Alaska Outdoors

Wild flowers with Echo Ranch horses on the edge of Berners Bay. (Courtesy Photo | Kenneth Gill, gillfoto)

Wild Shots: Photos of Mother Nature in Alaska

Reader-submitted photos.

 

Planet walk puts things in perspective

The greenhouse effect is crucial for life, but it’s possible to have too much of a good thing.

 

Building an immune system capable of fighting disease is probably more important than being mentally, or physically capable of a mountain hunt in a few months. Ryan John scours the mountains near Ketchikan on an afternoon in September. (Courtesy Photo | Jeff Lund)

Thinking inside the box

Staying fit and not just for hiking in August.

 

Bog plants and bird feeder begin to bustle

Right now, it’s busy outside.

A brown bear chomps on a sockeye salmon on the Alaska Peninsula. (Courtesy Photo | Drew Hamilton)

Pride of Bristol Bay: The bears of McNeil and the Pebble Mine project

They’re on a collision course.

A brown bear chomps on a sockeye salmon on the Alaska Peninsula. (Courtesy Photo | Drew Hamilton)

A rugged Alaskan’s COVID-19 story

A marathon plan went very off course.

A spotted frog readies to go a courting after emerging for the season. Columbia spotted frogs hibernate in ponds, springs, beaver dams and under stream cut-banks where it doesn’t freeze and moisture has adequate dissolved oxygen for them to breathe (through the skin). (Courtesy Photo | Kerry Howard)

Spotting spotted frogs in the wild

They’re “singing” and ready to mingle.

A spotted frog readies to go a courting after emerging for the season. Columbia spotted frogs hibernate in ponds, springs, beaver dams and under stream cut-banks where it doesn’t freeze and moisture has adequate dissolved oxygen for them to breathe (through the skin). (Courtesy Photo | Kerry Howard)

Duck-billed dinos stomped across the land bridge

A dinosaur found in Japan is very similar to one that has been found throughout Alaska.

Connecting people to salmon in Alaska, the East Coast and the Midwest during COVID-19

A lot has changed almost overnight.

A new month brings vibrant colors to the outdoors

Butterflies, birds and sea stars were seen in early May.

Seeing and hearing things while isolating outside

“I had to wonder if this was just usual Jeff Lund, or if this was COVID Lund.”

An Arctic tern flies with a sand lance in its mouth. the birds have one of the longest migrations in the world and nest for the summer in Juneau, where they mate and lay eggs. (Courtesy Photo | Gwen Baluss)

Seabirds re-tern to Juneau

This year is guaranteed to be different from the past few.

An Arctic tern flies with a sand lance in its mouth. the birds have one of the longest migrations in the world and nest for the summer in Juneau, where they mate and lay eggs. (Courtesy Photo | Gwen Baluss)
Courtesy Photo | Jürgen Otto via Creative Commons Peacock spiders take their name from their showy courtship displays. The cost of failure in courtship is sometimes high for the spiders native to Australia. If a female is seriously offended by a male’s advances, she might eat him.

Fantastic spiders and where to find them

Spiders are generally predatory, with good vision.

Courtesy Photo | Jürgen Otto via Creative Commons Peacock spiders take their name from their showy courtship displays. The cost of failure in courtship is sometimes high for the spiders native to Australia. If a female is seriously offended by a male’s advances, she might eat him.

We have been grounded, birds have not

Migration is on.

Sustainable Alaska: Reopening Alaska Responsibly

Today, we face an all-new challenge and it’s time to work together.

The Townsend’s warbler is a migratory bird that just returned to Juneau. They winter in Mexico and can be found singing on local trails and wooded neighborhoods. (Courtesy Photo | Gwen Baluss)

Watch out: Audubon Society birding event still on

Annual event tallies birds around Southeast Alaska and raises funds.

The Townsend’s warbler is a migratory bird that just returned to Juneau. They winter in Mexico and can be found singing on local trails and wooded neighborhoods. (Courtesy Photo | Gwen Baluss)
Courtesy Photo | Frank Zmuda, Alaska Department of Fish and Game Beavers live from northern Mexico to northern Alaska.

Beaver invasion on the Baldwin Peninsula

Researchers counted an increase from two to 98 beaver dams near Kotzebue between 2002 and 2019.

Courtesy Photo | Frank Zmuda, Alaska Department of Fish and Game Beavers live from northern Mexico to northern Alaska.
There’s a strip of lightly seasoned grouse in Jeff Lund’s version of a hooter popper. (Jeff Lund | For the Juneau Empire)

Sometimes, it’s not about numbers

If you start to over analyze everything you’re in danger of missing the point.

There’s a strip of lightly seasoned grouse in Jeff Lund’s version of a hooter popper. (Jeff Lund | For the Juneau Empire)

Spring is really here now

Robins are hopping along the roadsides and singing in the trees.

One building remains busy during quiet time

They’re processing tests.