Rookeries

What is the best port from which to take a tour that visits rookeries?

A rookery of what? and which ports are you visiting?

A good starting point is the Alaska Fish and Game web site.

http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=southeastviewing.main

Time of year makes a big difference. We saw lots of Bald Eagles throughout our June trip.

You will see some bird areas in Glacier Bay if you have good binoculars.

From your itinerary maybe Homer? HAL offers this excursion "Best of the Bay" Visit Homer and enjoy the beauty of scenic Kachemak Bay and Kachemak Bay State Park on this 2½-hour cruise to Gull Island. The island is a famous bird rookery with eight species of birds including puffins, cormorants and gulls. Photo opportunities abound. Watch for sea otters and other marine wildlife, and continue across the bay to Eldred Passage, Sadie Cove and Tutka Bay, returning to the ...

Haines has the Chilkat Eagle preserve but I don't know the Eagle population in the summer.

You need boat tours, as mentioned- do you have specific birds you want to see? Occasionally you can see them from cruise ships- but you need a good pair of wide angle binoculars- at least 10 power, and know areas, along with investing a lot of time with outside viewing.

eagles are being mentioned- but they aren't in any "rookeries"? And no, there aren't any more eagles in Haines during the cruise season than anywhere else inside passage. They have one of the latest salmon runs, AFTER the cruise season, which brings in those large numbers of birds.

What is the best port from which to take a tour that visits rookeries?

This doesn't answer your specific question but you will get close-up and personal with the birds at Homer, on the dock. Loud, smelly, and unafraid. Fun memory, thanks for making me think of it :D

A rookery of what? and which ports are you visiting?

 

A good starting point is the Alaska Fish and Game web site.

http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=southeastviewing.main

None specific, just thinking about other wildlife that it might be nice to see (try to see) in their native environment while in AK.

(Eagles nest in trees - FWIW)

Time of year makes a big difference. We saw lots of Bald Eagles throughout our June trip.

You will see some bird areas in Glacier Bay if you have good binoculars.

From your itinerary maybe Homer? HAL offers this excursion "Best of the Bay" Visit Homer and enjoy the beauty of scenic Kachemak Bay and Kachemak Bay State Park on this 2½-hour cruise to Gull Island. The island is a famous bird rookery with eight species of birds including puffins, cormorants and gulls. Photo opportunities abound. Watch for sea otters and other marine wildlife, and continue across the bay to Eldred Passage, Sadie Cove and Tutka Bay, returning to the ...

 

Haines has the Chilkat Eagle preserve but I don't know the Eagle population in the summer.

Thanks, I haven't looked that closely at the Homer part of the excursions yet, but that one sounds about right. (Puffins, cormorants, etc.)

When you said Rookery the first thing that came to mind for me (as mentioned by someone else) was Gull Island outside of Homer. Any water taxi or boat trip out of Homer will at least stop there. They also have web cams at the Pratt Museum in downtown Homer. Homer Spit doesn't have quite so many eagles as they used to since The Eagle Lady died, but you can still see birds there. A fun nature thing you can do out of Homer is anything run by Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies. I did their tour to Peterson Bay Field Station twice (goes across the bay, includes tide pooling, birding, forest hikes, touch tanks, with a naturalist). I've also been to their nature center and trails near it. They have a small visitor info area in a yurt right on the Spit. (The Spit is the main tourist drag during the summer).

 

eagles are being mentioned- but they aren't in any "rookeries"? And no, there aren't any more eagles in Haines during the cruise season than anywhere else inside passage. They have one of the latest salmon runs, AFTER the cruise season, which brings in those large numbers of birds.

I did a photo trip to Haines for the late salmon run. It was very impressive to see 5 or 6 eagles sitting on a single tree or 1 eagle on the ice trying to keep his salmon from the other 4 or 5 eagles sitting near him waiting until they could steal it from him.

The year that I did the trip it was also very cold. On 3 of the 5 days we were there, the temperature did not get above 15 degrees and one day it did not get above 10. Standing around all day in the cold waiting for something exciting to happen was excruciating. LOL!! The day it was cold and windy and snowy was even more fun. Would I do it again - in a heart beat.

DON

When you said Rookery the first thing that came to mind for me (as mentioned by someone else) was Gull Island outside of Homer. Any water taxi or boat trip out of Homer will at least stop there.

 

Something that can be done on the fly at the dock? (inexpensively?)

 

A fun nature thing you can do out of Homer is anything run by Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies. I did their tour to Peterson Bay Field Station twice (goes across the bay, includes tide pooling, birding, forest hikes, touch tanks, with a naturalist). I've also been to their nature center and trails near it.

 

That sounds right up our alley - will definitely look more closely at this idea.

 

 

They have a small visitor info area in a yurt right on the Spit. (The Spit is the main tourist drag during the summer).

Thanks again Arctickitty >^..^<

Not sure if your cruise departs from Vancouver... if so, Vancouver has a large heron rookery near the West entrance to Stanley Park.

http://stanleyparkecology.ca/conservation/urban-wildlife/herons/

http://vancouver.ca/parks-recreation-culture/heron-cam.aspx

Not sure if your cruise departs from Vancouver... if so, Vancouver has a large heron rookery near the West entrance to Stanley Park.

 

http://stanleyparkecology.ca/conservation/urban-wildlife/herons/

http://vancouver.ca/parks-recreation-culture/heron-cam.aspx

Thanks for the info, but we are on the 14-night round trip out of Seattle on HAL Amsterdam Late July - Early August 2017.

Quote:

Originally Posted by arctickitty

When you said Rookery the first thing that came to mind for me (as mentioned by someone else) was Gull Island outside of Homer. Any water taxi or boat trip out of Homer will at least stop there.

Something that can be done on the fly at the dock? (inexpensively?)

Normally it could be done on the fly, but I would make reservations on a cruise ship day. Homer doesn't get that many cruise ships so they aren't used to it on a regular basis. Some companies I can think of off the top of my head include the Danny J which runs trips to Halibut Cove & The Saltry Restaurant, Mako's Water Taxi, and several companies that run across to Seldovia (do a search for "boat to Seldovia"). The other thing about reserving in advance is that the Spit is already usually crowded and will only be more crowded on a cruise ship day. My experience also is that you can't really use your phone for directions on the spit. Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies might have some other suggestions for water taxis--my most recent tour with them last September used a different water taxi company than Mako's but I don't remember the name of it. Also the Islands & Ocean Center is the inter-agency visitor's center designed to help visitors learn about the natural features around. You can look them up and call them too for suggestions.

A fun nature thing you can do out of Homer is anything run by Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies. I did their tour to Peterson Bay Field Station twice (goes across the bay, includes tide pooling, birding, forest hikes, touch tanks, with a naturalist). I've also been to their nature center and trails near it.

That sounds right up our alley - will definitely look more closely at this idea.

PS: I know you didn't ask about food, but Homer is one town that is worth eating out in! Have halibut anything pretty much anywhere and it will be awesome. It's also a good place to pick up jars of jams & jellies made from local berries, either made in Homer or in Seldovia (which is just across Kachemak Bay).

Any opinions on these rookeries near Anchorage?

Chiswell Islands or Cape Resurrection

I'm reading about some major marine excursions in Anchorage. (Hat tip Budget Queen)

I have a lot of time to change my mind about what to do in every port;), but I am partial to relaxed cruises...

& still thinking about just trail walking or car renting (though I do dislike driving in areas that I am not familiar with.)

Any opinions on these rookeries near Anchorage?

Chiswell Islands or Cape Resurrection

 

I'm reading about some major marine excursions in Anchorage. (Hat tip Budget Queen)

I have a lot of time to change my mind about what to do in every port;), but I am partial to relaxed cruises...

 

& still thinking about just trail walking or car renting (though I do dislike driving in areas that I am not familiar with.)

Both of those areas are out of Seward, via a Kenai Fjords boat tour. Loaded with varied wildlife and numerous bird rookeries.

Both of those areas are out of Seward, via a Kenai Fjords boat tour. Loaded with varied wildlife and numerous bird rookeries.

So none in the Whitter option, just Seward? (This is probably my Homer excursion anyway - a rookery that is not this specific one.)

So none in the Whitter option, just Seward? (This is probably my Homer excursion anyway - a rookery that is not this specific one.)

On another post, I mention the Kittywake rookery usually seen on Prince William Sound boat tours out of Whittier.

Homer- and Gull Island has puffins. gulls, cormorants, with the bulk again Kittiwakes.

On another post, I mention the Kittywake rookery usually seen on Prince William Sound boat tours out of Whittier.

 

 

Homer- and Gull Island has puffins. gulls, cormorants, with the bulk again Kittiwakes.

But Homer is better of brown bears in Katmai. Making me wonder about birds (marine mammals) in Kodiak instead?

There is an amazing Kittiwake rookery just outside of the Seward Harbor. If you leave from a ship from Seward...Take your binoculars and look at the cliff sides where you see waterfalls.....they are there by the 10's of thousands...it is about a mile out on the left hand side going out. All of the boat trips from Seward go by this rookery.....

http://www.juneau-audubon-society.org/SE%20AK%20Birding.html

Thanks for the link. (I love a good link!)

Thanks for the link. (I love a good link!)

I like to know what I'm looking at --LOL! I'm going armed with folding pocket guides...

Maybe out of Sitka for puffins, we haven't been there at that time of year though.