Winter Wildlife in Kodiak

First of all... I would like to point out that I'm now posting twice in a five day span of time. The earth has either stopped spinning, or it's winter in Kodiak and I'm bored. It's one of those.

Today, I bring you wild life. I'll start off with the rarer sightings, and move to something a little more spectacular. To start.... I saw this today, a rare sighting for a weekend around here. Yes, that is in fact my other half - not often seen in the house on a Saturday or Sunday. It seems he's had more than his fair share of weekend duty, so it's always nice when he's around. That wasn't the reason I took the picture, though... it was actually to show off how helpful Fred is. Fred followed Jason around from the moment we got home from church today until he finally actually got his walk. It was a long wait because Jason was busy setting up his new kegging system, but he was diligent and it paid off in the end. Apparently, his 20 minute walk with crippled me (I'm limited to walking on flat surfaces thanks to my broken back) yesterday was not nearly enough to keep him happy. To be honest, it didn't make me happy either - we had a gorgeous weekend here this weekend, and I didn't get the chance to enjoy it like I normally would. Getting old stinks.

Not to be outdone by Jason, I also captured this one of the wild, rarely seen, elusive, black lab. This would be the alert posture often assumed while listening to the potential walker splitting wood - if he's in the garage, maybe it's just a short step out to the road for that real walk. Ah, the disappointment....

Ok, enough of the jokes about domestic animals, (oh, and Jason!) and onto the real reason I even bothered to blog today! The eagles.

For the past couple of weeks, I have cursed myself almost daily for forgetting to grab my camera bag on the way out the door in order to try to get a shot of this one tree I pass by on my way to work. No, it's not the tree I'm after, it's the 8-10 eagles that are usually IN that tree, everyday, keeping watch over the harbor for at least a little while. Since we had to drive out that way to pick up Beth and Zach's car from the airport today, I grabbed the camera on the way out for church this morning, hoping we'd have some luck. Unfortunately, the regular tree was only playing host to about 3 eagles today, but across the road, we weren't disappointed. Between the ones hanging out in one tree together, a couple in a few different trees, and one or two on their own in trees and on the ground, I'd guess there were roughly 10 or 12 in a very small area, overlooking the harbor. Enough talk, though... onto the pictures. I have to say, though, for the family that is afraid of Kodiak in the winter, and plans to only visit us in the summer, this is NOT something you'll see in the summertime!

Eagle anyone?

This was a lucky shot - I just wish I'd been ready for it so the flying eagle wasn't blurry!

Here we have a matched set!

And, finally, a stare down! This guy was looking off to the right (his left, I guess), and must've caught some movement out of the corner of his eye as I was snapping the shot. He stared right at me, which was a little bit of a creepy feeling. I'm not gonna lie - I think an eagle could kick my butt.

So that's all I really had for today. I just wanted to share my eagle pics - I've been on a mission to get good ones since we've been here. Next up - northern lights! I'm not sure how keen I am to get up in the middle of the night to see them, but I'd love to get some shots!

That's all for now! I hope everyone has a great week!
Becca