. But up high, the wind was blowing like crazy. It was weird, it’d blow really hard for a few seconds, a gust, then stop and all was perfectly still for a few seconds, then the wind would kick up again, often from exactly the opposite direction it had last came.

This went on for a few hours. I didn’t shoot much that afternoon, but it was cool to see this crazy weather. A few days later, after we’d had some more snow fall, up I went again, and got some nicer conditions.

Continue reading →

A new day on the way

7 Replies
Northern Lights over Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska.

Hey Folks,

I can’t overstate the import of what the world saw this past week. For the first time ever the people of the US elected an African American president, Barack Obama, and the value that such a moment carries is immeasurable. A bare 40 years have past since Bill Russell became the first African American head coach in the NBA. 10 years ago the world saw the first black CEO of a Fortune 500 company (how ironic is it that Franklin Raines became CEO of — wait for it — Fannie Mae!!!!) There are innumerable examples of things like this all highlighting the magnitude of this moment. But perhaps none more than this one;

Continue reading →

Brooks Mountains Range, ANWR, Alaska

3 Replies
Canning River, Brooks Mountain Range, ANWR, Alaska.

Hey Folks,

Here’s another image from the summer just gone by. This one was from near our campsite on the Canning River, in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). We’d had a nice day paddling, enjoying some sunny weather, found a sweet spot to camp, and then I wandered around into the evening looking for a composition that caught my eye. The unnamed mountain across the river is a ridge leading up to Mt. Salisbury. This is one of my favorite areas in the region, right at the edge of the coastal plain and the Brooks Mountains. Typically these kinds of terrains are interesting;

Continue reading →

Aspen boles, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska

4 Replies
Aspen boles, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska.

Hey Folks,

Here’s an image from my most recent venture into the park. I’ve never really tried this kind of technique with photography too much, but I kind of enjoyed the results. Some of them, anyway. It was interesting to me to edit this series of photos – abstract images emote so differently, and I’ve not a lot of practice in that field, so I felt I wasn’t really sure what I was supposed to be looking for.

The technical aspect of photos is so dominant in more orthodox imagery, so editing become somewhat rote; check sharpness, exposure, etc. But abstract imagery requires a different process, and I find it hard to edit

Continue reading →

Bald eagle, Alaska

1 Reply

Bald eagle, catching a fish, Kachemak Bay, Homer, Alaska.

Hey Folks,

Just as a head’s up – unfortunately, my posting here is about to slow down considerably. I, apparently, have a great deal of work to catch up on. And I was hoping, if things worked out well, I’d have some good internet time in the next few months .. but that appears to be unlikely now. I’ll try to keep posting here as possible, it’ll be a little slower for a while, I think. Bummer, eh?

In moving along with my ‘showing some older, pre-blog-photo-era images, I thought I’d post a bald eagle image. This is from the winter of 2002. Continue reading →

Whitetail buck, Cades Cove, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee

4 Replies
Whitetail buck, Cades Cove, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee

Here is a link to my Whitetail Deer Photos page.

hey Folks,

Here’s one of my favorite images – a whitetail buck photo from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, in Tennessee.

Cades Cove in November/December is one of my FAVORITE places, and I’ll miss not being there this year, the 3rd year in a row that I’ve not been there. When I was in Atlanta, in years gone by, I’d look forward every year to heading up to the Cove to photograph the whitetail deer rut.

The bucks are in their prime this time of year, and truly a glorious creature. One of the treats of returning each year was to run into the same bucks, year after year, it’s akin to running into old friends. This buck is one of the larger bucks, with a great wide 8 point rack, easily identified by his tiny little brow tines, the shorter ones directly above his ears. He was ever such a placid animal, though he did get a little feisty when other bucks came into his domain.

Continue reading →